The Best Hair of the Last 30 Years
By: Julie Schott
In celebration of our thirtieth anniversary, a look back at the most history-making, copycat-inducing, timeless hairstyles from the ELLE archives. This article originally appeared in the April 2015 issue of ELLE.
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1985: An instant favorite of longtime ELLE creative director Gilles Bensimon, model Gail O'Neill was tapped to pose for her first ELLE shoot when she was working for Xerox. Her big, easy, undone hair became one of the magazine’s trademarks.
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1986: The late 1980s ushered in gravity-defying volume, with lift from the crown to the nape of the neck. “Yes, hair was big, but that was because the fashion needed it,” deadpans hairstylist Oribe, a fixture on set with ELLE from the decade of excess through to today.
1988: Rachel Hunter’s loose late-‘80s ringlets (pictured here) evolved into Claudia Schiffer’s early-'90s windblown beach hair, the precursor to Gisele Bündchen’s 2000-to- present après-surf waves.
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1996: In the late '90s, no cut was sexier than Linda Evangelista’s sleek, layered bob. After the turn of the century, Heidi Klum’s ELLE shag even inspired vandalism: Women ripped her cover off issues still on the newsstand to take into their salon. Then, texture softened up, and Jessica Alba–esque blow-out mania took over.
2003
2006
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