The 23 Best Bobs of All Time: From Coco Chanel to Sam Rollinson

When Vidal Sassoon took scissors to actress Nancy Kwan’s long hair in 1963, snipping it into a short, geometric bob, the world took notice. The legendary cut promptly appeared in Vogue’s October 15 issue of that year, lending its own seismic rumble to the decade’s emerging Youthquake culture.

Of course, that wasn’t the first—or the last—time the chin-length cut created a major stir. When Louise Brooks first popularized the bob in the 1920s, it was as much a symbol of flapper-era liberation as it was aesthetic statement.

Nearly four decades later, Jackie Kennedy’s bouffant defined the idea of timeless American style for a generation of women, while Debbie Harry gave ’70s jaw-grazing hair her own punkish peroxide twist. In more recent years, models Daria Werbowy and Sam Rollinson have embraced choppier, easier, cooler variations of the cut—but it still retains its rebelliously boyish edge.

Above, a look back at our favorite bobs of all time.

 

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