You hear all kinds of adoring catcalls at concerts, usually of the "I love you" or the "You rock!" variety, volleyed like verbal undergarments from the dark depths of the crowd to the performers onstage. Still, it came as some surprise at a recent She & Him show when a male voice bellowed, "You have awesome bangs!" to Zooey Deschanel as she tuned her guitar between songs. While the actress-slash-singer fluttered her Kewpie-doll eyes and muttered aw-shucks thanks, I glanced around at the audience and noticed something: Almost every woman in New York City's Bowery Ballroom that night, including myself, was sporting forehead-concealing fringe. I hadn't realized it, but I was a member of a club: When I got home, I typed "Deschanel bangs" into Google and got 430,000 results.
"Zooey's bangs are the most requested in the salons where I work," says Deschanel's hairstylist (and, truth be told, my own) Michelle Fiona, who is based both at Whit-temore House Salon in New York City and Cowboys & Angels in San Francisco. "One or two people a week bring in photos of her and ask for that cut—and most of them don't know I do her hair." But it's not merely that the (500) Days of Summer star has particu-larly enviable tresses. "They want what the haircut conveys," Fiona says. "There's something about bangs that makes you look cool." Indeed, think of many other indie-scene pinup girls—Jenny Lewis, Chan Marshall, Karen O, the Raveonettes' Sharin Foo, or -Alison Mosshart, the sable-haired singer who fronts both the Kills and the Dead Weather. What do they have in common? You guessed it. Somewhere along the way, bangs have become the rock 'n' roll haircut of choice.
It's not too surprising to learn that the "invention" of bangs as a women's hairstyle is generally credited to a musician turned hairstylist: A chap named Ziryab—evidently quite a pop star in his day—founded a cosmetology school in Spain in the ninth century and introduced a wildly popular short-in-the-front, long-at-the-sides coiffure. In the twentieth century, bangs became imbued with a hint of rebellion when they appeared as part of the controversial bob in the 1920s—it's hard to imagine now, but Louise Brooks' iconic haircut, with its shiny curtain of sharp, jet-black fringe, was initially considered shocking. When bangs became popular again in the late 1950s and early '60s, it was in tandem with the rise of rock 'n' roll: Girl groups such as the Ronettes and the Supremes paired cocktail dresses with banged bouffants; mod trendsetters such as Mary Quant adopted the Vidal Sassoon pageboy; Nico telegraphed glacial cool as the bassoon-voiced front woman in the Velvet Underground; and pretty much every woman who hung out with the Beatles and the Stones—Marianne Faithfull, Anita Pallenberg, Pattie Boyd—had a fringe. In France, très chic singers such as Jane Birkin and Françoise Hardy peered out from beneath deep-cut brunette bangs, forever imbuing the style with a touch of je ne sais quoi.
Of course, the singers who most firmly cemented bangs as an intrinsic element of the rock-chick hairstyle were Chrissie Hynde, who first stepped onstage with eye-obscuring fringe in the late '70s , and Debbie Harry, whose mussed-up, DIY-looking CBGBs-heyday haircut is still being copied by everyone from Courtney Love to Drew Barrymore. Indeed, bangs have become the go-to style for celebs looking for edge: Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, and Nicole -Richie among them. "They can instantly transform someone's look from conservative to rock 'n' roll," says New York stylist Tommy Buckett of the new Marie Robinson Salon, who has cut sweepy bangs on Rachel McAdams and fashioned a center-parted '70s style on Si-enna Miller. "Having hair in your face makes you look a little mysterious." That's one element of bangs' allure. Another is that they're playfully sex-kitteny. "I love soft, flirty, lash-level bangs," Fiona says. "I call them `man-catchers.' " (On the flip side, I've found they can also hide a multitude of sins, including wrinkles, acne, and unkempt eyebrows.)
Can anyone wear bangs? Most hairstylists agree that where there's a will, there's a way. "Your hairdresser needs to look at the shape of your face and determine what type is best for you," says stylist Oscar Blandi. "They can really bring out your eyes and cheekbones. But you have to be careful. For example, if you have a round face, blunt bangs cut straight across the forehead can widen your cheeks and make you look like you have meatballs in your mouth."
As a general rule, long, side-swept bangs will downplay a broad face, while an above-the-eyebrows fringe will add length to your features. Different proportions, as Fiona points out, "can put you into different genres": rockabillies typically wear their bangs Bettie Page short; emo kids like them asymmetrical. "I think heavy bangs that fall just below the eyebrows are the hottest," Fiona says. "If you go too short, you'll lose the sexy, undone effect. You'll look like a baby doll instead of a hot babe."
Buckett agrees. "For a real rocker look, you'll want bangs hanging in your eyes like Hynde's," he says. "I cut them in a subtle M shape, which makes them look longer than they actually are—that way the hair doesn't impede your ability to see."
Whether you wear bangs sleek and retro-sweet like Katy Perry or roughed up à la Mosshart, the right product is key. "Bangs look cool when they're slightly piecey," says Blandi, who likes to use an antifrizz serum and his Jasmine Oil Shine Spray. "But you want to keep them soft, not stiff, so whatever your product, you shouldn't use very much of it." To quash unwanted bumps, Fiona suggests angling your blow-dryer down onto bangs from above while brushing them side to side across the forehead. "It's called `wrap-drying,' " she says. "Your head acts like a -roller, so it makes any cowlick or curl lie flat."
Personally, I can't imagine ever being without bangs. Beyond being merely a visual cue to my musical tastes (hello, fellow She & Him fans!), they're part of who I am. They Might Be Giants have an ode to the haircut, the lyrics of which run, "I'm only holding your hand so I can look at your bangs." So if they're man-catchers, that's cool, too.
