Father of Our Country, and Now, Trend-Setter

George Washington, watch out! You were the first provident and you couldn’t tell a lie, but none of that matters. It’s your satin-bowed ponytail we care about. Hip young men all over the Valley are trying to emulate it.

Is this ponytail, neatly secured with a satin or silk bow, a throwback to the ‘60s ponytails of the hippie era? No, not really. “It’s not like the old hippie hair,” sniffs the wife of a young Valley artist who keeps his hair neatly bowed. “It’s stylized and nicely kept.”

“I just like the whole George Washington thing,” says her hip husband. “I like the whole era and the good clothes. I like things that are different. But the hardest part,” he concedes, “is just finding the right color bow to go around your hair. You have to coordinate.”

This patriotic look is not only aesthetically pleasing, it’s practical too. “It keeps your hair out of your eyes,” claims a Sherman Oaks painter. “When you eat on the floor, you don’t want your hair to come around your face and go in your Cup-a-Soup or Top Ramen.”

The look also works well for the new motorcycle rider--who is more style-conscious than rabble-rousing. “All our friends are bikers,” says the artist’s wife. “But they’re not like the old bikers, they’re cool bikers. They’re nice. They all put their hair back because they don’t want it to get all ratted and knotted and ugly when they ride their bikes.”