Head-Turning Pages : The Hairdos Making Headlines This Fall Are Variations on a Longtime Favorite
HAIRDO AS adaptable and appealing as the pageboy rarely goes out of date. But this autumn, the classic page--and some extraordinary new looks based on it--are topping the list of most-wanted styles.
Credit the move to sophisticated silhouettes in luxurious fabrics and fashions that demand simple sophistication in both hair and makeup. But credit also goes to women who are demanding soft, feminine styles that are light-years away from the harsh spikes and tough-looking, boyish cuts of the early 1980s. “We’ve been through too many seasons of strong, hard looks that were on the masculine side,” says hairdresser Charlie Miller of Edinburgh, Scotland. Miller, who frequently travels to the United States to create styles for Redken International, designed the ultrashort version shown here. “Women have been asking for softness, waves and shape that is specifically female rather than unisex.”
The soft, feminine pageboy was frequently the style of choice for actresses Grace Kelly and Lauren Bacall. “Dynasty’s” Linda Evans carries on the tradition. In the movies, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo and Katharine Hepburn sported down-to-business versions, as do newswomen Connie Chung, Diane Sawyer and Jane Pauley. One of the most famous belongs to Anna Bjorn, who swirled her chin-length, platinum page in the “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good” advertising campaign for Vidal Sassoon shampoo.
Joseph Kendall of the JosephMartin Salon in Beverly Hills says he has been shaping pageboys for his socialite clientele for years. But it’s only recently that he’s been suggesting it for his trendier customers. After wearing various lengths of blunt-cut bobs, his clients are now ready for the newer, chin-grazing pageboy, Kendall says. While previous versions were typically longer in the back and tapered up to the cheeks, Kendall’s newest page is tapered at the neckline and long on the sides, with long bangs that sometimes reach the eyebrows. “It’s a very square shape in front, very sleek, which looks much newer than a simple bob,” Kendall says.
The difference between last year’s bob and this year’s pageboy is that the bob, by definition, is all one length; the new page doesn’t need to be. It can be short in back, the way Kendall snips it, or layered on top, worn with or without bangs. Or it can be cut blunt. “As long as the ends are neatly rolled under and there is some fullness, it’s a pageboy,” says Sunset Boulevard salon owner Edward Jimenez.
He adds that headbands, ribbons and snoods help vary the look of longer pages. “‘When a pageboy is softened with accessories, just about every woman can wear one.”
The page is the most classic look to hit hair salons in years, a trend that is a reflection of the times. “This is a time when people don’t want to take chances,” Jimenez says . “The pageboy is a very secure look.”
Hair and makeup: the Charlie Miller team for Redken International
