When I think of Carey Mulligan, I think of a bob. No – I think of a perfect bob. She’s worn it tousled, choppy, bumped under, flicked out and poker straight, always ending midway along the jaw. At the Governors Awards last year, her bob was smooth and icy-blonde with a little volume and subtle tuck at the ends. For the 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards, not a hair lay out of place when it came to her razor-sharp cut. In the bob sphere, she’s well-versed. Which is what makes her recent cut so surprising: Carey has a crop now!
Seen arriving for an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Mulligan’s hair was noticeably shorter and flipped to the side – detailed with small twists of hair at the front and through the middle of her head. The work of longtime hairstylist Bryce Scarlett – who also works with Lily-Rose Depp, Margot Robbie, Hailey Bieber and Saoirse Ronan, among others – the length just hit the bottom of her ear lobe, scraping the top of the nape of her neck. Plus, because of the wet look the pair have struck on, her colour looks darker, too – interspersed with golden flecks and darker acorn tones.
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This isn’t the first time Mulligan’s gone short, nor experimented with twists and braids. In 2012, she tapped into the boho-obsessed trend cycle with a piecey bob that had a fish-plaited front. Before that, she championed a choppy blonde pixie, which, as it would turn out, was a necessity after sustaining severe bleach damage.
Mulligan’s new cut is a fresh take on the micro-bob trend that’s been floating around for the last few years. It’s longer than a pixie cut but sits closer to the face than a French bob, with a sleekness that’s often hard to effect without going razor sharp or very short. At the moment, it remains nameless. What say we christen it the Carey Crop?
