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In 2022, I cut myself my very first fringe. I will admit it — I might have been just a teeny tiny bit inspired by Emily In Paris marketing maven Emily Cooper and her daring trauma bangs. They were so chic! So French! (I was also just about to turn 30, which might have had something to do with it.)
Don't get me wrong, I loved my new look. In fact, I thought I had finally found my forever hairstyle. Like Lily Collins herself, I thought my fringe era was here to stay. What the woman behind Emily told GLAMOUR at the time very much sums up how I felt about my beloved bangs:
“Honestly, they make a ponytail or a bun extra chic," she says. "Even if it’s messy, it’s just like, Oh, there’s something that’s different. And it shapes your face differently. There’s a sass to them. They also do really well in humidity. I know that seems weird, but they honestly do. My hair used to be not great in humidity, but now with bangs at least there’s something on my forehead to look like something. There’s a little Frenchness to it that I like, so I think I will keep them for a while. And you can wear them so many different ways. They can grow out and be curly. They can be shorter. I love them.”
But it seems that two years later both Me and Lily are kind of over the whole bangs thing. Having frizzy bangs in humid weather is fun until it's not. A recent trip to Cornwall taught me this. And there's nothing quite so disheartening as spending half an hour styling your wayward fringe only to step outside and find them blowing around in every direction possible. (Has the UK always been this windy?!)
Anyway. I started growing my bangs out about a month and a half ago, and when I saw the new season of Emily in Paris, I was gratified to note that Emily was clearly still on the same hair wavelength as me — yes, this season, Emily is officially growing out her fringe. After about ten minutes of episode one in which Emily sported her blunt bangs (I am, by the way, convinced Collins is wearing a hairpiece), she began to grow.
As anyone who has ever decided to ditch the fringe will know, growing out your bangs is endlessly awkward. But, naturally, no matter how awkward Emily Cooper may be, she never fails to look supremely chic and put together — even when she's growing out her bangs. Flyaways? She doesn't know them. Awkward chunks of hair falling into her forehead? Impossible. I simply need to know what brand of hairspray this girl is using.
Taylor Swift and Emily Cooper both having the Vivienne Westwood heart bag is my multiverse of madness, personally.
As my fringe grow-out journey continues, Emily Cooper has become my number hair inspiration — allow me to present you with a very detailed breakdown of how she managed to sail through the process without a single hair out place.
Stage one: the long curtain bangs. As Emily's bangs got a little too long to wear straight in front of her forehead, she parted them in the centre and went for an elegant sweeping set of curtain bangs. It's very '70s, very cool, very flattering.
Emily then moved onto the wet hair look as a slick evening option, sweeping her bangs back over the head and spraying the absolute s*** out of them. This look is giving runway model. Emily paired the bold hair look with a streak of green eyeshadow to add some colour and depth to her face and avoid the dreaded moon face look.
A brilliant trick is the Brigitte Bardot jersey headband, which, luckily, is experiencing a real resurgence this year. For days when the growing fringe just won't look normal, hold the hair back and hide it away with a headband. Please note that adding a little volume at the back is key.
As Emily's hair gets even longer, her centre-parted curtain bangs are slowly turning into long layers. Paired with a low ponytail tied with a colourful scarf? Chic!
You can also wear your hair down — once your bangs are basically long layers, they're hardly even noticeable.
Ah, the classic ear tuck. When the fringe is long enough, tuck the hair behind your ears and add lots and lots hairspray so they don't fall into your face.
At this point, Emily seems to have successfully grown out her bangs. They're gone! Although I know there's still so much hairspray and probably a few bobby pins going on with this romantic, swept back look.
