Should you choose a fringe or Botox?
Anne Hathaway and Reese Witherspoon’s go-to stylist, Adir Abergel, shares his tips and tricks for the most flattering hairstyles. By Sonia Haria
For a celebrity hairdresser, there is seldom a more challenging moment than a dramatic hair transformation before a big event. Particularly if the big event is a wedding. Case in point: minutes before American actress Nicola Peltz walked down the aisle to marry Brooklyn Beckham last month, it dawned on her and her hairdresser, Adir Abergel, that “something” was missing. That something was a 1990s Claudia Schiffer-inspired thick, curtain fringe, which, he tells me over tea at Claridge’s, he had to cut moments before the actress said her vows.
“They always say don’t make any drastic decisions right before your wedding, so when Nicola was trying to convince me to cut her fringe shorter in the run-up to her wedding, I was freaking out,” Abergel laughs. “I kept saying I wouldn’t do it. But I said if, on the day of the wedding, it feels like the right balance to cut a fringe, then I’ll do it. We ended up using a 1990s Claudia Schiffer reference, and it felt perfect.” He breathes a big sigh of relief.
Because, for the hairdresser that counts Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron and Jennifer Garner as regulars, a simple tweak to a haircut can speak volumes in the style stakes. And one of the most transformative ways to update your style is with a fringe. While many fringes scream high maintenance, that doesn’t need to be the case. The types of modern, sweeping fringes that Abergel tends to favour are far easier to work with different hair types and lengths. And you don’t need to be 27, like Peltz, for them to suit you, either.
Plus, if forehead wrinkles are a bugbear for you, don’t underestimate the simplicity of a fringe to detract the eye. Many hairdressers see the value of a fringe over wrinkle-busting injections such as Botox. Abergel tells me that fringes are now requested more than ever before by his clients, because over the age of 30, they are opting not to go down the injectables route. A fringe often brings the attention up to the eyes, too, which is instantly more youthful, whether you have a cheekbone-softening Brigitte Bardot style or a heavier, Claudia Schiffer cut.