Eighties fashion ‘violates laws of nature’
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
Lopsided haircuts made popular by 1980s pop stars not only risk making those sporting them look silly but also go against the evolutionary process itself, according to a professor of mathematics.
Now Prof Marcus du Sautoy, of Oxford University, says that as well as being in questionable taste some of the more bizarre haircuts of the 1980s actually run counter to the path of evolution.
Over the centuries people have developed to find symmetry attractive but the decade remembered for yuppies, mullets and ra-ra skirts saw a host of stars choosing daring asymmetrical haircuts, which flies in the face of nature’s rules of attraction.
Prof du Sautoy, author of Finding Moonshine, a book about symmetry, will single out asymmetrical haircuts for particular criticism as the worst of the Eighties excesses at the Cheltenham Science Festival, which is sponsored by The Daily Telegraph.
Mike Score, the lead singer of Flock of Seagulls and a former hairdresser, had a lopsided hairstyle that has been copied, and parodied many times, most notably in a flashback episode of the American television sitcom Friends and his hair style has also been referred to in movies such as Pulp Fiction and The Wedding Singer.
But these go against nature’s key message that symmetry is beautiful, so the decade will never be stylish, concludes Prof du Sautoy.
“As a student in the 80s I was never attracted to the music of the likes of Flock of Seagulls or Human League. Now I know why. The maths just says all that asymmetry just adds up to a fashion disaster. In the natural world, symmetry is always an indicator of something significant it is there to attract attention’, says Prof du Sautoy.
This indicator of beauty is more than skin deep. ‘What this symmetry is really indicating’, he says. ‘Is that the individual has a good genetic heritage and is therefore a ‘good’ mate’.
Research at the University of Stirling shows that symmetry transcends racial and national boundaries: a lopsided face is less attractive to both Hadza hunter gatherers in Tanzania and Britons.
Whether or not an asymmetrical haircut can detract from natural facial symmetry has not been researched, but the message from nature is clear, he concludes: Eighties fashion should be consigned to history.
Make-up artists work with shadow and light to achieve facial symmetry as clients old and young alike ask to have the appearance of their eyes accentuated and cheeks to look flushed. Women’s lips are perhaps the least even or symmetrical aspect of the face and to create the appearance of fuller, symmetrical lips, the tools of our trade are lip pencils, lipsticks and glosses.”
Prof du Sautoy will be in discussion with TV Presenter and author Nicky Hambleton-Jones in the event entitled Beautiful Beings, at the Cheltenham Science Festival.
Tags: american television, asymmetrical haircuts, daily telegraph, fashion disaster, flashback episode, flock of seagulls, ford, genetic heritage, hadza, marcus du sautoy, mike score, mullets, national boundaries, oxford university, pulp fiction, questionable taste, ra ra skirts, science festival, sitcom friends, television sitcom, university of stirling