The beehive is a hairstyle in which long hair is piled up in a conical shape on the top of the head and slightly backwards pointing, giving some resemblance to the shape of a traditional beehive. It is also known as the B-52 due to a resemblance to the distinctive nose of the Boeing B-52 Strategic Bomber. [1] The 1980s band The B-52's took their name from the hairstyle, which was worn by members Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson. [2]
It originated as one of a variety of elaborately teased and lacquered versions of "big hair" that developed from earlier pageboy and bouffant styles. It was developed in 1960 by Margaret Vinci Heldt of Elmhurst, Illinois, owner of the Margaret Vinci Coiffures in downtown Chicago, who won the National Coiffure Championship in 1954, and who had been asked by the editors of Modern Beauty Salon magazine to design a new hairstyle that would reflect the coming decade. [3] She originally modeled it on a fez-like hat that she owned. In recognition of her achievement, Cosmetologists Chicago, a trade association with 60,000 members, created a scholarship in Heldt's name for creativity in hairdressing. [3] The beehive style was popular throughout the 1960s, particularly in the United States and other Western countries, and remains an enduring symbol of 1960s kitsch.
According other sources, the beehive (chignon choucroute in French), meaning "Sauerkraut chignon") would have been created by the french hairdresser Jacques Dessange in 1956, for the actress Brigitte Bardot in the film And God Created Woman . [4] [5]
Despite inventing the hairstyle, Heldt did not name it: for the final touch in her original design she added a bee-shaped hat pin and from that a reporter for the magazine Modern Beauty Shop (now Modern Salon) "it looks just like a beehive! Do you mind if we call it the beehive?" [6]
Heldt died on 10 June 2016 at a senior living community near Chicago. [7]
The beehive is constructed by backcombing or teasing the hair with a comb, creating a tangled pile which is lightly combed over to make a smooth outer surface. The longer the hair, the higher the beehive. Beehive styles of the early 1960s sometimes overlapped with bouffant styles, which also employed teasing to create hair volume; but generally speaking, the beehive effect was a rounded cone piled upwards from the top of the head, while the simple bouffant was a wider, puffier shape covering the ears at the sides. Both of these can be distinguished from the pompadour style, the basic type of which is swept upwards from the forehead.
The Ronettes were an American girl group from Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett, her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. They had sung together since they were teenagers, then known as "The Darling Sisters". Signed first by Colpix Records in 1961, they moved to Phil Spector's Philles Records in March 1963 and changed their name to "The Ronettes".
The afro is a hair style created by combing out natural growth of afro-textured hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair. The hairstyle can be created by combing the hair away from the scalp, dispersing a distinctive curl pattern, and forming the hair into a rounded shape, much like a cloud or puff ball.
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues, reggae and jazz.
Veronica Yvette Greenfield was an American singer who co-founded and fronted the girl group the Ronettes. She is sometimes referred to as the original "bad girl of rock and roll".
A bun is a type of hairstyle in which the hair is pulled back from the face, twisted or plaited, and wrapped in a circular coil around itself, typically on top or back of the head or just above the neck. A bun can be secured with a hair tie, barrette, bobby pins, one or more hair sticks, a hairnet, or a pen or pencil. Hair may also be wrapped around a piece called a "rat". Alternatively, hair bun inserts, or sometimes rolled up socks, may also be used to create donut-shaped buns. Buns may be tightly gathered, or loose and more informal.
A bouffant is a type of puffy, rounded hairstyle characterized by hair raised high on the head and usually covering the ears or hanging down on the sides.
"Be My Baby" is a song by American girl group the Ronettes that was released as a single on Philles Records in August 1963. Written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, the song was the Ronettes' biggest hit, reaching number 2 in the U.S. and number 4 in the UK. It is often ranked as among the best songs of the 1960s, and it is regarded by some as one of the greatest songs of all time.
Backcombing is a way of combing hair which is used to create volume as well as to create certain hairstyles. Backcombing is done by repeatedly combing the hair towards the scalp, causing the hair to tangle and knot up. This method is often used in creating various big hair styles such as beehives, bouffants and dreadlocks.
Big hair is a hairstyle that emphasizes large volume or largely styled hair, especially when those styles make the hair occupy a large amount of space above and around the head. The label "big hair" for such styles originated in the late 1970s, when these styles were beginning a period of popularity. Similar styles have become fashionable at various periods in history.
The pouf or pouffe also "toque" is a hairstyle and a hairstyling support deriving from 18th-century France. It was made popular by the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette (1755–1793), when she wore it in June 1775 at the coronation of her husband Louis XVI, triggering a wave of French noblewomen to wear their hair in the same manner. The hairstyle would become popular across Europe in the 1770s.
An eponymous hairstyle is a particular hairstyle that has become fashionable during a certain period of time through its association with a prominent individual.
Louis Alexandre Raimon, better known as Alexandre de Paris, was a famous French hairdresser. He was responsible for creating Elizabeth Taylor's coiffure in the 1963 Hollywood epic Cleopatra. He also styled Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn and Lauren Bacall, among others. He was nicknamed the "Prince de la coiffure", "d'Artagnan de la coiffure", "Sphinx de la coiffure", and "Figaro". His signature chignons (knot or a coil of hair arranged in the back of the head) and his flamboyant style made him famous, setting fashions in hairstyling for decades.
A fontange, or frelange, is a high headdress popular during the turn of the late 17th and early 18th centuries in Europe.
Aqua Net is an American brand of aerosol hair spray created by Rayette of St. Paul, Minnesota. The company brought the product to retail stores in 1961. By 1964, hairspray had become the top-selling beauty product in America. The brand is known for its distinctive large purple spray cans, and the spray itself is known for its strong hold and distinctive smell.
Harvey Phillip Spector was an American record producer and songwriter best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s and his two trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. Spector developed the Wall of Sound, a production style that is characterized for its diffusion of tone colors and dense orchestral sound, which he described as a "Wagnerian" approach to rock and roll. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in pop music history and one of the most successful producers of the 1960s.
In the Western world, the 1950s were a decade known for experimentation with new styles and culture. Following World War II and the austerity years of the post-war period, the 1950s were a time of comparative prosperity, which influenced fashion and the concept of glamour. Hairstylists invented new hairstyles for wealthy patrons. Influential hairstylists of the period include Sydney Guilaroff, Alexandre of Paris and Raymond Bessone, who took French hair fashion to Hollywood, New York and London, popularising the pickle cut, the pixie cut and bouffant hairstyles.
Kenneth Everette Battelle, more usually known as Mr. Kenneth, was an American hairdresser from the 1950s until his death. Sometimes described as the world's first celebrity hairdresser, Kenneth achieved international fame for creating Jacqueline Kennedy's bouffant in 1961. He counted Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and many of America's most high-profile socialites such as Brooke Astor and Happy Rockefeller among his clients. In 1961 he became the first, and only, hairdresser to win a Coty Award.
A bronze statue of the British singer Amy Winehouse is located at the Stables Market in Camden Town, in north London. Sculpted by Scott Eaton, it was unveiled in 2014, three years after the singer's death.
Margaret Vinci Heldt was an American hairstylist, best known as the creator of the beehive hairstyle.
Jacques Dessange was a French hairdresser.
The dictionary definition of beehive (hairstyle) at Wiktionary