Factors That Influence Beatle Hairstyle
It was the Beatles manager Brian Epstein who created the public image of the “Fab Four’ during the 1960’s. Not only was their form of dress changed but their long hair was restyled into what was commonly referred to as a mop cut.
The world was not only in love with the music of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, but anything they did was frequently copied by the young of the day, including their mop cut hairstyle.
Prior to the Beatles, hair was usually grown by the young to about ear length and it was often flattened down with hair cream, but such was the Beatles influence on hairstyles that the young began to imitate their style. The mop cut was to have longer hair way past the ears and was fluffed out around the whole head with no parting or combing sideways.
Barbers shops became accustomed to being asked for a ‘Beatle cut’ or a ‘mop top’ and this became the trend among all Beatles fans and followers. Enterprising manufacturers were not too slow to cash in on the ‘mop top’ fashion craze, and soon there were Beatle wigs galore on the market.
Inevitably the initial influence on hairstyles was adopted and individualized. In the 1970’s men’s hair was grown longer and often developed into shoulder length hair (sometimes longer!) swept back into pony tails often exceeding one foot in length. It was not only musicians who wore their hair long, it became the fashion among the young, and not so young on occasions and many people still wear their hair long today.
The Beatles influence was not confined to their music and they undoubtedly played a major role, often innocently and without intent on the growing hippie movement around the world, to which they seemingly provided an inspiration.
With their mop top hair cuts they would be swamped by the media wherever they traveled, and the words often quoted by the late John Lennon were seized upon by journalists to be quoted, or as was frequently the case misquoted.
Written by admin on August 8, 2011 under Art Influence.
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