The Side Fringe Is Back — But With A Twist

The year is 2009. Jay Jays graphic t-shirts, Supré statement belts and fluorescent scoop-neck singlets are all the rage. Hannah Montana The Movie, 17 Again and Princess Protection Program are out on the big screen. What do our beloved Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato have in common in the late 2000s? A trendy side fringe across their money-making foreheads. 

Naturally, every teen and their mother was seen sporting a side fringe for a good few years. Then all of a sudden, side fringes were shunned to, well, the fringes of hair society. Now, we’re in a peak ‘bangs’ era. We’ve got the ‘Sachel’, the muted shag, the c-shape haircut and the wag cut, all of which have made their way into salons recently. Surely we’ve almost exhausted all options for soft, curtain bang-type fringes. 

We said we would never bring back low-rise jeans, yet here we are. We said that butterfly tops and arm cuffs didn’t belong in the fashion world, but we’ve done a 180 on that too. While side fringes too were chucked into the ‘never again’ pile, it looks like they have successfully scraped out unharmed. 

Bella Hadid, purveyor of taste, has recently been seen sporting the side-swept look. In full-throttle y2k mode, she’s been seen donning small, rectangular, tinted sunnies and motorcycle jackets alongside her thick fringe and glossy lips. Hadid has also styled her new short fringe brushed out and loose, and slicked back and in a bun. Dua Lipa is embracing a goth-adjacent look, pairing her jagged side fringe with chunky jewellery and dark eye makeup. 

As someone who used to have a side fringe (with lots and lots of layers), hearing whispers about its return sends shivers down my spine. The cyclical trend cycle means that it’s almost inevitable for past haunts to reappear (I’m looking at you, skinny jeans). But here I am, uttering words I thought I would never say: side fringes are cool again.  

"I think it’s great that the side fringe is returning as not everyone suits a middle part or wants the commitment of a full fringe," Melbourne-based salon owner Tara-Lee Mitchell of Mitch. Studio tells Refinery29 Australia. "I think keeping it soft and feathered will help keep it modern."

Melbourne-based content creator Michelle Bañares put the trend to the test. She styled her straight bangs into a slick side fringe by twisting the hair to one side and holding it in place with clips. She pulled the rest of her hair into a half-bun ponytail and curled some of the ends with a hair straightener. After putting on a face of makeup, she removed the clips and used hairspray to hold it in place. 

The result? A cooler, more grown-up version of the side fringe we used to love. She’s a bit more sophisticated now, but can most definitely still do Hannah Montana’s hoedown throwdown.