Micro bangs: 12 retro celebrity looks that will inspire your next cut

BEYONCE

Queen Bey (all hail) debuted super-short bangs at a Paris train station causing outrage among fringe-haters. Many joked that Blue Ivy cut her mom’s hair and anointed the look #bangpocalypse. Despite the fact that her micro bangs were probably a hairpiece, fans everywhere will likely mimic the look in a more permanent way, while repeating the affirmation they learned on Twitter: “Drop the bass, mane the bangs, get lower.”

LADY GAGA

Lady Gaga revealed super short bangs in Manchester right after Beyonce, leading many to speculate that she copied her “Videophone” collaborator. However, Lady Gaga has rocked baby bangs many times over the years, in varying shades and styles. This time, her newly minted bangs were paired with a bluntly cut bob in raven black, with penciled in brows.

LOUISE BROOKS

Along with popularizing the A-line bob, Louise Brooks, aka “the girl with the black helmet,” made clean, short bangs a defining haircut in the 1930s. According to Vogue, the blunt cut and bangs went against the soft, feminine curls of the 1920s, which is why the style has always had a rebellious quality. Although Brooks’ reign as a silent movie star was short, her hairstyle remained iconic and inspired countless contemporary stars.

BETTIE PAGE

Although Bettie Page, “Queen of Pin-Ups,” sported short bags for her entire adult life, she originally made the cut after meeting an amateur photographer named Jerry Tibbs, who suggested she style her hair with bangs to keep the light from reflecting off her high forehead in photos. Now, many women dye their hair, cut bangs and sport Rockalily curls to emulate the “Dark Angel.” More recently, Christian Dior styled his Spring/Summer 2011 collection with Bettie Page as the inspiration.

KRYSTEN RITTER

Star of the now canceled Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23, Krysten Ritter told Allure that her father originally cut her fringe when she was a child so she feels like she “came out of the womb with bangs.” You may consider the look a signature but she keeps them in part due to the fact that micro bangs can be such a pain to grow out.

ROONEY MARA

Complementing her porcelain skin, raven hair and oft-rouge lips, the so-called “Rooney Mara fringe” strongly influenced Fall 2011 shows, with models donning the razor-cut look. Mara cut and dyed her hair for her starring role in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with the rationale that her character would need to keep her hair out of her eyes during midnight hacks. Mara maintained a grown-out version after filming (sans bleached eyebrows and piercings) making the look her trademark.

Katy Perry

Katy Perry is a devoted micro banger, cycling through many iterations of the style over the years. I have a soft spot for her fringey-dark hairstyle at the 2010 Grammys because she looked like a personified version of comic book hero Katy Keene. The next year she took it a step further, rocking a curved blue “smiley bang” wig at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards. Similar to the micro look, smiley bangs sit well above the brow line but they’re cut upwards at the hairline, just like a grin.

AUDREY HEPBURN

The epitome of gamine-chic, Audrey Hepburn sported perfectly styled micro bangs for most of her career, notably in roles like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Funny Face and Roman Holiday. Because her hair was quite limp, her stylist Peter Lamas suggesting pairing the bangs with short hair, though he didn’t ultimately make the cut himself. With her thick eyebrows and high cheekbones, the style became an instant classic.

GRIMES

When Beyonce debuted her bangs, many commenters immediately compared the look to Grimes, aka Claire Boucher. The electro-pop artist’s bangs certainly aren’t one size fits all as they’ve come in various shades of pink, purple, black and blonde (and occasionally worn with an undercut too). Her hairstyle transformations are chronicled on many Tumblr accounts—a result of the gorgeous combo of Grimes’ strong, harsh fringe against her soft eyes.

MARION COTILLARD

Marion Cotillard showed off her micro fringe while promoting Rust & Bone in 2013 (around the same time little Suri Cruise was spotted running around NYC with baby bangs). Undoubtedly Cotillard paid top dollar for the fringe, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Cruise sheared her locks with her own wobbly hands (didn’t we all at some point?).

ZOE KRAVITZ

Last spring Zoë Kravtiz dyed her dark locks and eyebrows blonde and fully committed to micro bangs…again. Kravitz also went for micro bangs back in 2011, the year Rooney Mara made micro bangs trendy again, though she kept her hair colour dark that time.