The “Brontë Waves” Hair Trend Is Making It Out of Your Book Club This Fall

One of my favorite days of school ever was when we got into a hair discussion in a high school lit class. We talked about how a character letting their hair down might symbolize stepping into power, how a braid can be a phallic symbol, and how a chop almost always illustrates immense change. (Ever heard of breakup bobs and bangs? Literature reflects life.)

You can spot instances of hair as literary device in almost any novel, but the Brontë sisters’ works serve as especially great examples. In Wuthering Heights, the characters’ hair colors tell you a lot about the worlds they come from and a hair-filled locket is a scene-stealer.

In real life, various pieces of jewelry containing locks of Anne, Charlotte, and Emily’s hair—sometimes together, sometimes separate—have been discovered and authenticated over the years. The vision here was that keeping a loved one’s hair close allowed you to be with them at all times, in life and in death.

It wasn’t all mourning jewelry, though. Hair doesn’t die or wither and a strand from a deceased loved one might help tell their story, but it could (and can!) tell a story when they’re alive, too. Enter the hairstyling world’s new main character: “Brontë Waves.”

About the “Brontë Waves” Look

In Wuthering Heights, women’s hair is described at various points as “streaming” down shoulders, “uncurled [with] some locks hanging lankly down and some carelessly twisted round,” and obviously “long.” A modern writer might say “extra-long, natural-looking waves.” Slight messiness is welcome, as this isn’t a look a Victorian diva would wear in public. It’s bedtime, she’s in her nightgown, and she’s lamenting a doomed romance.

Or it’s the middle of the night and she just woke up from a nightmare. Her sweaty forehead and time spent pressed against the pillow have provided the necessary lack of volume at the crown necessary to perfect the look.

We could potentially call Brontë Waves “beachy,” but not in a cool surfer girl way. If a Brontë Waves wearer is going to the beach, it’s because she needs the salt air to cure her heartache.

A middle part is mandatory, as is having tons of length.

Both the lit girls and the It girls are leading the Brontë Waves charge, obviously. We saw the style on Charli XCX in her new music video for “House” (she wrote it for the upcoming Wuthering Heights movie, which tracks even more).

Mia Goth wears them in Frankenstein when her long hair comes tumbling down, Lily-Rose Depp had them in Nosferatu, and they’re all over Florence Welch’s looks for Florence and the Machine’s new album.

Why It’s Trending

The popularity of Brontë Waves makes so much sense when you look at all the other dark and stormy beauty and style trends we’ve seen in the last year. There’s been Dark Romance fashion, Monster’s Muse makeup, vampirecore everything.

The Ethereal Girl had the summer to fulfill all her whimsigoth fantasies, and now her older sister, with her eldest daughter air dry, is stepping in for fall and winter. She doesn’t do much with her hair except run a boar bristle brush through it every once in a while to distribute oils (I bet she has an emerald green La Bonne Brosse brush, so moody). And no, she can’t cut it—her mom would be sooooo sad.

There’s also the simple fact that the Wuthering Heights movie is coming out this winter. To a less analytical and more physically satisfying point, you’ve seen Margot Robbie’s tumbling blonde waves and Jacob Elordi’s dark lob in the trailer for the upcoming movie version, right? Both are so dramatic and so good. Recently, a billboard popped up in LA showing just the back of Robbie’s head; it’s sexy, sure, but the look also sells.

The style is also perfect for brooding and skipping appointments (with proper cancellation notice, we respect our hairstylists) because it’s too cold to go outside. ‘Tis the season for Brontë Waves—cuddle up with a good book and make someone run their fingers through your hair accordingly.