NBC/Getty Images
There’s something about a layered, ’90s-inspired haircut. Feathery and face-framing, it’s pretty universally flattering. Jennifer Aniston would know all about it – she’s the woman whose “Rachel” haircut, named for her Friends character Rachel Green, defined the decade. Rachel bounded into the end of season 1 of the sitcom sporting choppy shoulder-length strands with chunky visible layers, and instantly inspired millions of women to book a hair appointment.
“The original Rachel was so iconic because it was the mid-’90s and we’d just come out of this period of grunge; people were getting bored of this ‘no-hair hair’ and ‘no make-up make-up’,” celebrity hairstylist Luke Hersheson told British Vogue. “When Rachel Green appeared she was the opposite to all of that. She had a full on haircut – the kitchen sink of haircuts – and it was very layered and obviously cut.”
Decades have passed since women were showing pictures of Rachel Green to their hairstylists, but Aniston apparently still carries a flame for her most famous hairstyle. Just yesterday, the star stepped out in New York City with a modern update on the sort of bumped-in ends that became a phenomenon in her sitcom heyday. Call this effortless, more wearable take the “soft Rachel”.
Aniston, whose customary end-of-summer Instagram photo dump incorporates plenty more hair inspiration, recently gave her BFF and former Friends co-star Courtney Cox a retro-inspired blowout using products from her own LolaVie haircare brand. “I get to finally blow dry Courtney’s hair,” Aniston said at the time. “I’ve been wanting to do it, because she [has] this gorgeous head of hair, but there tends to be frizz on top.” The end result? A raven take on “The Rachel”.
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
