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Fashion : Short, Sassy Cuts for Summer : Busy Women Opt for Easy-Care Styles With Versatility

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Times Staff Writer

Last week, actress Brooke Palance took the plunge. She went from so-so shoulder-length hair to a chic, freewheeling style that is showing up on savvy women around the world.

The cut of the season is short and boyish at the nape of the neck with feminine fullness through the crown. A longer top layer and subtle internal layering make for wash-and-wear ease, myriad styling possibilities and freedom from most hair-styling products.

The sassy coiffure has no official name (although Vidal Sassoon calls its versions Turnstyles). And depending upon how it is slicked back, flipped, flopped or tousled, it can conjure images of English schoolboys, the Beatles, Joan of Arc, French gamins, Delphine Seyrig in “Last Year in Marienbad” or Audrey Hepburn.

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Nifty Natural

What makes it a nifty natural for summer and beyond is its softness, ease and versatility. It’s ideal for busy, time-poor women. And it’s the perfect topping for athletic bodies, higher hemlines, lower heels, softer shoulders, figure-framing silhouettes and the new emphasis on femininity mixed with man-tailored classic clothes.

Liberating is the word Palance uses to describe her shorter, sleeker do. “There’s nothing to hide behind. Your face is what shows.”

Although she was guided by Beverly Hills stylist Jose Eber, other women are taking their direction from top fashion models, such as Paris-based Linda Evangelista, among the first to be photographed with the ‘60s-inspired cut, and celebrities such as Ali MacGraw, whose new, short do caused a stir at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

Eber created the MacGraw cut and notes with relief: “It takes no time at all to convince a woman it is feminine and sexy.” MacGraw’s style has “a boyish feel to it, but once you style it, it looks feminine. She wanted something carefree because she’s very active. She wants to wash and dry it naturally.

“What I like about hair now is it’s freer and much healthier,” Eber adds. “In the ‘70s, we spiked it, we gelled it, we bleached it, we permed it. Hair sometimes felt like cardboard. Now it’s back to being healthy, shiny and fun.”

He finds the fresh, full shape flatters neck and shoulders and solves a problem for some clients. “You can create the head shape you want. If someone has a flat head, you can cut the hair so it looks rounder.”

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Stylist Allen Edwards estimates he takes 10 to 15 women each week from long to very short hair at his salons, including one in Beverly Hills and two in the San Fernando Valley. He thinks some women are influenced by world events as much as by fashion.

“It’s subconscious, but with so many negative things in the news, women want to do something positive for themselves, something to lift them up.”

Edwards likes to add natural-looking color to short cuts. He’s partial to dark reds and rich auburns. The color should be solid rather than woven through the hair, he says. And he advises using a light gel on hair for shine.

On a whim, actress-producer Patricia Carr-Bosley recently decided to get her haircut. She says Edwards “picked up his scissors and in about 10 minutes it was short. I didn’t have time to cry.” Her cropped hair is “shorter in back than most men wear theirs today and shaggy around the face with a lot of heavy bangs.”

For variety, Carr-Bosley says she combs it back like a little boy when she gets out of the pool or gels it straight back to make it look very European.

She predicts the change will help her career: “This is going to open me up. When you have long blond hair, you’re really pigeon-holed into the sexy roles that I’ve played.”

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At Barron’s salon in Studio City, owner Barron Matalon says the newly popular style reminds him of the ‘60s, mushroom-shape cut created by Vidal Sassoon. But it’s much more layered, freer and messier now, notes Matalon, who recently turned both Vanessa Vadim (Jane Fonda’s daughter) and actress Anne Schedeen very short on top. Sometimes he adds spidery tendrils at the sides and at the nape of the neck. If a very angular face needs more softness, he adds more layering.

He uses color to deepen the outer layers and lighten the inner layers, which leaves “the crown really gleaming, and you have a nice definition line around the head.”

Like Edwards, he prefers red these days. In fact, he believes that red, not blond, is the most popular California color. “If you don’t have a lively looking complexion, red brings it alive,” he finds.

Some stylists contend that short hair actually affects a woman’s mood. Michael Morgan of L’Image salon in West Hollywood notices a change in model Evangelista, since she went short. (Her trend-setting cut is by Julien B. of Is in Paris.)

“Before, she had a rather stern attitude,” Morgan observes. “Beautiful, but stern. With this short cut, she has an ingratiating look. It’s real. It’s honest.”

Looking for a similar honesty, Stacey Pickren, an actress who recently switched careers, decided to change her image earlier this month: “I didn’t want that Hollywood-actress look anymore,” says Pickren, now a partner in a video production company.

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She went from “massive hair down to the middle of my back” to what she calls a 1920s English schoolboy cut, styled by Tom Brophy at Vidal Sassoon in Beverly Hills.

She counts six ways she can wear “the texturized tomboy cut,” including naturally wavy, slicked back, parted on one side with curls falling near one cheek or with all her hair blown straight toward her face.

For Pickren, cutting off her hair meant more than keeping up with the latest style. “It’s a very exposed look,” she says. “I’m not hiding behind my hair anymore.”

But she cautions: “I think you have to be ready before you can go really short. I’m making a conscious career change. I feel very confident these days. I’m ready to say, ‘This is who I am.’ ”

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