Style Archive: a series in which we celebrate the stars of the past that made menswear what it is today. This week, getting ahead of George Clooney's follicular safari.
Today, the name 'George Clooney' conjures a familiar image in the click-happy hive mind of pop culture. He's often besuited. Sometimes boasts a close beard. And he almost always resides below an impressive, neat crop of well-seasoned hair.
It takes quite some time to be so uniformly interpreted by the collective consciousness. Elephants, and Twitter, never forget. And yet forget they have, as Clooney - a man known for a classic wardrobe - took a long time to arrive at his current mop.
For back in the times of a pre-Batman George, in the heady days when he dated models that co-hosted British radio breakfast shows, the 58-year-old ran the gamut of era-centric haircare.
First there was the tousled mane circa 1985, strong evidence of wildly strong genes and a recent procurement of a lead role in little-known Cali bro action film Red Surf (23% on Rotten Tomatoes, but still worth a watch for Clooney's mighty sideburns).
And lest we forget blonde George of 1998. And slick-back Jay Gatsby George of 1992. And, indeed, a series of Georges that explored every trend possible pre and post millennium. Of course, it's easy to sniff. But realise that without the Sunny D locks of an Out Of Sight-era Clooney - one of the first to indulge in the big bleaching bonanza of the early 90s - we'd arguably have no Zayn Malik reaching for the hair dye. The same could be said for Zac Efron, too. Or perhaps even a pink-haired Jonah Hill.
Because being young is to roll with trends, to explore new things before settling upon the style that truly, endlessly works. You're at a certain age now, says society, you should have 'found' yourself. But Clooney took his time and – by way of Disney prince curls, French crops and even platinum locks – took some risks too. That's the way to do it.
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox
![Premiere of "Red Heat"](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/brad-pitt-crop-1569842188.jpg?crop=0.766xw:1.00xh;0.193xw,0&resize=360:* "Premiere of "Red Heat"")
