23 Women Who Have Rocked the Buzz Cut

If you’ve felt the urge to pick up the clippers recently, you’re not alone. On runways, streets, screens, and stages, when it comes to hair as of late, less is becoming so much more. Take, for example, models Ruth Bell and Kris Gottschalk, who, after ditching their waist- and chin-grazing lengths, respectively, in favor of a layer of blonde fuzz, have found themselves more in demand than ever, earning runway castings and campaigns for the likes of Alexander McQueen and Givenchy. Grace Bol’s calling-card shorn head received star billing at Bottega Veneta, Erdem, and Marc Jacobs, where it was further emphasized with a layer of light-catching black glitter. And, just last night, former model turned Savages front woman Jehnny Beth, who first buzzed her Jean Seberg–length pixie in 2013, played a sold-out show at Brooklyn’s Warsaw, continuing her world tour of the album Adore Life and unofficial campaign for at-home haircuts.

The trend, of course, isn’t entirely new. Agyness Deyn made waves in the early aughts by shunning her girl-next-door waves for a look more at home in her then-neighborhood, the East Village. The ’90s saw Eve Salvail become fashion’s favorite profile (and visible head tattoo) without the supermodel bombshell blowout, and the ’80s had Sinead O’Connor, who headed straight for the barber’s chair when record executives suggested miniskirts and hip-grazing hair. It was an empowering move that’s defined her ever since—or as she famously said, “I don’t feel like me unless I have my hair shaved.”

Razoring off your lengths by choice is inarguably liberating. There’s a reason that when Natalie Portman and Charlize Theron played rabble-rousing heroines, they did so without classic Hollywood waves. It’s the same explanation for why Grace Jones’s ultrashort hair was so fitting: A close-to-the-head crop nonverbally communicates that you are a woman who isn’t going to ask for permission. A buzz cut leaves you with nothing  to hide behind. And in a world where #nofilter is on the rise and makeup is a playful afterthought, why would you?

 

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