A few days ago, Princess Charlene debuted a whole new look during a visit to the Red Cross station in Monaco. Charlene had longish hair (like, shoulder length) when she married Prince Albert back in 2011. Then about a year into her marriage, she went dramatically short, with a haircut, style and color that I always thought looked a lot like Princess Diana’s circa 1996. Then Charlene had her twin babies last year, and it seemed like she was growing her hair out to a sleek bob. But no more. Now she’s got a Mia Farrow-circa-Rosemary’s-Baby haircut.
What are we calling this? Is it just a classic pixie cut? I think so. Charlene went from Princess Diana’s hair to Mom Hair and now she’s got Audrey Hepburn’s haircut. Or Mia Farrow’s in Rosemary’s Baby, whatever you want to call it. While I’m really not a lover of pixie cuts on most women, I kind of think Charlene is pulling it off. But what does her husband think?
As sovereign of Monaco, Prince Albert has lots of experience with diplomacy. So when it comes to his stylish wife Princess Charlene and her super-short new haircut, his views are perfectly calibrated. Asked whether she sought his advice before making the chop, he replies, “I knew that she wanted to do that, and I think she looks great with short hair,” he told PEOPLE in an exclusive new interview just before Monaco’s National Day on Thursday.
“It was the end of summer and she was doing a lot of activities with the kids,” he explains. “It’s more like she walked into the room and said, ‘What do you think?'”
I kind of love that Charlene doesn’t consult him. My theory is that their marriage is SO much stronger now that they have the babies. I think the pressure is off for them, and now Charlene just does whatever she wants and it doesn’t seem like she and Albert even live in the same place all that often. The haircut might not even be that recent, it’s just that Albert hadn’t seen her in weeks and Charlene doesn’t come out to many events, so she can go months without being photographed. Anyway… yeah, I doubt Albert cares that much about her hair. But I do think it looks cute-ish.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
That haircut is horrible. It adds years to her face. I hope she realizes what an awful mistake she made and grows it out!
I disagree. She has a classically beautiful face and can carry it off. I love it.
Agreed Judyk somehow i thought it would exacerbate the crazy face But actually idk she is pulling it off flaw-free, and obvi im the resident Short hair cheerleader of CB
I think it shows off her beautiful face. She looks gorgeous. Love it on her.
I really like it too!
Agree with JudyK. I think she looks beautiful that’s a hard haircut to work and your bone structure has to be really nice. I could never, but I think she looks great, and younger. Why do people insist that long hair is always youthful? It’s not at all.
I love it. I think it’s very flattering. She seems so much happier now that she doesn’t have to have a romantic relationship with Albert. Regardless of how they got pregnant, it’s pretty clear they’ve found a better working relationship and she’s fulfilled her commitments. I suspect they live completely separate lives and she’s better for it.
Count me in with the ‘love it’ crowd. I think it really highlights her beautiful face. It makes me want to take my, already short, hair even shorter.
I like the crazy face, it’s almost beautiful in an artistic way.
I think it’s lovely. She can pull it off. So few can.
I agree with JudyK….it is a hard haircut to pull off but she does it.
God, it’s terrible.
Yep, I agree with JudyK too. She has the bone structure to pull it off and it suits her, even if it is a wee bit too short for my taste. Still, I think it’s the pictures that aren’t doing her any justice.
That’s no bone structure, that’s fillers.
She has a nice thin face with beautiful features and can pull off a short pixie cut like that. It must feel liberating and free to have it that length. For myself I would like a little more on the forehead.
@samihami – I agree. That hair looks ridiculous, there’s not many people who can actually pull off short hair. While her bone structure is fine for it, she just aged herself 10 years.
Funny how we can all look at a person and see something totally different; beauty truly is subjective to at least some degree. I totally disagree that the haircut (and short hair in general) ages women. It depends on the woman and the haircut and I think that Charlotte is rocking that pixie. It really shows off her lovely bone structure and with her being active and having twin babies, it totally makes sense for her lifestyle as well. She looks like a thoroughly modern royal (which is a rarity).
While I agree in general with throwing out hairstyle rules and doing what works for you, as a general rule, after a certain age (not that Charlotte was there yet) long hair ages a person. Things start to sag and having long hair only accentuates that. The right haircut can take a decade off a person’s face. And some of us (myself included) just look better with short hair. The first time I got a pixie cut in my twenties a guy I worked with gushed that I should never grow my hair again and the bartenders at the bar that I had frequented for years were suddenly asking if I was a model. I would still grow my hair out occasionally because I’d get bored or didn’t have the $ to keep getting it cut, but I always get the most compliments when my hair is short, even from guys. I’ll get off my pixie soap box now.
I agree. I think you have to have a certain shaped face and “look” to carry off a pixie. My daughter can do it, I cannot and never have been able to pull it off.
IMO – I think she looks great with short hair, she just needs a bit more length.
I agree its ugly haircut on her. She’s a pretty woman though.. She looked better with longer hair (even short hair that’s slightly longer than this , that reaches the neck. Everyone has a different opiniion, but as long as she’s happy
She has fillers to her lips and cheeks, FYI.
Yep, I totally noticed the new fillers. I like her hair though.
YES – I was thinking “what happened to her face”
It adds YEARS?!?! OMG THE HORROR, THE HORROR! ANYTHING BUT YEARS!
/sarcasm font
Noooooooooo! too Ellen DeGeneres!
I think she looks gorgeous.
I think she has just aged because she married into that family. Everyone loses their looks. But with that being said, I think she still looks lovely with the hair cut.
The haircut is nice, but I think she did it to offset whatever she did to her face.
+1 correct
Yeah that’s what I’m thinking too. I’ve never found her particularly beautiful though.
+1
Why, why do women do this? Is a waxen and bloated looking face better than wrinkles? Are wrinkles so terribly shameful that we must submit to the knife, needle, and laser?
yes.
^^this and to me all it does is emphasise all the work that’s already been done to her face.
I scrolled past this headline/pic a dozen times today on my way to other threads. Not until I clicked it just now did I realize it’s about Princess Charlene and not Charlize Theron.
Just look up some of her older photos on the Internet (search Charlene Wittstock). She used to look completely different! I mean – she looked like a different person. She went through a complete makeover – nose, lips, eyes, probably also her chin…it’s kind of surprising that everyone assumes she is naturally beautiful.
And this brings me to another question – who does that? I could understand some minor improvements (although I would never ever do that to myself, not because I’m so perfect – I’m definitely not – it’s just my looks are not so important to me) but wiping out the entire family history out of your face? This begs some serious existential/psychological questions.
I would never want old friends to see me and think … whaaaa—???
so I agree
Love!!! Yes I know others don’t, but there is something so liberating about short hair to me. Makes me want to get it all chopped off, even knowing how the grow out would be painful.
Every few years I chop off my hair (by then it’s usually past my shoulder blades and approaching my waist) and rock a pixie cut. Last time I cut off 2 1/2 feet of hair and donated it. I get to contribute to charity and spend a year with the easiest, breeziest hair cut. Liberating is the right word. 🙂
Kudos to you for donating your hair!
I so want to go that short again, but just don’t have the nerve. I always admire it, though.
I love short hair, although I can’t really do it (between thinning hair and being large… It wouldn’t read as fresh or fierce on me), but I do not like it in this instance because it is clearly meant to distract from whatever she did to her face.
I love it, too. No one would ever suggest that a man keep his hair longer to soften his features or cover his age. I find this the insulting comments on this post exhausting. She looks good, and she should wear her hair any darn way she would like to.
Le tres fug.
je suis d’accord
I love it…but I love a pixie. She just needs to learn how to style it more casually.
It does age her just because pixie cuts draw attention to your features, so you notice the wrinkles around her eyes, etc, where you might not if her hair were longer. But I still love a woman with the confidence to rock next to no hair.
I love it too.
And I also love a pixie cut, if only I could pull it off.
Count me as a third – I love a pixie cut, too. I almost always applaud the choice. I’ve had one several times, starting with the first haircut I chose for myself when I was eleven (my mother was super controlling). There’s something so liberating about just going for it, damn the torpedoes style. My philosophy has always been that it’s just hair, it grows back.
So, yay for a confident, almost 38-year-old woman not being afraid of showing the world she has a few wrinkles around her eyes. I think it looks beautiful on her.
I’m with you guys. I love a pixie cut and have done it myself a few times. As byland said, it’s such a liberating feeling to chop all your hair off.
Good for Charlene, I think she looks happy and fresh.
I love it, but I think it needs to be about 1 cm longer.
I agree. It’ll be perfect in a month.
It’s not ugly, but it highlights the fact that she can’t move her face.
1+ Because its swollen or Botox or both. And she looks somewhat ill.
She’s had some work done, yes. But the rest is unhappiness. She hasn’t looked happy since she got engaged.
Her happy photos don’t feed into the runaway-bride storyline, so they aren’t as popular. She usually looks happy when she’s working with her swimming charity, and when she’s with their new twins.
I’m not a fan of short hair. She looks good though, she has the cheekbones and pretty face to pull it off.
Love it! I’m so sick of long hair on everyone. I love “actual haircuts”, if that makes sense. Duchess Kate need to cut her royal mop!
No way! Kate’s hair is beautiful. it’d be a crime to cut it.
Are you being sarcastic? The wiglet and extensions are beautiful?
I agree. It’s refreshing to see something different. As others have said, it’s just hair anyway.
I love it! I used to have a pixie cut myself, but ‘m too fat for that now. *sigh*
Lol, I wrote ahead how it’s murder to grow out, but alas my fat face wouldn’t do it justice either :). Sigh, remember by skinny face number four buzz cut look
Albert strikes me as liking longer hair on women and so I love it. Also Charlene has very thin hair so I kind of think this is great on her. Finally, she looks older than 37, but she looks more fierce with this cut. It suits her.
holy crap, I had no idea she was only two years older than me. I would never have guessed.
PSA: USE SUNSCREEN.
christine, I think the same. She and Sophie Wessex appear to have fine, thin hair. Bolting a tiara to that cannot be easy. Either cut the hair short, or grow it long enough to put it up. Less trouble that way.
The hair is…not great.
I think she looks good and cute.
Très chic. She has the bone structure to pull it off. Love it.
I feel like a pixie cut is a style that very few women can carry off. I’m not feeling it here.
Ginnifer Goodwin is another one that needs to lay off the pixie-it makes her look like a plucked chicken.
Ooh, I think Charlene’s is miles better than Ginnifer’s. Ginnifer always looks way too severe whereas I think Charlene’s somehow conveys more softness even thought it is pretty darn short.
I am a sucker for a pixie but I know how brutal it is to grow one out so I know I’d never go there again. I think lots of women stay away from the style because we’ve become conditioned to think that longer hair is somehow more beautiful. Boo.
Charlene has awesome cheekbones so it somehow works here.
Ginnifer needs longer hair! She has a beautiful round face and looks stunning with long Snowwhite hair… her real-life pixie ruins her beauty almost completely.
I know! Long hair softens her and makes her look at least ten years younger! It’s amazing that Ginnifer doesn’t see it herself. Maybe she doesn’t like the upkeep with long hair?
I like the cut.
Wiglet popped on top. Awful.
while i agree it make he look a tad older, I think once it grows out a bit it’ll be cute.
It seems very…square or boxy no?
and i love that he said to the press he loves her with short hair, but I can’t disagree that they probably don’t hang out much anyways :/
FLATTERING!
Just came to say that I don’t know who this woman is, but she looks seriously cute with this haircut. I love when a woman has everything to look “standardly” beautiful but chooses not to.
It’s okay. She can pull it off, I guess for what it is. But I’ve never liked a pixie cut on anybody. It’s just not particularly flattering.
YUCK!
It looks great and very fresh. I’m surprised so many people here hate it. My first thought was “YES!” Sure, it highlights the tweaking but maybe that’ll settle down and she can hold back from having more done.
I love it. Her face and eyes can totes pull it off.
Love.It.
I’m surprised most of the comments seem to be all or nothing – totally love it or absolutely hate it. No judgment, just an observation. I say that because I landed in the middle. In the header pic I thought “I adore this, she’s killing it!” But the pics in the article made me unsure. I sort of love it, sort of think not so much? Anyone else feel this way? BTW, I totally agree with the comment that this might be a distraction from some face work. Have her cheekbones always been so…full? And waxy? She is still wonderful and lovely and gorgeous, though.
No, I’m not in the middle. I don’t find a pixie cut flattering on most woman. Some can pull it off, but it’s still not all that flattering. I love short haircuts, though, and MIley Cyrus has had some great ones. I have never like severe pixie cuts, though.
I love very short hair cuts, long on top, like this one.
http://stylesweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Chic-Messy-Short-Hairdos-2015.jpg
Love the hair in that link. It’s like a modern and more attractive version of a pixie…which I don’t care for on anyone honestly.
I’m with you. I love that she went pixie but there’s something about this cut that could be better. I think it;s the bang area. Like maybe if it were swept down across her forehead…
I like it when women aren’t scared to change up their hair style and not be stuck to just one style for all of their lives.
Charlene has that kind of face that looks good all on its own. She’s one of those women that would still look good bald. I envy that.
But I think this hair on top, mop/puffy bowl-cut style is just wrong. Hopefully she’ll let her side hair grow out a bit more in order to balance out what’s on top.
I like it! She’s had it an an awkward length for a while now. I think this is so much more flattering.
In a month or so it will be great. It needs to settle. Go for it, Charlene!
Anyone got an ID on that lovely wrap dress in the last pic?
I like the pixie cut. I thinks she pulls it off but perhaps a shade darker blond would suit this hairstyle more.
Another site said Ralph Lauren. Specific style looks like Lauren By Ralph Lauren Trey Shawl-Collar Buckle or Wrap Dress.
It’s a little severe at present, *but*… less hair for the babies to pull ( I have twins, the hair pulling during nursing was rough!)!
The new cut really accentuates her numerous plastic surgeries.
I’m not one for short hair but she looks stunning. Her new do showcases her phenomenal bone structure.
I love it!
She has a pretty face but I don’t like the cut. It’s too short on the sides or something.
very chic. She looks so much chicer. I do notice she looks unusually tighter and pulled around the eyes. I think someone got refreshed.
The babies looked adorable on the balcony during the festivities, but that burgundy hat of Charlene’s has got to go.
She looks cute. And why in the world would she ask Albert if she should cut her hair? She’s a grown woman and it’s her hair.
The babies are adorable. I like her hat. She wears it well.
I think the lack of short bangs olus the chunky highlights makes it look a bit incomplete. She has the large face to pull it off but the cut could be better, I guess. 😉
Charlene is a beautiful chic woman. She is rocking the Audrey look.
Hmmm….I don’t know. I’m getting a Brigitte Nielsen circa 2004 vibe from this haircut.
I think the haircut ages her, but don’t agree that short hair ages women in general. Although, it may not be the haircut that aged her, rather than the complete reconstruction of her face! Yikes – forget fillers. It looks like someone went in there and messed around wi/her bones.
I think she was trying to be like her fellow South African Charlize Theron, but Charlize has a better face and well she’s Charlize Theron and she’s even more stunning than this pretty lady.
I think she looks like that fan picture of Rihanna that’s always on buzzfeed and looks awful
First there was Princess Only Hair and now there is Princess Little Hair! I prefer a happy medium. Wonder how an elevated bob would look on Charlene. Usually love those on round faces, but I think hers is more oval (not really a face guru though).
Glancing at the picture on the home page, I thought it was Lisa Kudrow.
She looks pretty, but I might like it more if she brought her hair forward on her forehead juuuust a bit.
A tiny bit more volume and it looks great.
Beautiful! I wish I had the head / face to have this pixie hair cut. Super cute.
I like the idea but this cut is a little severe. A little more length and fullness it’ll look better.
She looks great!
Fug.
the cut would be alright but it accentuates all the weird plasticyness going on with her face. it’s too bad. i’d want to hide that behind a little hair, myself…
I’m 5 months postpartum and cutting my hair off like this seems more and more appealing each day. I’m dealing with a lot of hair loss and thinning and I bet she is too.
I call it Jean Seberg in Breathless hair, but it looked better on JS.
I like the cut actually and if my face could carry it, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But proportionally, I think she’s way too tall and especially way too broad-shouldered for it. She’s got a bit of a pinhead look if you back off and get the whole effect. She may have had to cut it, too – pregnancy can do weird things to hair and one can end up having to cut it just to let it grow back to what it once felt like.
HOT! I am so envious – I’d grab the shears now and go for it myself if I new that I could look like her with my hair cut short. Alas – the three times I remember cutting my hair short, people couldn’t keep their displeasure to themselves. It was THAT unpopular. I’d SO love to do it though if I could figure out a way to make it appear less offensive on my huge ugly head/face. 🙁
The problem with pixie cuts is that if you have big ears it makes them look even bigger.
We need new pics of the cute babies!
They were there on the balcony. If you do a search on GettyImages for Monaco National Day 2015 you can see some.
The shortness is fine, but the actual cut is pretty bad. She has a very broad forehead in comparison to her lower face, and it appears her hairdresser just disregarded that fact and cut it exactly how they would if she was an elfin Natalie Portman type.
I like it…
Love, Plus she can style it many different ways 🙂
I’m amazed at how many people don’t like pixies still. I gradually went from long curls to a pixie years ago, and some people would ask, “What did your boyfriend think?” My response is always that it doesn’t matter what he thinks, because it’s my hair.
For the record though, he loved that I did it because it was such a daring thing to do. 🙂
I think it’s a great do for many more women than we’re led to believe (“you have to have the right face for it”). Her cut isn’t that great though. She needs some bangs coming down or something. But hey, we welcome anyone into the pixie army.
I think it looks nice on her. The only thing is that it seems to emphasize how sad she always looks in photos. I know she’s a grown woman and makes her won decisions… I just can’t help it, I feel bad for her always looking so lost.
They deliberately choose those photos to play into the false “she’s unhappy” storyline. She always looks happy around children at her swimming charity events and when she’s with their twins.
This haircut is hideous and Charlene is surgeried to the hilt. I find them both incredibly creepy but Albert is a sleazy old coot.
Her face can change so much! Looking at other pictures, she does look better with slightly longer hair. And here she is actually looking happy with the prince:
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/5JpEmKabfBW/Prince+Albert+II+Monaco+Princess+Charlene/rnZdPydcVfk
I think she looks great, but then, that’s the haircut I always return to. And it’s funny, women always tell me how much they love my haircut & that they wish they could wear their hair like mine, but their husbands wouldn’t like it. And I always think, it’s your hair! Cut it if you want to! And it’s just hair, it’ll grow out if you think it’s a disaster.