The actor’s strike stopped movie promotion short at the peak of the Barbenheimer summer blitz. The enduring image for me was not Margot Robbie’s Barbie blonde perfection, but rather Oppenheimer star Florence Pugh’s electric orange buzz cut. Pugh, the fashion darling of the moment, shaved her head for another film, the upcoming Dune sequel We Live in Time, and debuted the look at this year’s Met Gala.
The look was deliberate. “I wanted vanity out of the picture,” she told Radio Times. “Hollywood is very glamorous—especially for women—and it’s hard for an audience to see past that. Whenever I’ve not needed to be glam or have a full face of makeup, I fight to keep it that way… The only thing that people can look at then is your raw face.”
Powerful stuff, that. Hair is the most loaded signifier for women. It’s tangled up with identity and attractiveness, and can project everything from political ideology to gender orientation, socio-economic status to state of mind. Because of that, cutting hair is emotionally fraught.
We have associated long hair with sexuality and reproductive vitality since time began, as thick, shiny hair is a clear sign of youth and health. Conversely, a shaved head can hold connotations of illness, like cancer treatment or alopecia, which makes Jada Pinkett Smith’s embrace of shorn hair more poignant.
It can also convey mental health struggles—picture Britney Spears with a shaver in hand in a gas station bathroom—as well as mourning, rebellion, ostracism (imprisonment) or piety (monastic rituals).
Directors rely on this signifier to communicate such character traits, which is why young actresses most often shear their heads for a role. Think Millie Bobby Brown in Stranger Things, Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road, Natalie Portman in V For Vendetta and of course…
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