It has been at least two decades since feminists began demanding that blond no longer be used as a noun. However progressive that step was, it did nothing to lessen the allure of blond women.
Though the favored status that we often accord light-haired women had its underpinnings in their statistical rarity, scientists say, with all the bottle blonds roaming the world these days, they’re no longer so rare.
What has changed over the years is the blond archetype. The cool, urbane blond of the Alfred Hitchcock films has given way to a totally different image. To be blond today is to be a wild child rather than a woman of sophistication.
The changing nature of a blond head may well be a reflection of social norms. The Hitchcock woman, for example, existed in an era of repressive gender politics, rigid social customs and confined style.
Pre-women’s movement and pre-sexual liberation, her ultimate coiffure was the pinned-up chignon, which always seemed to come down as the film’s suspense built or when the blond ran into trouble.
Carefully applied lipstick-a true red or a pale pink-was de rigueur. Eyebrows arched and painted provided a classic frame to the eyes; everything was designed to telegraph good taste.
In contrast, the current crop of high-profile blonds present a surprisingly rebellious face of beauty. Britney Spears’ long tresses cascade down her shoulders and are carefully unkempt.
Christina Aguilera’s tough makeup is deliberately overdone-gotta be a bad girl, it says. And in case anyone doubted her bad taste, Aguilera once showed up at an awards show in braids and a blond Afro wig the size of Texas. Pink’s punk look benefits from a blond color job.
Far from representing the refined, good girl or the all-American of a 1970s Cheryl Tiegs, blond beauty has become a hallmark of defiance.
Celebutante of the moment, Paris Hilton, exemplifies the trend. She unabashedly flouts conventional notions of proper behavior, and it didn’t take her sex video to indicate that Hilton liked to thumb her nose while having a good time. Her hit show, “The Simple Life,” on Fox pushes the spoiled-little-rich-girl story. Prior to her TV debut, Hilton and her sister, Nikki, were well-known for wearing Band-Aid miniskirts, too much designer clothing and dancing on table tops in nightclubs.
Going blond today also seems to require a pout. Actresses Melanie Griffith, Lisa Renna and Courtney Love went for surgically enhanced mouths. Shiny lipgloss is a less intrusive way to plump up lips and works well for women like Hilton.
To be sure, there have been bad-girl blonds before-Lana Turner and Marilyn Monroe come immediately to mind-but when it came to style influence they were overshadowed by the cool cucumbers. Now, among young people at least, the bad girl blonds rule.
Among 40-ish Hollywood royalty today there are few cool-blond beauties. The top actresses tend to be redheads or dark-haired-Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman. It may be due to the cyclical nature of beauty that the wave of actresses poised to assume their mantles are disproportionately blond-Kirsten Dunst, Renee Zellwegger, Charlize Theron, Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Reese Witherspoon.
Even young African-American women, have embraced blondness. Whether this is a sign of rebellion or a sad capitulation to white standards of beauty is hard to say. But it’s those in the public eye who have been pulled in this direction, entertainers like Eve, Beyonce Knowles, Mary J. Blige and Lil’ Kim.
Kim, who’s gone blonder and poutier as the years roll by, has talked frankly about the benefits of adhering to a European beauty standard.
If there’s velvet-gloved racism at work in black women going blond, is there also a veiled sexism applying pressure to go blond?
We may be on our way to equating being blond not only with romantic prowess but also with women’s career success and survival. Going blond is becoming more common among accomplished older women, and rarely has the same evolution happened with men, unless you count Rod Stewart.
Katie Couric and Barbara Walters have changed before our eyes. Sen. Hillary Clinton’s hair has gradually gone from brown to honey. Beauty experts say lightening the hair has the effect of softening wrinkles and brightening the complexion.
Sort of like having one’s own personal halo, you might say.
