Peekaboo Girls

Peekaboo GirlsThe retro-fabulous coif popularized by femme fatale Veronica Lake finds modern-day footing this fall.

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Beauty greatness is sometimes born of simple mistakes, and one such hair snafu launched a million impersonators. While posing for a publicity shot, iconic ’40s film star Veronica Lake found her languid blonde curls cascading over one eye. Rather than fix the beauty blooper, the blonde actress allowed the S-shaped bang to shield her right eye—acting as a curtain from which she seductively peeked out at the camera. The captured moment proved to be sheer genius, and Lake’s peekaboo bang became her signature style, even garnering her the moniker “Peekaboo Girl.”

Women fawned over the sexpot ’do, emulating it to the point that, during World War II, United States government officials asked Lake to publicly address the dangers of such a bang-up style; it feared that Rosie the Riveter might find her long locks caught in the assembly line machinery, or that the resulting impaired visibility could otherwise be a major liability.

These days, women needn’t fear losing an arm or leg while sporting Lake’s coolly curving coif because the runways have unleashed several variations of this vintage style. At Jovovich-Hawk and Just Cavalli, the deep side part Lake preferred is swapped for a slick middle part. At Gucci and Christian Dior, locks ebb and flow safely away from peepers. But for Valentino and La Perla, keeping faithful to Lake’s (impaired) vision seems to strike the perfect chord, where peeking through one’s bangs is boo-tiful!

 

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