NME 2001

Justine Frischmann and Donna Matthews. Glastonbury, 1995

With razor-cut bed heads and jagged asymmetry, the women of 90s alternative rock knew all about good hair. Pop stars these days, they just don't seem adventurous when it comes to hair. More often than not, they wear their locks long and heavy with extensions, swinging them around like a Maxim mag centerfold because apparently, it takes sex to sell songs. Whatever happened to cool chick hair? Not too long ago (the 90s) that was the norm, when the independent ladies of alt rock had no qualms about experimenting with razors, bleaches, dyes, and clippers. You could make a case that Miley and Rihanna have some hairdo cojones, but there is also a lot of planning and calculation involved with how they style themselves. And then there was Beyonce's little pixie cut. So cute! But it took less than a week for her to add extensions (or remove the wig, we're not really sure). So here's to you, 90s hair heroes, all of whom possessed 'do's that launched a million copies two decades ago, and all of which still look fresh in 2014. Actress-turned-singer Natalie Imbruglia caused some serious hair envy when she unveiled her short choppy 'do in the 1997 video for 'Torn'. It's very I-just-got-dumped-and-cut-it-myself-cause-I-don't-care-what-you-think in only the best way possible. Elastica's Justine Frischmann never strayed from her boyish, asymmetrical undercut, while bandmate Donna Matthews often changed things up, going from pixie platinum to shaggy ginger and back again. And now we're jonesing for some tinted Buddy Holly shades. We're convinced that Gwyneth Paltrow looked to Cardigan's babe Nina Persson when choosing her haircut for Sliding Doors. But Persson's jagged razored-edges and slight dishevelment puts her in a cool club Gwynnie could only dream of joining. Muff's singer Kim Shattuck is the perfect embodiment of 70s-via-90s -- her multi-tonal shag that was cut like Keith Richards and dyed like Debbie Harry. Her hair also looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks, which only made it that much better. For a hot minute in the mid-90s, the 'Skunk Stripe' was everything, as seen here on Saffron (Republica), Louise Wener (Sleeper) and Jill Cunniff (Luscious Jackson). When supermodel Linda Evangelista wore one herself, the alt rock trend became Vogue-approved.

elastica (britpop band)

Big Day Out. 1996