The Best Pixie Cuts Of All Time
With pixie cuts trending, you may be wondering what makes a pixie cut legendary? Is it the shape? The length? Texture? Or, simply, who’s wearing it? Since the pixie cut […] The post The Best Pixie Cuts Of All Time appeared first on Essence.
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By India Espy-Jones ·Updated April 3, 2026 < /> Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… With pixie cuts trending, you may be wondering what makes a pixie cut legendary? Is it the shape? The length? Texture? Or, simply, who’s wearing it? Since the pixie cut came into existence as early as the Titus cut in late 1700s France, its long held cultural weight (despite its actual size). First seen as a radical departure from the elaborate >François-Joseph Talma in the tragedy of Voltaire’s Brutus, the short and curly Titus cut was then unsurprisingly dropped after being associated with how a person’s hair was cut before they were put into the guillotine. However, not even a guillotine could keep the cut dead forever.
By the 1920s, St. Louis native Josephine Baker rose to fame in Paris and resurrected the pixie cut with her Eton crop (borrowed from the schoolboys at England’s Eton College). It was stylish, short, and caked with gum arabic to gel down her kiss curls. But, it wasn’t until the 1950s that movie stars, like Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor, tried on the Flapper cut for size.
Now, when we think of the most legendary pixie cuts there’s a few names andsrc="https://media.essence.com/vxcjywbwpa/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-592329239-scaled.jpg" alt="The Best Pixie Cuts Of All Time" width="400" height="500" />UNITED STATES – NOVEMBER 10: Josephine Baker, circa 1927, wearing large hoop earrings, looking away from camera with chin resting on angled shelf (Photo by George Hoyningen-Huene/Conde Nast via Getty Images) Halle Berry 
LOS ANGELES – JUNE 26:Actress Halle Berry poses for a portrait on June 26, 2000 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry Langdon/Getty Images) Nia Long 
Nia Long during 1998 VH1 Fashion Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images) Anita Baker 
Singer Anita Baker attends the 15th Annual American Music Awards on January 25, 1988 at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images) Toni Braxton 
Singer Toni Braxton is shown performing on stage during a live concert appearance on February 8, 1997. (Photo by John Atashian/Getty Images) T-Boz 
NEW YORK- FEBRUARY 23:Tionne Watkins “T-Boz” of the group TLC attends the 2003 EMI Post Grammy Bash at Blue Fin/Whiskey Bar on February 23, 2003 in New York City.(Photo by Bruce Glikas/Getty Images) Diana Ross 
LOS ANGELES – JANUARY 7:Singer Diana Ross poses for a portrait session on January 7, 1976 in Los Angeles. California (Photo by Harry Langdon/Getty Images) Jada Pinkett Smith 
Actress Jada Pinkett attends the unveiling of the Crypt Keeper wax figure on January 12, 1995 at the Hollywood Wax Museum in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images) Diahann Carroll 
Diahann Carroll in conversation at a formal dinner; circa 1970; New York. (Photo by Art Zelin/Getty Images) Monica 
LOS ANGELES – 1998:Singer MONICA poses for a portrait in 1998 in Los Angeles, California.(Photo by Harry Langdon/Getty Images) Nina Simone 
UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1970:Photo of Nina SimonePhoto by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Eartha Kitt 
Eartha Kitt at Heathrow Airport today after flying in from Los Angeles. Eartha is here to appear on some TV shows, play at some Northern clubs and promote her two latest records, 13th March 1970. (Photo by Victor Crawshaw/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)TOPICS: best celebrity pixie cuts
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