January always brings about the start of the Awards Show season, beginning with the Golden Globes
which are given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The Golden Globes is always fun to watch because instead of simply
being a presentation ceremony, it is a banquet dinner and you get a view of your favorite celebrities in a more relaxed atmosphere.
You also get a first look at the year’s current trends in hair and fashion.
And this year, for women’s hair, the trend appears to match our predictions. Overall, hair lengths are
getting shorter, and curls are making a comeback. The smooth, super sleek styles of previous years were mostly replaced by flowing
waves and soft curves. Tightly coiffed up-styles were replaced by looser, freer-looking up-dos featuring soft romantic curls and draping locks.
The average hair length was at the shoulder, with some exceptions. Most of the older women (those
stars who are 40+) seemed to be going for shorter hairstyles (such as the gamine short crops of Emma Thompson and Shirley MacLaine,
and the chin-length curves in Geena Davis’ hairstyle).
The exception to our shoulder-length average was most evident among the women from the ABC comedy
“Desperate Housewives” who seem to be competing to see who can grow the longest tresses. All of the women – Eva Longoria,
Terri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, and Nicolette Sheridan – sported godiva-like hair styled either into loose twists
and drapes, or long flowing curves.
Even with the trend being toward shoulder-length styles, there were plenty of representations of a variety of looks, lengths and styles. Here’s a breakdown:
In the soft, romantic up-styles category, we have Kate Beckinsale, Felicity Huffman and Rachel Weiss.
Ms. Beckinsale’s hair was done up in a soft up-style with a full crown of large curls, while Ms. Huffman looked splendid with her
softly draped and twisted golden tresses. Rachel Weiss paid homage to the glamour of the 30’s with a beautiful up-style featuring
a pompadour roll and soft, loosely-shaped curls nested up along the crown and back of her head.
Among the women sporting shorter styles were Charlize Theron and Rosario Dawson, both of whom opted
for simple wavy curls in their chin-length bobs. The styles offered just the right amount of glamour and movement for their heart-shaped faces.
Two of the stand-outs in the category of mid-length hair were Laura Linney and Jessica Alba.
Ms. Linney’s blonde tresses were styled in long wavy curls while Ms. Alba chose long curves instead of curl for her shoulder-length brunette locks.
A number of the women who had longer hair, looked smashing in their varying levels of curl – Pamela Anderson had a head full of quietly cascading curls, which went against her usual big-hair look; Marcia Cross’ fiery mane was
smoothly curled in a stream of waves ending with a cluster of curls at the ends; Mary Louise Parker looked fresh-faced and demure
with her long, dark curls gathered to one side and held with an elegant porcelain flower clasp; and finally, Scarlett Johansson’s
golden curls shimmered in a seventies’ inspired flow of coils.
There were a few people who were clinging to the sleek-looks from years past, but they looked somehow
wrong and very out of place among the more romantic softer styles worn by the majority.
And not to leave out the men: The styles among the men this year break down into three base groups –
the more traditional, short back and sides, longer on top look; one-length clippered cuts, and carefree textured styles. Stand-outs
among these were Russel Crowe’s neat, traditional cut with the wayward forelock curl, and Johnny Depp’s bed-head nest of textured
curly locks. And let’s not forget George Clooney, with his now signature buzz-cut in salt-and-peppered gray.
