Dido flip
Encyclopedia
Hairstyle
A hairstyle, hairdo, or haircut refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human head. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although practical, cultural, and popular considerations also influence some hairstyles.-History of...
of the early 21st century in imitation of the singer and songwriter Dido Armstrong
Dido (singer)
Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong , known as Dido, is an English singer-songwriter.Dido shot to worldwide success with her debut album, No Angel...
. It was a "chopped" style that gave Dido a distinctive look, although, in general, she professed her aversion to performers' appearance detracting from their music.
The style
The term, "Dido flip", was noted by the Sunday Times in a profile of Dido following her winning two "BRIT" AwardsBrit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
in 2002: "Having a distinctive chopped hairstyle that has been widely copied as 'the Dido flip' attracts the paparazzi like hungry mosquitoes". Stylist Steven Ward, of New York's Garren Salon, described the flip as a "short choppy shag".
The effect
Dido herself was quoted as saying, with reference to the flip's "wannabe" effect, that she "love[d] it when you turn up at gigs and the first few rows all have your haircut". However, in some ways, this was an unlikely trend because, although she occasionally posed for fashion magazines and appeared in some mildly risqué videos to accompany songs such as "Sand in My ShoesSand in My Shoes
"Sand In My Shoes" is the fourth and final single from Dido's second album, Life for Rent. The single flopped in the UK, only reaching #29 on the UK Singles Chart. The single did find success in Europe and America...
", Dido did not obviously promote that side of her persona. In 2006 she remarked, of suggestions that she was a "sex symbol
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
", "I just make music and don't pay much attention to all that". Indeed, Dido had previously appeared to deprecate artists who relied too much on their appearance: "I've always tried to keep people focused on my music, not on me. So I don't parade around with a bra
Brassiere
A brassiere is an undergarment that covers, supports, and elevates the breasts. Since the late 19th century, it has replaced the corset as the most widely accepted method for supporting breasts....
top and hot pants".
High Street chic
Paradoxically, it was perhaps the ease with which "ordinary" young women felt able to identify with Dido that led to the flip's catching on. A journalist who interviewed her shortly before the release of her second album, Life for RentLife for Rent
Life for Rent is the second studio album by the British singer-songwriter Dido, released by Arista Records on 29 September 2003. The album was produced by Rollo Armstrong and American songwriter Rick Nowels. Work on the album began in mid 2002...
(2003), noted that "for a platinum
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
-selling star she radiates normality .... She looks like any quietly stylish 31-year-old". In similar vein, the Observer once described Dido's style of dress on stage as "high-street chic". However, looking ahead in September 2007 to the release of Dido's third album (which, in the event, was released over a year later) the Daily Telegraph speculated as to whether "music's own Bridget Jones
Bridget Jones
Bridget Jones is a franchise based on the fictional character with the same name. English writer Helen Fielding started her Bridget Jones's Diary column in The Independent in 1995, chronicling the life of Bridget Jones as a thirtysomething single woman in London as she tries to make sense of life...
... has, like her trademark boot-cut jeans and eponymous Dido-flip hair, fallen out of fashion".
The flip was sported for a time by Chelsea Clinton
Chelsea Clinton
Chelsea Victoria Clinton is a television journalist, currently serving as Special Correspondent for NBC News, and philanthropist, working through the Clinton Global Initiative. She is the only child of former U.S...
, daughter of the former US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, at the time of Dido's rise to fame.
CD covers and materials
The flip was not discernible on the cover of Dido's first album, No AngelNo Angel
No Angel is the debut album by pop singer/songwriter Dido. Originally released in June 1999 in the United States, the album found a mass audience when it was released worldwide in February 2001...
(1999), on which her hair was combed back, and by the time of Life for Rent, her hair was longer. It could, however, be seen clearly on the cover of the CD single
CD single
A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...
, "All You Want
All You Want
"All You Want" is a song by Dido, released as the fourth and final single from her debut album, No Angel. The single was released as an exclusive 3" mini-disc in the UK, making it ineligible to chart. However, the single was released as a traditional 5" CD single in other parts of the world...
" (2001), and to a lesser extent on that of her almost seminal song, "Thank You
Thank You (Dido song)
"Thank You" is a song by Dido. The song made its first appearance in 1998, on the soundtrack of Sliding Doors, although it was not released as a single until late 2000. It later featured on Dido's debut album, No Angel, becoming the album's biggest hit...
" (2001). Photographs of Dido published in November 2008 with her third album, Safe Trip Home
Safe Trip Home
The album received very positive reviews. Metacritic, which is a website that gives an average rating over a number of reviews, rates the album at 74 out of a 100...
, showed a version of the flip that was slightly longer and shaggier than before. However, perhaps the most obvious and consistent features of that portfolio, given Dido's remarks in 2005 about her appearance, were glimpses, with at least four different outfits, of her black brassiere
Brassiere
A brassiere is an undergarment that covers, supports, and elevates the breasts. Since the late 19th century, it has replaced the corset as the most widely accepted method for supporting breasts....
.
Other eponymous styles
Other eponymous styles of the late 20th and early 21st centuries included the "Bo DerekBo Derek
Mary Cathleen Collins , better known as Bo Derek, is an American film and television actress, model, and sex symbol, known for her role as Jenny Hanley in the 1979 comedy film 10. However, Derek's film career soon faltered; her later films, including, Bolero and Ghosts Can't Do It , were poorly...
" and the "Rachel" (after Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, film director, and producer, best known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career,...
's character in the TV series Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
).