Sometimes a haircut is just a haircut. Sometimes a haircut is about being dissatisfied with everything – your life, your marriage, your style, your own personal prison. Sometimes a haircut is about a trend, a season of shorter hair, the new must-have chop. Sometimes a haircut is about freedom, a way to say to the world, “I’m not the same girl I once was. Watch out, because I’m coming.” I don’t know what kind of haircut Princess Charlene of Monaco just got. Meaning, I don’t know what it says about her and her state of mind. Charlene debuted her new ‘do over the weekend, during the Monte Carlo Masters Tennis Tournament (Nadal was there – he won!).
I will say this – I don’t think Charlene has ever been a hair person. Over the years, as Albert’s girlfriend and then his wife, Charlene’s makeover have been gradual, but you got the feeling that no one really knew what to do with her hair. She usually kept it around her shoulders, and for some public appearances over the past year, her hair looked really ragged and unkempt. I tend to think her hair was probably pretty thin and fine and over-processed when everything started, and sometimes it’s just looked awful.
So… I actually like this cut. It’s boyish and sleek and very summery. It’s very Princess Diana circa 1996 – and that was a good year in Diana’s Hair. It feels lighter. And Charlene LOOKS lighter and happier with shorter hair too. I’ve said it before – for all of the fussing over Duchess Kate, trying to make her into the next Princess Diana, Charlene is a natural for the role. She’s depressed, she’s stuck in a rotten marriage, and she loves clothes. And now, more than ever, she really looks like Diana. Watch this space!
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Hmmm, I kind of like it. Sleek, modern. Sometime you just have to make a big change.
Her general vibe is still sad, lonelly and possibly drugged. Like Katie Holmes circa 2007.
She IS smiling in a few of these photos but still …pic #4, tell me something wasn’t slipped into her morning juice.
Also I think she’s trying to blink a morse code “save me” to Nadal.
The hair cut could probably for getting rid of bad luck #side-eyes-to-Albert#
I agree w/ JulieM. It’s lovely and healthy looking…she’s a beautiful woman. Short hair can be just as sexy as long hair, but not everyone can wear it.
How very Cate Blanchett of her. I like the cut. I don’t care for the masculine blazer on her, however, nor the lack of jewelry. And I wonder if her husband has had a hand in this transformation.
DreamyK, agree w/ you. She definitely needs some jewelry and I also do not care for the blazer. With just those simple additions/changes, she would look stunning.
I like the cut, I just wish we could CUT him out of pics..
he is disgusting to me.
Uuughhhh !!!!
Princesse Charlene is built like a tall athlete with broad shoulders inherited from her swimming sport years at the top level.
Because of that, she has that ‘masculinity’.
Instead, she should use every ‘sign’ of feminity instead, including long hair to balance that masculine athletic frame.
So cutting her hair doesn’t do anything for her.
I could not disagree more.
why does long hair = femininity?
what is the obsession with long hair… I love this style on her, she looks fresh and renewed.
Not everyone thinks femininity means looking like Barbie.
Oh, I think shorter hair works because she has smaller, feminine facial features (this coming from someone with a larger, more ‘masculine’ bone structure who will never be able to pull of short hair 🙁 )
Totally disagree- she has a large head and features, not very feminine at all. She’s also a tall girl and this cut is very unflattering to her overall. Could look cute on a petite woman though…
I like the new hair cut and think it looks really flattering but I can understand the rationale behind your post. People seem to be forgetting that it’s just been within one generation or so that short hair became a common style for women. So yes, for a HUGE percentage of the world’s population long hair=women and short hair=boys. If a woman was self conscious of her large frame she might wear her hair long, but I don’think Charlene cares.
Short hair has only been acceptable for a generation or so??……I suggest you reserch the 1920s and 19302…pixie haircuts and bobs were the norm.
Her hair has always been crap before; thin and shapeless, and it’s probably very humid in Monaco and difficult to style. So cutting it short would be more practical and would make it be able to lift off the scalp better, looking thicker.
I am a long hair person myself. But I think because of her shoulders, etc., that’s why it looks good. Maybe she wanted to get some more emotional power and this helped her to do so.
Because if I were somehow stuck married to this ass, I’d chop off my hair too and start wearing biker boots around the palace, get a Ducate and go crazy.
And who wants to look feminine for THAT ^^^? I say, go totally butch and throw him for a loop.
Love it! Couldn’t help but laugh at this PERFECT advice, gg! Albert also looks as if he’s stopped bothering to look at her as if he loves her – could he be any more stern in Photos 1 & 2?? When he is smiling, he sure isn’t looking at her. Just can’t stand this man, and wouldn’t trust him for a moment.
So athletic=not feminine either? Really? Screw that. I like my muscles. As a fellow swimmer, I’d also like to point out that swimming didn’t make her shoulders broad, they were already like that. They give swimmers an edge, so that is a body type associated with the sport. But you can’t make your bones grow because you swim. I have big shoulders too (much like hers) and a smaller face with smaller features but I love my shoulders. They make my figure have more of an hourglass shape, as my hips are smaller, and i have a fairly decent waistline.
And who knows, maybe she’s going for a more androgynous look. She doesn’t have to look like a beauty queen to be feminine. I think you need to broaden your definitions of femininity.
A lot of people can’t pull off a short cut, but I think this one is lovely on Charlene. Like Diana, she seems to look better with her hair short than long.
Love it! She looks like Twiggy. Plus she will be able to swim back home faster now.
She DOES look like Twiggy!
Now I understand what lol means, Brin…
She’s tall, thin, and pretty. She can pull off a short hair cut like this easily. She looks sad though.
+1
Ageed, is a flattering Cut for her Serene Prison Bride Of Get Me The F–k Out this Marriage of Monaco
Imagine that lardy Balding, snooty looking mofo On top of you creating a heir after one of his “parties”
..lol….stop! I just barfed in my mouth a little!
It’s not unflattering, and ages her about 10 years. If it were a tad bit longer it might be better but it’s too severe.
I don’t like it. Reminds me of Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes) on his photo day
LAUGHING!
Not feeling the haircut love.
I agree, it is the same haircut as Ashley Simpsons.
Well, at least hair grows, so it’s not like it won’t come back!
Def not lovin this new short do’.
I like it a lot from the front- the side view is iffy because she doesn’t have the best profile. I’m a fan of short hair, but I feel like you always have to have make up on to pull it off.
Her shoulders are too broad for that Slick hair cut. She has a tiny head in comparison. Elle McPherson has the same problem. Whilst i think Elle McPherson’s hair solution is too much, i think Prisoner Bride would benefit from bigger, shoulder length hair.
That slick short hair simply emphasises her bad points. She needs to make it bouffant. Not 80s style but lift the roots to make her head appear bigger and to balance with her shoulders.
That said, i do agree with you that she’s got Diana’s script. If only she could swim for freedom. ‘sigh’
ITA it’s too 80’s – like Mary Stuart Masterson in ‘Some Kind of Wonderful.’ It needs to grow out a bit, have some body added to it.
I agree that her head looks too small for her shoulders this way. A just below the chin bob length cut with big, beachy waves would look adorable and balance things out, since she doesn’t have enough hair for a longer cut.
This is more David Bowie than Princess Di.
Yes, David Bowie! But whether Bowie, Princess Diana, or Twiggy, it doesn’t read modern to me.
I like the length, but not the style. I know there are only so many ways you can style short hair, but perhaps if they had styled it different it would look better.
I feel bad saying this but she looks like a man. Maybe if she wore earrings?
I don’t think her outfit here helps. It makes her look more like a man, not less. What about a dress? I have shorter hair and it does require more thought to one’s overall look.
She does look kind of mannish – but in a flattering, androgynous way. The ways lots of models look.
I think this haircut looks pretty good. But maybe she is trying to embarrass/irritate her husband by looking boyish? Or she is trying to declare her independence, and not look “princess-y”? Her hair and clothing are probably the ONLY things she has control over.
Agreed. Earrings and heavier makeup would help her look more feminine, but Charlene should probably avoid pants unless she’s wearing a top that emphasizes her curves.
Wearing matching ‘sport coats’ with her husband doesn’t really help her look very ‘girly’. Her clothing choice in these pics has a lot to with the ‘masculine vibe’.
If she just removed the navy blazer, it would be a better look overall.
I like it. Short hair seems to suit her well. I’d like it more if she gave it a little wave or soft curl to soften the look.
Love the short cut. Much better. Just wish she would stop looking so constipated.
i just wish someone would talk about her face lips. they’re soo horrible!
and i actually think she looks happy in the third picture!
In third or fourth picture I thought she looked like Tilda Swinton, but I love her hair. I think it draws a lot of attention to her face, Whig is very pretty
That’s who she reminds me of, thank you!
I’m thinking she cut it off so the Monegasque secret police have less to grab on to when she makes her final break for freedom.
In third or fourth picture I thought she looked like Tilda Swinton, but I love her hair. I think it draws a lot of attention to her face, Whig is very pretty
you go Rafa!!! 😀
cute hair, but she looks way older with it. but that outfit is terrible.
She looks like Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran’s keyboard player).
This.
She looks like the athletic sister of Charlize Theron
Maybe she’s auditioning for the role of Victor/Victoria?
Ah, you beat me to it. I was going to say very Victor/Victoria.
I would like it better if it were shorter on top. More pixie-ish. The current cut just looks like she’s growing out a short cut.
It reminds me of David Bowie! I really like it, but she seems so miserable… ):
I’m gonna say the haircut was part of a failed plan to escape the country by impersonating a man.
The last pic gives me a “Tilda Swinton” feeling!
I don’t love it, but I don’t totally hate it. I agree with the comments ^.
From a distance, you could easily mistake her for a tall young man. I almost get the feeling she did it to turn him off………
“She’s depressed, she’s stuck in a rotten marriage, and she loves clothes.” Is the most perfectly succinct description of P. Diana evah!
Funny but I immediately thought she’s sending out a princess in distress signal along the line of, “I am like Princess Diana, miserable marriage, cheating s.o.b., bound by royalty more than vows and certainly not by love.”
Maybe that’s what she said to the stylist right before he said, “I’ll give you “The Princess in the tower” look.
Diana wore it better though. I don’t know exactly why but this cut on her isn’t very flattering imo.
i think the twisted prince got tired of his pretty princess bride prisoner, so he chopped her hair and put her in suit jackets, so that now he’s got an all new “boy” to torture down in his castle dungeon. (there are rumors that twisted prince swings both ways)
It’s funny but certain angles I like it, others I don’t. I think it could have been a prettier cut. Don’t mind the short ‘do.
not bad imho
I like it.
She looks good, but that’s no surprise as she always looks striking with her hair up. But every friend I have ever had that cut their hair off raved about it for two weeks or so and began growing it out immediately. They loved it for one season but didn’t want to keep it that way.
I like it! I am a fan of short hair since I have baby fine hair that does nothing unless I gel it – she has the same thing. So short and gel works great. And since she has such a lovely face, the haircut shows off her pretty face!
I like it, but then again I’m a fan of shorter hair cuts. It reminds me of Cate Blanchett.
Much better pics than the ones I saw yesterday. I rather like it. She seems to have settled & doesn’t appear as miserable as last year.
Maybe her hair was so damaged they had to chop it off!
Reading all these comments reminds me of the thing Michelle Williams said about her short hair, that women love it but straight men hate it. I really like the cut but then again, I’m a woman.
The eyes and cheek make up. Uhmm.. it looks like covering bruises.
I’m getting a Julie Andrews…Victor/Victoria vibe off this.
LOVE IT!!
I don’t understand all the Princess Charlene posts. Is she really a “thing,” or are you trying to make her happen like Duchess Kate?
i don’t think she was on any one’s radar, and we probably wouldn’t have noticed that she married Albert without all that wedding drama. For a freshly minted Princess,she’s awfully miserable looking. Her marriage is like a car accident. you can’t help but stop and look.
As for never knowing what to do with her hair, she WAS an Olympic swimmer- swimming in a pool will trash your hair like nothing else. She probably spent half her life with her hair green from chlorine. I bet she still swims regularly, and while she probably has people doing all kinds of treatments on her hair, my friends who were swimmers never learned to love doing their hair. When they were competing, it was all they could do to wrestle it into a ponytail, and even now they don’t feel like they have a good grasp on their hair.
She is probably getting back into swimming. She needs to train and stay in shape. You never know when you’ll need to make a desperate, clandestine, middle of the night swim across the English Channel or something, for..some…reason.
I actually think she needs to go shorter. Look how great she looks from the left – the side without the length. Fabulous. It’s the right side with more fullness/length that is unflattering.
She should go full pixie. It would be fab.
And yes, I think she was making a declaration of (limited) independence.
I hope she’s getting it on with the stable boy.
It doesn’t look bad. It doesn’t look good either.
Sporty and cute. The prince is looking at her weird. Some men can’t handle short hair on their women : )
I like it-sort of Tilda Swinton-y. I can see a bit of Diana, but Diana was stunning even when she was miserable.
The cut makes a bold statement-and doesn’t look like a non-committal mullet-y thing. Maybe it also keeps Al from hitting on her as often…
Cutting off you hair can be empowering for a woman who just went through the fuss and silliness (and still ingrained sexism) of being a bride. With Charlene, all of the above was so much worse than what we non-royals ladies would have to tolerate. Also, I bet she didn’t have a fussy hair cut as an Olympic swimmer-probably when she was at her happiest.
Funny, I cut my hair off about a month after my wedding-I was reasserting the old pre-marriage me, before I grew my hair out for our wedding in very traditional (and humid) Richmond, Virginia. My marriage lasted almost 16 yrs with two kids, but it did end.
Keep workin’ on that backbone, Charlene!
Huzzah-Nadal is back-he is soooo sexy!
I really like her new haircut. Makes me think of Julie Andrews. I can’t wait for her to have children.
Bowie-Swinto-esque. Whoa (head whips around) Rafael Nadal!
Makes her look like she’d rather have a wife than a husband.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that! 🙂
For a sec, I thought this was Ellen DeGeneres.
She should take style tips from the amazing Dara Torres. That woman knows how to rock a short ‘do.
More concierge like than princess or like a flu victim that crawled from bed to attend a match.
Even when she’s smiling she still looks so sad….
Beautiful!
She looks amazing. Love it.
I like it, she has a good face for short hair. But then I’m biased since I wear my own about that length and in a similar style. So easy to care for but damn it’s expensive to maintain.
Oh, oh, big mistake! Her hair was her crowning glory!(Pun intended).She was by far the most elegant looking female guest at Prince William’s wedding. Her hairdo & hat were exquisite. Now she looks kind of dykish.
I don’t like this cut. Especially when paired with those clothes. She looks mannish.
Really don’t like it.. it’s unflattering on her.
She looks gorgeous! I love it!
She looks great and can really carry it off!
I think she looks beautiful as always. She can try any style and pull it off. She has the guts to try and careless about what others think. You have to have tough skin to be in her position and I think she is doing great. It is funny how people that do not like her take the time to look her up and comment on her. I do not see anything so sad about her she is laughing and smiling. It just really shows how some people believe anything they read. If she was trying to escape from Monaco and not get married, Where are the pictures of her running away and the third child out of wedlock? I would assume that if they are true someone would have shown some proof. I have not seen any evidence to confirm those ridiculously stupid rumors. She is an independent woman with an olympic gold medal from swimming and she was a teacher. I do not blame them not to pay any attention to that nonsense because it is just gossip for the magazines. Just because Prince Albert has two children out of wedlock does not mean they do not love each other. Those children were before he met Charlene, even though he is a royal he has made mistakes too. He has been a bachelor and probably careless with himself never thinking he would ever get married. He met Charlene and I think they are each others best friend and they love each other.
She’s the anti-princess with that hair. I like it though. Very kick-butt.
I can’t really describe it but she never seems really present. Like she’s willing herself a million miles away in a better place.
Actually suz, you describe it just perfectly.
*sigh* Looking at that picture of Diana I’m reminded of what a uniquely beautiful woman she was.
The first picture looks like he’s thinking “Bitch, I told you to stay in the car!”
So true!!!
The cut is okay. But she impresses me as being a very unhappy person.
She reminds me of Jane Lynch from glee
I like the cut on her. If it didn’t look so good I’d be leaning towards the possibility her husband may have preferred it longer and it was a bit of a middle finger gesture.
I think she can pull it off…it looks very nice on her. She could also wear other short styles, more teased with height, as alternates.
I like how he looks shocked/horrified in a few of the pics. I also like to imagine that every time he turns towards her, he involuntarily screams a little before managing to compose himself. And she’s thinking, “it’s working…”
Too funny!! I like those thoughts too!
I love it. It’s perfect for her thin blondie hair. With just a touch of Sinead O’Rebellion.
I just cut off 5-6 inches of my own hair. I’m in the “dissatisfied with my life” camp.
I like it on her. Looks more breezy and light, not weighted down (like her marriage).
The cut is Diana but she looks more Theron than Diana (when Theron had really short hair).
I think what also helps is that she has mystery. Waity’s too in your face and desperate for it for her to ever be a Diana (I’m talking about her celebrity and not her humanitarian work. No modrn Princess/Duchess comes close to that).
i like her hair shorter like that.
I agree with Noble’s comments. I’d say Albert has some serious ennemies around him .. are also jalous of his wife and want their marriage to fail therefore spreading vicious rumors. I don’t blame Charlene for looking more uncomfortable in Monaco [than sad] . She has a neutral,”set face” for public appearance in Monaco that I haven’t seen when travelling abroad. As for the nasty comments about Prince Albert’s looks ….at over 20 yrs older and several inches shorter, was Carlo Ponti ,who married Sophia Loren , a George Clooney look-alike ??? Give them a break !!! and if they ever divorce ,,,they won’t be the first couple to do so . In the meantime let’s not be so petty and mean to a woman who has showed kindness to others and has done nothing to deserve such treatments from most of us. She is a better person than all of us for taking these hits with much dignity . I admire her a lot.