A braided updo
It’s very easy to fall into a trap of thinking that a special look is the only look for a certain period. Victory rolls is part of the forties look up to a point that one sometimes feel that every single woman sported them. That is not true, of course. My grandmother Greta never wore them, for example, she almost always wore her hair rather short and curly. After both Pimpinett and I mentioned the character Helga from Allo’ Allo’ in our posts about style icons, Kristina mentioned that she was thinking of getting some false hair to try to emulate her braided hairdo. That’s something I have been thinking about as well as that is a hairstyle that crops up here and there during the forties. At Beauty Is A Thing of the Past where I found this picture of it called “The Countess”, but I think Gretchen-braids is the most common name for it.
The hairdo is easy enough to make. The front is either parted in the middle of brushed back and then the hair is braided and wound over the back of the head like a coronet. If you have long hair, this is probably the easiest 40’s hairstyle to make. For the rest of us, a loose braid would do the trick. For your pleasure and inspiration, I have collected a couple of picture with variations of the same theme.
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Hedy Lamarr
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Linda Darnell
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This version doesn't seem to be braided but twisted like a rope.
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Merle Oberon wear this hairtsyle, or versions of it, in several photos.
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Not a braid here but a row of curls to the same effect.
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The scary Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca wears it too.
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Simone de Beauvoir's hair is not braided, but the style is similar.
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