Saturday, November 13, 2010

TREND ALERT #002: The Undercut

Hate it or love it. THE UNDERCUT.

Variation 1: Sides of head (Kate Lanphear, style editor of ELLE)
Variation 3: All Under = Connecting Sides + Back of Head (Kate Lanphear, style editor of ELLE)
Blurring the lines between feminine and masculine. Beautiful and ugly. An extreme cut that looks good on both boys and girls, curly or straight, medium, short, or long hair! It also is a commitment and a b**** to grow out.  The undercut trend has been around originally and again more modernly among the streetwear styles in places like London, Germany, Stolkholm, Japan, NYC's most edgy for a while and now is becoming more prevalent in the midwestern states thanks to celebrities rocking this 'do.
Of course the undercut originally was a haircut associate with the goth, new wave, punk, and post punk movements of the late 70's, 80's, and 90's.  And also the awful Hot Topic "mall goths" of the late 90's and 00's (which is topic for another day). *shudder*  The difference between the two for this blog is one is fashion and the other is...  I won't go there.  The bowl cut is also a similar resurgent hairstyle believe it or not.

My fascination with the undercut began in 2008 after seeing a photo of Cassie sporting on side of her head shaved.  I proceeded to give draw all the girls for my senior illustration portfolio sporting the same extreme buzz cuts (it was a System Shock cyberpunk themed resort collection).  It wasn't till around Feb 2010 I saw my first ever photo of platinum-hued rapper chic Yo-Landi Vi$$er from Die Antwoord that I wanted the hairstyle for myself.  Around the same time I began to see many photos of this intriguing and ugly/awesome cut on my tumbler dash.  (Most of which are from the fuckyeahundercuts! Tumblr community which are posted below).  I made the commitment leap soon after.  My hairstylist, Laurel Krysten, gave me my first undercut and it's been hairstyle love ever since.

We've been seeing a lot of side-shaved heads on runways, lookbooks, adventurous fashion students and style aficionados, alternative models (like Alice Dellal, Cole Mohr), and the more daring RB pop stars (Pdiddy's girl Cassie, Rhianna, Willow Smith).  I've got a feeling we will only see more of the undercut.  And when this style has hit it's peak, everyone will be sick of it.  But for now, it's edgy again in a daring direction.

Below I present you for inspiration a treasure trove from my undercut save folder (many of which were my inspiration to get mine).

There are two main types of the undercut, and various combination between the two.

Variation 1: Back of the head (My undercut by Laurel Krysten Hair Design <3)
Variation 1: Back of the head with curls
Variation 1: Back of the head, long front
Variation 2: Side shaved
Variation 2: Side shaved


Variation 2: Side shaved (Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow)
Variation 2: Side shaved (Cassie)
Variation 3: All Under = Connecting Sides + Back of Head
Variation 3: All Under = Connecting Sides + Back of Head , Bowl Cut Top
Variation 3: All Under = Connecting Sides + Back of Head
Variation 3: All Under = Connecting Sides + Back of Head (Cole Mohr)
Variation 3: All Under = Connecting Sides + Back of Head (Cole Mohr)
Variation 3: All Under = Connecting Sides + Back of Head (Kate Lanphear, style editor of ELLE)


Here are some more creative and extreme versions of the undercut:
Variation 4: The 50/50 a.k.a. half and half (Model - Alice Dellal)

Variation 4: The 50/50 a.k.a. half and half (ft. model rocker Alice Dellal and singer Cassie)
Variation 5: Tiny Shaved Sides on bottom
Variation 5: Tiny Shaved Sides (Yo-Landi Vi$$er of Die Antwoord! Ninja's got an undercut too)
Variation 5: Tiny Shaved Side Square
Variation 6: Undercut with Long Hair (for extreme contrast)

If you have been contemplating getting an undercut, do it!  The sooner the better since this trend is at the cusp of coolness.  Don't wait till every hipster/scene/party kid has one.
If you like the look but don't want the commitment, why not try looking at this "faking the undercut" a la Kelly Osborne tutorial instead?

More UNDERCUTS? Check out the following blogs + articles below:


[caption id="attachment_215" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Variation 1: Back of the head, long front"]
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