Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Register
Advertisement
WikEd fancyquotesQuotesBug-silkHeadscratchersIcons-mini-icon extensionPlaying WithUseful NotesMagnifierAnalysisPhoto linkImage LinksHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconic
Louise Brooks 3382

Louise Brooks wasn't the first actress to wear a bob cut, but she popularized the style by wearing it in her films in the 1920s and 1930s.

A type of haircut, usually for women, of short-to-medium length with sharp lines. In one variety, the hair is cut off at about jaw length all the way around. Alternately, it may taper downwards from the back to the sides. It is similar to but distinct from the bowl cut (a.k.a. pudding basin cut). Some versions are known as a "pageboy" haircut. Fringe/bangs are optional. Can be Fetish Fuel for some men.

A feature of The Roaring Twenties; it's generally non-existent in The West before then, first appearing in fashion magazines in the late 1910s. Initially it was associated with "bad girls", and many men at the time were upset to see their wives and girlfriends with short, boyish hair. Many government and religious institutions opposed the bob and although they couldn't stop it, did their best to make life hell for women who happened to like having short hair. However, by the late 20s the bob was not only accepted, but embraced, even by men. Its heyday was about 1922-1932, but it had a comeback in The Fifties and The Sixties as a popular girl's haircut, but the reputation changed. They were no longer associated with "bad girls" but innocent (at least on the surface) Malt Shop dwelling bubblegum chewing teenage girls that used words like "Dreamboat" and "swell". The association has bounced around since The Seventies back and forth from "trendy" to "dowdy" with the current opinion being trendy but still shaking the dowdy association.

When applied to boys, this might be a subject to Viewer Gender Confusion. Surprisingly, this type of hair, even the longer varieties, was associated with young men between about 12 and 25,

Although many might agree with the unintentional sentiment, there is no connection to Everything's Better with Bob.

Compare with the even shorter hairdos for women: Boyish Short Hair, Pixie cut, buzz cut, and Bald Women. Contrast with Long Hair Is Feminine.

Examples of Bob Haircut include:

Anime and Manga[]

Comic Books[]

  • Silhouette from Watchmen.
  • Holly Short in the Artemis Fowl graphic novels. In the original books she's described as having a crew-cut.


Films — Animation[]


Films — Live-Action[]


Literature[]

  • Kel from the Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce. Probably has a great deal to do with the fact that she's, well, an actual page.
  • Crabbe from Harry Potter is described as having a pudding basin haircut. It's from Chamber of Secrets, from the Polyjuice Potion bit.
  • Sabriel from The Abhorsen Trilogy is described as having this type of haircut in the first book, although the cover illustration shows her with long hair.
  • In Cheaper By the Dozen, this is one of the battles the older girls fight with their parents as the Jazz Age begins. Eventually Anne, the oldest, bites the bullet and cuts her own hair. Because she "looks like she backed into a lawnmower," it has to be trimmed by a professional, and the parents relent and let all the other girls go along and get theirs done too.
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "Bernice Bobs Her Hair."
  • Francie from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn wants one, but her mother won't let her.
  • The title character of Jodi Lynn Anderson's May Bird series has this hairstyle.
  • Tiphaine d'Ath of the Emberverse wears this style. She would prefer to wear her hair shorter, but that isn't an acceptable option for a woman in the neo-medieval Portland Protective Association.


Live-Action TV[]


Music Videos[]

  • Lady Gaga in her video "Alejandro".
  • Meiko the Vocaloid. Gumi has a bob-type cut but it looks more like the typical flip.
  • Lily Allen sported one in the video for "22".


Newspaper Comics[]


Tabletop Games[]


Theater[]

  • In most recent major productions of the musical Spring Awakening, the character of Ilse, when possible.


Video Games[]

  • Doned from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.
  • Tae from the Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha games (which are set in 1931).
  • Male and female example: Shinta Kikuchi and Kumi from Ouendan 2. Naturally, people have commented on how they look similar.
  • Amy Rose from the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
  • Faith from Mirrors Edge.
  • Starting in Halo 2, Cortana starts featuring a trendy bob cut.
  • Blue Mary from the King Of Fighters series.
  • Tsuruhime from Sengoku Basara has a neat bob.
  • Nina's sister Anna Williams from Tekken has this hairstyle.
  • Pokémon Black and White
  • Bugsy from Pokémon Gold and Silver sports one. It's common for him to be mistaken for a young girl.
  • Cassandra has this on her debut appearance on Soul Calibur II, later games made it to a stylized haircut. Tira also has a short bob for her player 2 outfit in Soul Calibur IV, dubbed as the "bowl cut".
  • Maria (Minerva's sister, captive Princess of Medon/Macedonia) in Fire Emblem 1 and 11 (11 known as Shadow Dragon) had a hair style like this. Her sister's was almost the same, except spikier and flared out.
  • From Touhou comes recurring character Youmu Konpaku whose slightly untidy bob cut mirrors her straight-laced, yet naive, personality.
  • Maple from Mario Golf has this kind of haircut.


Visual Novels[]


Web Comics[]


Web Original[]


Western Animation[]


Real Life[]

  • Louise Brooks (shown above) wasn't the first actress to wear a bob cut, but she popularized the style by wearing it in her films in the 1920s and 1930s.
  • Dorothy Hamill. By winning the gold in Innsbruck in '76, her version of the bob became a fashion staple in the U.S.
  • Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
  • Editor of American Vogue, Anna Wintour.
  • Jessie J is famous for hers.
  • Baby Peggy, a famous child actress in the 1920s, wore a bob with bangs.
Advertisement