What’s Happening: From gravity-defying bouffants to the politically charged hairstyles of a tumultuous 20th century, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs spotlights how hair forms an essential part of one’s identity and reflects their innermost convictions.

The Download: Few human attributes reflect an era’s general mood—or serve as a vehicle for self-expression—better than hair. Take the ornamental styles of late-18th-century women, the politically charged afros and skinheads that emerged in the 1970s, and the avant-garde quaffs found on fashion runways. Each is examined in “Des Cheveux et des Poils” (“Hair and Hairs”), an exhibition on view through Sept. 17 at Paris’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Collecting close to 600 works, the show investigates how hairdos form an essential aspect of identity.

The show stretches back to the 15th century, when female styles proved to be a major social indicator. Women wore veils to obey the command of Saint Paul, but gradually abandoned the practice in favor of extravagant compositions like 18th-century poufs and hurluberlus—or, depending on one’s social class, taut Victorian austerity. (Well-to-do women rarely appeared in public with their hair down.) Ditto for men’s facial hair, which was rare until the 16th century when a handful of Western monarchs sported beards, sparking a cyclical fervor for mustaches and sideburns that persists today. Body hair, meanwhile, was long viewed as taboo. Nudes in visual arts often excluded hair, depicting smooth, hairless bodies as aspirational.

Encapsulating hair’s multifaceted history in a mere 600 objects is no small feat, and the exhibition finds an abundance of thorny topics to unpack. Among them: the implications of baldness, the popularity of wigs ranging from King Louis XIV to Andy Warhol, and the symbolism of natural colors such as blonde (childhood innocence) and red (sultry witches). “An exhibition about hair,” the critic Rosa Lyster writes for the New York Times, “is also an exhibition about self-presentation, self-perception, difference and hierarchy, race, religion, control, disgust, childhood, adulthood, masculinity, and femininity.” But in the interest of not splitting hairs, the regal chignons and gravity-defying curls are entertainment enough.

In Their Own Words: “Hair serves as a reflection of culture and society, revealing much more than just personal style,” Annie Young-Scrivner, CEO of the Wells Company, which sponsored the exhibition, tells Dazed. “From political protests to societal norms, hair is a lens to view the state of our world.”

Surface Says: We’re eager for the “can I speak to the manager” haircut to get the museum treatment.

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An accomplished hospitality designer who learned the ropes at Roman & Williams, Loren Daye finds beauty and value in embracing the unknown. That explains why she put her own studio, the New York–based LOVEISENOUGH, on pause for eight years to spearhead interiors for Ace Hotel, and why no two of her projects post-Ace look or feel the same, from her tranquil Clinton Hill live-work space to a colorful new Sichuan restaurant in Greenpoint.

When: Aug. 5–Sept. 9

Where: Exhibition the Barn, Bridgehampton

What: Christine Berry and Martha Campbell, founders of the stalwart Berry Campbell gallery known for spotlighting overlooked women of Abstract Expressionism, team up with designer Elena Frampton to showcase their favorite women artists and designers dating back to the 1950s. Taking its name and theme from a seminal 1973 exhibition held at the New York Cultural Center that became the city’s first large-scale museum show of women artists, the show presents a cross-section of painting, sculpture, lighting, and furniture. Our favorites: a rare work on paper by Elaine de Kooning and anthropomorphic stools by Barbora Žilinskaitė.

Our weekly roundup of the internet’s most preposterous headlines, from the outrageous to the outright bizarre.

Parents Hire $4,000 Sorority Consultants to Help Daughters Dress and Impress During Rush [WSJ]

38-Year-Old Florida Manatee Dies After “High-Intensity” Sex With Brother [New York Post]

Cheese Wheels Are Being Used to Smuggle Cocaine (Again) [Food & Wine]

Taylor Swift Fans Set Off 2.3 Magnitude “Swift Quake” During Seattle Concert, Says Seismologist [People]

Long Covid’s Brain Fog Is Akin to “Aging Ten Years,” Study Finds [Smithsonian]

Man Who Spent $16K to Transform Into a Dog Steps Out for His First “Walk” in Public [My Modern Met]

Our Bears Are Real, a Chinese Zoo Says, Denying They Are “Humans in Disguise” [AP]

Is it the end of the incandescent lightbulb? Under new energy efficiency rules that took effect this week, light bulbs are now required to meet a minimum standard of 45 lumens—a measurement of brightness—per watt. Incandescent bulbs rarely meet that standard, meaning shoppers in the United States will need to rely on more energy-efficient LED bulbs instead. The Department of Energy expects Americans to collectively save nearly $3 billion annually on utility bills as a result of the change. Energy economist Lucas Davis puts it in clearer terms: “Going from an incandescent to an LED is like replacing a car that gets 25 miles per gallon with another one that gets 130.”

Duplex is a New York–based design boutique engaged with the world’s most iconic design brands, groundbreaking talents, and master artisans, all of whom offer a surrealistic take on form and function. Its founder, Patrizio Chiarparini, brings a curatorial approach to Duplex’s roster with the goal of providing clients with a sophisticated, unexpected range of pieces.

Surface Says: Chiarparini goes the extra mile—literally—to offer one-of-a-kind design objects and exhibitions, making Duplex a global destination for those lucky enough to be in the know.

Stroll down the Slip, a Manhattan street that birthed a generation of artists.

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