Can a Bowl Cut Actually Be Fashionable?

2 min read

Let’s consider the most sophisticated short haircuts. A pixie: timeless, loved by young actresses seeking a change (see Zendaya, Emma Watson, and Jennifer Lawrence for proof). A bob: fashion-forward and easy to style. A shag: effortless, with the kind of sex appeal you might expect from a rock star. A…bowl cut? Something your mom forced on you in kindergarten.

But wait! If you look at Thom Browne’s spring/summer 2027 show, you might reconsider. Models sauntered down the runway with one commonality: shiny, mushroom-like hairstyles created by James Pecis. The show itself was inspired by insects, and the hair followed suit. “Thom wanted to keep it uniform with everyone having a ‘beetle shell’ on top of their head,” Pecis said. “Everyone got some type of wig wrap, whether it was done with hairspray and a circular wrap or braid.” To get the hair exactly right, Pecis and his team sourced about 90 wigs and sliced the tops off of each, leaving a heavy fringe.

The bowl cuts at Thom Browne aren’t the only examples to look at. Consider another type of beetle—the Beatles, who all had the uniform style at one point in time. Zendaya wore one at the 2016 Met Gala. And both Pecis and makeup artist Aaron de Mey looked to beauty visionary Serge Lutens’s work (blunt low bangs, pigmented lips and cheeks) for inspiration.

De Mey created two different makeup looks to complement the bowl cuts. One was butterfly-inspired for the models who were dancing in the show—“’70s festival hippie cool girls,” he says. Those models had rainbow cat eyes. The others had a Lutens aesthetic with angular cheekbones and pigmented lips. “I did matte velvet skin, so it really pushes the color in the eyes and the cheeks, and very glossy lips to juxtapose against the matte finish,” he said. Each of the models had their skin prepped with products from Dr. Diamond’s Metacine line.

“Thom likes hyperrealism, almost like it’s artificial in a way,” said Pecis. “But it’s fantasy.” We might just find ourselves fantasizing about getting a bowl cut, which could be the first time in recent memory that anyone has ever typed that sentence.