Jessica Rabbit, the iconic animated character from the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, is known for her wildly voluminous red hair. With her bright red locks teased up into a gravity-defying bouffant, Jessica’s hairstyle is just as memorable as her slinky red dress and hourglass figure.
The History of Jessica Rabbit’s Signature Hairstyle
Jessica Rabbit was created by author Gary K. Wolf for his 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? The book featured cartoon characters living in a real world setting alongside humans. When the book was adapted into the hit 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit by director Robert Zemeckis, Jessica was re-imagined with her now famous hyper-sexualized look, complete with a plunging neckline, form-fitting dress, and bombshell red hair.
Jessica’s exaggerated proportions and style pay homage to the cartoon bombshells of the 1940s and 1950s. Her look draws inspiration from female icons of the era like Betty Grable and Veronica Lake as well as the female characters featured in Tex Avery’s animated short films of the ’40s and ’50s. Jessica’s cascading, brilliant red hair is a direct nod to the lush, fiery manes sported by these retro sirens.
Bringing Jessica to life in Who Framed Roger Rabbit required innovation and creativity from the animation team. To achieve the gravity-defying height and volume of Jessica’s bouffant hairdo, animators used REAL hair, sculpting and shaping it over wire frames to define the structure. Each individual hair was then drawn or painted. The final animated effect of Jessica’s hair blowing in the wind and bouncing as she moves was achieved by photographing the REAL hair frame-by-frame as it was manipulated by the artists.
Defining Characteristics of Jessica’s Iconic Hairstyle
So what exactly is the name of Jessica Rabbit’s bombshell retro hairstyle? Let’s break down the key elements:
- High and teased: Jessica’s hair is swept up into an incredibly tall, rounded bouffant shape that sits high on her head, with volume concentrated on the crown and top.
- Voluminous: Her hair has massive, exaggerated volume all over but especially on top.
- Teased: The bouffant shape is achieved through teasing or backcombing of the hair, creating tons of lift and body.
- Windswept: Red wisps and tendrils escape around the sides and back of the style, blowing loosely as though caught in a breeze.
- Flowing: The rest of her hair cascades down her back in smooth, flowing, shiny waves.
The Bouffant
The defining aspect of Jessica Rabbit’s hairstyle is the bouffant shape. A bouffant refers to hair that is teased at the crown to create a large, rounded puff on top of the head. This puffy bouffant gives the illusion of incredibly high volume.
Bouffant styles first emerged in the late 1950s, often paired with short bangs or a sideswept fringe in front. The beehive is a variation of the bouffant shaped into a tall, conical mound rather than a rounded puff. Both styles involve teasing the hair to achieve extreme height on top of the head.
Like many women of the 1950s, Jessica’s bouffant likely requires a great deal of backcombing and hairspray to maintain its gravity-defying height all night long. Her voluminous locks probably also incorporate some strategic padding or even hairpieces to boost the volume even further into cartoon bombshell territory.
How to Create a Jessica Rabbit Bouffant
Here are some tips for recreating Jessica’s sensational, retro redhead bouffant:
- Apply volumizing mousse from roots to ends and blow dry with a round brush.
- Tease the hair at the crown aggressively with a comb or teasing brush.
- Smooth over the top layer with a brush while leaving the interior teased for max lift.
- Spray heavily with strong hold hairspray.
- Curl the lengths with a curling iron or hot rollers.
- Backcomb the front to sweep into a side fringe.
- Finish with more hairspray to lock in the shape.
Some added volume from clip-in hair extensions and the strategic use of some rats or fillers can help take the bouffant to even greater Jessica heights. Just beware of the cloud of hairspray and army of bobby pins required to construct this gravity-defying ‘do!
Jessica Rabbit’s Hair in Pop Culture
Ever since her debut in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit’s exaggerated proportions and enormous red bouffant have made her an iconic sex symbol. She is undoubtedly one of the most famous redheads in animation history. Jessica’s hair in particular has been the subject of endless fascination and imitation.
In 1989, just a year after the film’s release, American pop star Paula Abdul released her music video for “Cold Hearted,” which paid homage to Jessica Rabbit with Abdul donning a sequined red dress and massive curly red wig fashioned into a bouffant. Abdul struck provocative Jessica-esque poses amidst cartoon animation backing up her song.
Throughout the 1990s, Jessica Rabbit inspired looks dominated costume stores and Halloween with women eager to replicate her fiery red mane and curve-hugging gown. A Jessica Rabbit costume remains a popular choice for cosplay enthusiasts and Halloween partiers to this day.
Various celebrities have channeled Jessica’s cartoonish sex appeal over the years in photo shoots, music videos, and performances from the likes of Lady Gaga to Nicki Minaj. The bouffant has even gained traction outside the context of Jessica costumes, spotted on stars like Katy Perry and Rihanna as an edgy, retro-glam look.
Most recently, reality star Kylie Jenner caused a stir when she faced backlash for debuting a curvaceous figure with flowing red locks shaped into a clear homage to Jessica Rabbit’s signature style. Jenner’s look demonstrated just how enduring the pop culture impact of Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s beloved bombshell remains decades later.
Jessica Rabbit’s Hairstyle Impact on Fashion
The influence of Jessica’s exaggerated retro glamour goes beyond costumes and cosplay. Her iconic hairstyle and hourglass figure have had a wider impact on fashion trends.
In the early 1990s, as Who Framed Roger Rabbit remained wildly popular, Jessica Rabbit fashion took off. Many women embraced Jessica’s hyper-feminine aesthetic of dramatic makeup, show-stopping dresses, and bouffant hairstyles piled high with teasing and hairspray. For a period, it was stylish to emulate Jessica’s impossible voluptuous curves and bombshell beauty.
Therounded bouffant saw a resurgence in the 1990s and early 2000s alongside other retro hairstyles. Hair accessories like large flowers, bows, and hair combs surged in popularity for embellishing bouffant updos. While not as extreme as Jessica’s exaggerated proportions, her influence could be felt in fashion trends that favored hair teased to new heights.
Today, Jessica Rabbit remains an inspiration behind trends like the return of the beehive hairdo and modern takes on retro bombshell glamour. Red carpet looks and editorials channel her daring 1950s spirit into new iterations of skin-tight gowns and voluminous, bouncy curls.
Jessica also epitomizes old Hollywood allure, standing as a muse behind today’s vintage-inspired makeup looks and Veronica Lake-esque deep waves. Although exaggerated, her fanciful hairstyle and curvaceous figure possess an undeniable, enduring power over the imagination.
Conclusion
With her gravity-defying bouffant, wispy tendrils, and cascading waves of shiny red hair, Jessica Rabbit’s hairstyle is as voluptuous and exaggerated as her cartoonish figure. Her retro styling pays homage to the bouffants, beehives and perfect pin curls of 1950s bombshells while amplified to extreme, unrealistic proportions.
While “Jessica Rabbit bouffant” is the most common way to describe her bold, animated hairstyle, it also embodies elements of other volumized updos from the era like the beehive and teased-top ponytail. This fiery red mane has made Jessica Rabbit one of the most iconic animated sex symbols and hair inspirations of all time – proving sometimes big hair really does make a big impression!
| Decade | Hairstyle Trends Inspired by Jessica Rabbit |
|---|---|
| 1980s | High bouffants, side swept bangs |
| 1990s | Bouffants, beehives, hair bows |
| 2000s | Retro updos, pin curls |
| 2010s | Exaggerated waves, vintage glamour |
Jessica Rabbit’s bold, bouffant hairstyle has been influencing pop culture and fashion trends for decades. Her gravity-defying red locks remain one of the most memorable and iconic hairstyles of all time.