This picture is of my mother from ca. 1952-1955. Judging from pics of other relatives from the same time this short hairstyle seemed to be very popular and I’m trying to find the name of it from something I’m writing. Does anyone know what it would be called?
I believe Kim Novak popularized it, but I may be wrong. I’ve definitely seem pics of Ava Gardner and Susan Hayward when they had similar hairstyles (albeit from movies as opposed to “real life” shots).
It’s an Italian haircut. First popularized by Gina Lollabrigida, it became very popular throughout the '50s. Sophia Loren was another who popularized this cut, as well as ELizabeth Taylor.
When my sister-in-law went to beauty school in the '80s, she was taught this haircut. Even then, there were lots of old ladies still wearing some version of it.
I just spoke with my sister-in-law and it’s all more complicated than I remembered. The Italian haircut was originally called an ‘artichoke cut’ or, sometimes, a ‘petal cut.’ But, once Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren started wearing it, it became increasingly known as an Italian Cut. At first, it was very short and gamine. It got longer and more… structured and dowdy as the '50s wore on. But the artichoke, petal, and italian are all the same basic cut. There could be some variation on the set and comb out.
There was a whole section on this in her beauty school manual. She was tested on it and everything. And, as I said, there were still old ladies wearing this style in the mid '80s when Wendy was in school. Probably still are!