Big bang theory
Bangs are back. But if you think about it, they never really went anywhere. They've been in and out of vogue since the days of Cleopatra -- or at least since Elizabeth Taylor played Cleopatra in the 1963 film.
The most copied set of bangs actually stems back to an earlier part of the 20th century, when Louise Brooks and her black helmet of a bob made their debut in the silent flapper films of the 1920s. Since then there have been many takes on her legendary fringe. In the 1950s, super-short bangs were all the rage. Think of Audrey Hepburn's rebellious haircut in "Roman Holiday" and Bettie Page's glossy, cropped bangs. The 1960s produced the Mod era, when Mary Quant and Peggy Moffit gave a new meaning to "helmet head" and defined the term "bowl cut."
Then came the 1970s, when the mood loosened up. Jane Birkin is the icon of this period with her innocently seductive, effortless bangs, which women on both sides of the Atlantic favored and is still one of the most sought-after looks of today. It would be nice to gloss over the '80s, but this was the era when everyone and her mother (and, yes, even her brother) had bangs -- and the products to style them. The "claw bang" afflicted everyone from the Bangles to Bon Jovi, Alyssa Milano to Angela Lansbury. Thankfully the amount of hairspray use declined in the '90s, leaving a more basic, softly rolled Claudia Schiffer-like bang as the status quo.
Which leaves us at today, when having bangs means setting yourself apart. An increasing number of stars have opted to reinvent themselves recently: Gwen Stefani wigged herself out in bangs for the release of her latest album, "The Sweet Escape," Naomi Campbell showed up a couple of weeks ago for community service at a Manhattan Sanitation Department with a shiny new bob, Kirsten Dunst graced this month's cover of W with a fresh crop of eye-grazers and fashion's models of the moment, Irina Lazareanu and Freja Beha Erichsen , are both sporting a long, eye-obscuring fringe. Then there's Liv Tyler, Paris Hilton, Penelope Cruz, and Nelly Furtado.
"There is something very cute about it," says Odile Gilbert , the French hairstylist who was responsible for Dunst's hair in "Marie Antoinette," as well as the elaborate hair that goes down the runways at Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Rodarte, and others. "It makes you look younger."
Gilbert believes every woman, at one or more points in her life, feels the need to cut bangs. "It works on everyone and it never goes out of style -- think of Anna Wintour." She says that bangs work best on straight hair, but Japanese straightening, which is basically the opposite of a perm, could always be used on curly hair.
You might also want to invest in charcoal eyeliner if you wear bangs. "It's often good to re-highlight the eye," says Alex Hanson, makeup stylist and trainer for NARS Cosmetics. "Bangs can distract from the eye, so to bring attention back, line above and below the eye and smudge it out." Just don't get too wild with the eyeliner, or you may end up channeling Elizabeth Taylor circa 1963.
Even if bangs never really do go out of style, chances are, at some point, you're going to want to grow them out, which is precisely why people tend to think twice before committing themselves to this look. There's no trick to growing them out, other than an avid use of hairclips and plenty of patience. 