Hairstyles are design fiction too….right??
How do haircuts come into fashion and what makes them go out?
Much like design fiction, do they exist in a augmented reality before the make it to the real world. Surely the mullet was a fictitious creation??
Over my teenage and adult life I have had a total of five fashionable hair styles…..fashionable for the time.
The Shag…..The Short Back Spike…..The Faux Hawk…..The Short Sides Hipster…..The Slick Back.
If only one of those styles had been out of order I would of been judged completely different. I have always thought of my hair as being the ultimate individual style tool, but everyone (sorry if you don’t) has hair.
It is interesting that the hair styles that are in fashion suit the same description as the clothing of the day.
When I had the shag I thought it would suit if a started dressing and acting like a surfer. Making my mother buy me all the necessary surf attire, the baggy jeans and giant logo t shirt. The short back spike cropped up around 2006 (Dragon ball Z lite). This was usually accompanied by a pair of of baggy jeans, a shitty pair of globes (shoes) and an equally shitty hoody. This one caught on with the bogan community around two years later and still can be seen on the crowns of middle-age man-children around the ‘burbs.
I was sick of having the same rug as everybody else so I decided to look to my favourite sports people……….from Europe. I had chosen David Beckham and Christiano Ronaldo as my follicle gods. There was no way I could continue to dress like what now had become ‘a bogan’. My identity was changing, I was 18, my mind was exploring, I was no longer surrounded by religion, I started to collect art, graphics, retro goods. And I had a worldly haircut to match. Suited with a fitted pair of jeans, duffle coat, wayfarers and postie bag.
As a various social change drifted over the late 2000s, counter culture began to flood back into alternative fashion. Denim jackets and leather patched accessories paired with black jeans that shrunk as much as circulatory possible. Piercings and aggressive slogans adorned t shirts and overcoats. Be it my feelings of social injustice or late onset teen angst, I needed a do’ to match my get up. Shaved sides and and hi-top was the cut gaining the alternative worlds attention and although I was paid out endlessly by my peers, have a guess what look they are rocking now (2013).
After the punk lite look faded, it was all about being a modern man. Behaving and looking the part became very important to me. I was (still am) committed in a serious relationship, working hard for my career and future. My outfits became very heritage, 60s london-esque. No logos, fitted pants and leather shoes were the main rules. My hair matched the part with a classic short sides and slick back to communicate forward thinking, stylish and classy.
Until I penned this post i never really knew how much our (or particularily my) hair says about us. I think it communicates our personality much more than any item of clothing because it is practically internal. And thats where the real person lies…