Paying homage to the most iconic beauty looks of all time and the women that created them 

It’s highly possibly that it’s only people who battled through their early life with a geometrically perfect page-boy bob (a combination of perpendicular lines and severity) that can’t ever quite shake the whirling desire to have princess hair. Now, princess hair doesn’t necessarily decree that it should be long, down to your waist. Princess hair is concerned with styling too. Namely, the timeless sensibilities of carefully folding a ribbon into your hair.

Catherine Deneuve  loved a be-ribboned hair ‘do, as did Bridget Bardot, as did Elizabeth Taylor but no one quite cracked it like a 60s Natalie Wood did. A celebrated actress of 60s Hollywood, Wood lived a wholly atypical Californian life; she was married three times, had two children and a enjoyed a string of filmic hits. It was the tragic end of her life though, that still mystifies (and forms the fuel of a thousand conspiracy theories). She died in 1983, during a boating trip, the cause was originally determined as drowning but the case was later reopened and the loaded words ‘and other undetermined factors’ were added to her death certificate.

But, it’s the 60s Natalie that seduced the world; a petite, raven-haired charmer who had sealed her career on the silver screen a decade before by starring alongside James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. Her hair was always perfectly coiffed or tied with a ribbon. Of course, the prospect of entwining anything at all into your hair (be it twig, a small bit of string) at the age of thirty instantly feels utterly ridiculous. So, I reminded myself again, that these princess-haired women were well into their thirties when the ribbon was making repeat appearances and they looked – not like they were attempting to rediscover their My Little Pony youth, but like the absolute personification of sophistication.

"Of course, the prospect of entwining anything at all into your hair (be it twig, a small bit of string) at the age of thirty instantly feels utterly ridiculous"

Still, it can be fiddly. What you’re aiming for is the sort of smooth, rounded blow-dry that could equally pass for a 60s shampoo and set (extremely tricky to ape with modern tools), which means you need to get your prep right. I alternated my spritzes between Bumble & Bumble Tonic, £16, followed by Bumble & Bumble Thickening Spray, £21.50, to give my hair guts and staying power without drying it out.

I then spent an unholy amount of time blow-drying my hair smooth with a big old rounded brush, before taking the very ends of the length and curling them around a tong so they appeared like two little opposing barrels from the front. For the authentic Natalie Wood style of be-ribboning, it’s crucial that you reduce the hair at the front, to avoid a big square, Lego head, you see, which results from the ribbon pulling all your hair forward and higher. So tie the top half in a little pony at the back.

Then, with the most decadent, velveteen length of ribbon you can get your hands on, meekly thread it around the nape of your neck and tie into a neat little bow just off centre at the highest point of your head. Two things: do not try to move or turn your head from side to side. The bow doesn’t like it. It will slide around or fall off completely. Secondly, the ribbon has a curious habit of creating a triple chin, at least on me - such is my subconscious wont to tipping my head downwards to avoid aforementioned sliding. Perhaps the idea is to lie on a sun lounger, as Natalie is here, head superglued firmly to the back of it, and demand someone to take your picture before the whole thing unravels. 

1. Bumble & Bumble Thickening Hairspray, £21.50
2. ghd Air Hair Dryer, £99
3. Babyliss Pro Ceramic Dial-a-Heat (38mm) tongs, £19.95 at Beauty Bay
4. Ojon Revitalizing Flexible Hairspray, £23
5. VV. Rouleaux Black Velvet Ribbon (50mm wide), £4/m

Photography: Hugo Yanguela