In her story for 'The Brownsville Herald' published in 2002, Jessica Rocha made the observation, "If hair could only talk, it would have some real war stories. Through the ages hair has been brutally crimped, blown, rolled, shaved, fanned, flipped, layered, streaked, pulled, piled, pixied, blunted, bleached, tinted, chopped, curled, straightened, twisted, spiked, dreaded, bunched, bobbed all for the sake of fashion.
"Hair is one of our single, most
defining features. Voluminous or not, when you're talking first impressions, how we wear it says, well, volumes.
It tells us how fashion conscious one is and where in the Venn diagram of mass culture with which we identify or aspire. It tells us one's age or how old we perceive ourselves.
Hairstyles provide clues to a person's socio-economic status, race, religion, political ideology and profession.
Like music, technology and architecture it also defines and is defined by the times."
In the 1980s, the TV series best reflected the free-spending Reagan Era was 'Dynasty'. 'The Los Angeles Times' described the show as "that 1980s paean to the glory of wealth." On 'Dynasty', Linda Evans as Krystle was best remembered for wearing her trademark long bob with fluffy bangs. Her golden tresses had been regarded one of the "iconic hairstyles that will never date."
Speaking to 'National Public Radio' in 2013, Linda Evans believed the 1980s were a time when "we all wondered what it would be like to be that wealthy. I hope the show expressed well that money doesn't buy you happiness. People got to look at a part of themselves, the choices they could make, and see the consequences of it." Through Krystle and Alexis, viewers were shown the contrast between "the women who make choices for money and power (and) the women who make choices for love and family."
Also in 2013, Brenda from the Closet Exchange website remembered, "When Linda Evans came on the scene in 'Dynasty' — blond hair, bangs and those blue eyes – Wow!!! She was a hit! We were in Connecticut then and it seemed like every woman there had the 'Linda Evans do'. It was pretty and she was gorgeous! We all wanted to be her. Then bangs went away."
Jessica Rocha continued, "George Guerra has been cutting hair in McAllen since 1964.
Hairstyles are less restrictive than they used to be, he said. 'There's no particular look that's for men or women, it's more individual,' Guerra said.
The conservative long and straight style are still very popular in the Valley, Guerra said, partly because of the heat and humidity here which means people want their hair away from their faces.
"But while there have been classic dos, there have also been plenty of die-hard doozies.
Like 'power bangs' and 'the cobra'. 'I thought we were the last of the Mojicans for what I call power bangs,' Guerra said. Power bangs are highly styled longish bangs that fanned out several inches above ones forehead. 'The women couldn't even get into their cars with them,' he said, adding that women wore them in the Valley until last year (in 2001) even though they had been erased from fashion magazines years ago.
"Another long, painful demise was the 'Dynasty' cobra, where hair was fanned out on the sides like a predatory cobras. The look was made popular by the likes of Linda Evans, but lingered in the Valley for years to come.
Nowadays (by 2002), younger clients get their retro cues from 'That 70s Show' and MTV. Middle-aged women emulate Meg Ryans choppy look. At certain ages, though, many men and women get stuck in an old look that they are comfortable with. 'It's harder to convince people down here to make changes,' Guerra said. 'Change is good, but it's always hard.'"
Using the pen name, A Perfect Size 4, a writer wrote of her observation in 'Orange Coast' magazine in 1998, "One quiet evening I was channel-surfing at home when I caught a glimpse of Linda Evans and John Forsythe. I froze the remote on 'Dynasty', taking in Alexis Carrington’s power suits and matching hats, Krystle Carrington’s pastel beaded gowns and perpetual tan, and Blake Carrington’s old money look. And then it hit me – sometimes, the older Orange County society is 'Dynasty' come to life. And when someone asks me if it’s true that '80s fashion has come back, my answer still hasn’t changed: no, it hasn’t. Because it never left."
