We lose things to the annals of history so often now, that it’s hard to keep track of what’s in trend and what’s not. Sometimes, it helps to take a look around you. Hair cuts, for example. Right now, beyond, like, librarians, teachers and your dad’s new wife, who’s rocking a side part? The answer… right now: only a few people, but the ones that are might just be prepping us for the new 2022 hair trend.
For a hot minute, the middle parting has been the go-to look. In October 2020, in fact, TikTok users euthanised the dowdy side parting in favour of it: youthful, but not childish; slimming and flattering to their faces. Kim Kardashian has rocked it consistently since its revival.
But for a long time, people had feared it, partly because it exposed so much of their foreheads, a key point of many’s insecurity (the phrase “huge forehead” has 32.7 million Google results). In that way it was a reclamation of sorts; a ‘fuck you’ to the idea of hiding parts of our bodies that have traditionally made us uncomfortable — think monobrows, armpit hair and Starface-highlighted blemishes on our skin.
That’s a good thing, of course, but as with all trends, a time comes when they must be put to bed and something from our colourful past comes back to the fore. Right now, we’re deep in the throes of indie sleaze’s revival: the neon skinnies, wired headphones and heavy eyeliner are on the precipice of becoming mainstream again. With them will inevitably come the iconic choppy, straightened fringe, swooping to one side in a middle part.
But that’s not the one we’re seeing take hold in contemporary culture quite yet. Instead, it seems we’re enamoured by the idea of Old Hollywood glamour once again. Blonde, Andrew Dominik’s interpretation of the Joyce Carol Oates meta-biography of Marilyn Monroe, is on the way. So is Babylon, Damien Chazelle’s big screen return, which tells the tale of 1920s Hollywood’s transition from silent movies to the talkies. They were, despite the gloss placed upon them, times of tumult, and so their aesthetics naturally harbour a bittersweet kind of glamour. In 2022, stars have the chance to reappraise those aesthetics by viewing them through today’s lens.
And who better to kickstart it than our queen Sydney Sweeney? Having spent years donning the centre parting on screen, in shoots and at events, she recently retired it. The debut of her side part came in her campaign for Miu Miu AW22, where she resembled a classic, Chloe Sevigny-esque, 90s screen star.
Then, in an impromptu post to her Instagram, and that of her hairstylist Glen Coco Oropeza, she made its more extravagant IRL debut.
To us, Sydney Sweeney is practically the second coming, and so it makes a lot of sense that she could become the one to revive the look. The truth is, it harbours all the nostalgia of the centre part too. There’s something distinctly ‘high school prom’ about it, and much like the centre parting had a sense of innocence to it when it first returned, so too does the middle: look back through images of Reese Witherspoon, for example, who rocked an understated version throughout much of her early years.
Consider this your warning: after some time away, after the full fringe domination and the centre parting takeover, the side part is making its return and we’ll have Sydney Sweeney to thank for it. Book your hair appointment now.
