Seiko-chan cut (聖子ちゃんカット) is a popular name for a kind of

feathered hair Feathered hair is a hairstyling technique that was popular in the 1970s and the early 1980s. It was designed for straight hair. The hair was layered, with either a side or a center parting. The hair would be brushed back at the sides, giving an ...

style, named after and popularized by

Japanese pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

singer and

idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a devotional image of a deity or saint used during puja ...

Seiko Matsuda , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer-songwriter, known for being one of the most popular Japanese idols of the 1980s. Since then, she has continued to release new singles and albums, go on annual summer concert tours, perform at wi ...

, although the hairstyle itself predated Matsuda's debut. The hairstyle was popular among young Japanese women in the 80s. It is a layered haircut that hides the eyebrows with bangs, and the sides are blown outwards and the back is curled inwards.

History

The feathered hairstyle became internationally popular with

Farrah Fawcett Farrah Fawcett (born Ferrah Leni Fawcett; February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009) was an American actress. A four-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she played a ...

, whose hairstyle was referred as the "Farrah-do", "Farrah-flip", or simply "Farrah hair". Some Japanese singers and idols in the late 1970s such as

Sakiko Ito is a Japanese singer. Biography In 1973, at the age of 15, Sakiko Ito was a contestant on the Japanese television show ''Star Tanjō!'' (A Star Is Born) and won a recording contract. The following year she debuted as an idol with the single '' ...

had similar hairstyles to the Seiko-chan cut. Seiko Matsuda wore this hairstyle even before her debut; she is seen with the hairstyle in the drama '' Odaiji ni'' and on the cover of the first single "Hadashi no Kisetsu". The hairstyle was established with the release of the second single "Aoi Sangoshou" and became Matsuda's trademark. It is thought that Matsuda was imitating

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million record ...

who at the time had feathered hair. Matsuda kept this hairstyle until the end of 1981. With the release of her single "Red Sweet Pea" in January of the following year, Matsuda bore shorter hair with a perm, which surprised fans and the public in Japan. According to Matsuda, she wanted to cut her hair, which had a lot of volume since the time of the single "Kaze Tachinu".

Trend in Japan

When Matsuda debuted in 1980, she became popular among ordinary girls and high school students. From this time on, the names "Seiko cut" and "Seiko-chan cut" were established. Popular ''

kayōkyoku is a Japanese pop music genre, which became a base of modern J-pop. ''The Japan Times'' described ''kayōkyoku'' as "standard Japanese pop" or "Shōwa period, Shōwa-era pop". ''Kayōkyoku'' represents a blend of Western and Japanese musical s ...

'' idols such as

Kyoko Koizumi (born February 4, 1966) is a Japanese singer and actress. She is signed to Victor Entertainment. Career In 1981, Kyoko Koizumi participated in and won the Star Tanjo! programme and released her first single in March 1982. She obtained several ...

(before cutting it into a short bob in 1983), Iyo Matsumoto,

Chiemi Hori , better known as , is a Japanese singer, actress, and entertainer represented by Shochiku Geino. Her stage name is a hiragana version (ちえみ) of her given name written in kanji (智栄美), also pronounced Chiemi. Career In 1981, Hori was th ...

and

Yu Hayami is a Japanese singer and television personality. In 2011, the Japanese music television program ''Music Station'' listed her as the 50th all-time best-selling idol in Japan, with 2,850,000 records sold. Childhood and education Hayami was b ...

debuted with the Seiko-chan cut in 1982.

Akina Nakamori is a Japanese Singing, singer and Actor, actress. She is one of the most popular and List of best-selling music artists in Japan, best-selling music artists in Japan. Akina achieved national recognition after winning the 1981 season of the tal ...

made her debut with a longer Seiko-chan cut before changing it into a ponytail. Later in 1984, idols

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and

Yukiko Okada was a Japanese singer and actress, active in the mid-1980s. After winning a nationwide television show at age 15 in 1983, she debuted as an Japanese idol, idol in 1984. Her death by suicide two years later led to a number of copycat suicides, a ...

, the latter a junior of Matsuda, debuted with the Seiko-chan cut. Other idols who debuted with the Seiko-chan cut include

Miho Nakayama was a Japanese singer and actress. She made her debut in the 1985 drama ''Maido Osawagase Shimasu'', where her performance led to instant stardom. Nakayama released her debut single, " C", shortly after, and finished the year with her film deb ...

Yui Asaka is a Japanese singer, idol and actress. She debuted with the single "Natsu Shojo" in 1985 under Warner Music Japan, and made her acting debut with main role in the third series of '' Sukeban Deka'' in 1987. Biography Yui was born in Miyazaki, ...

Hiroko Moriguchi (born June 13, 1968, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan), better known by her stage name is a female Japanese singer and tarento. Moriguchi is affiliated with the talent agency NoReason Inc., where she also serves as Second Production Departm ...

, and Tomomi Nishimura. The trend began to wane in the late 1980s, but pianists such as Ikuyo Nakamichi kept this style until the 1990s. In the 2013 ''

asadora , colloquially known as , is a serialized, 15 minutes per episode, Japanese television drama program series broadcast in the mornings by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The first such series aired in 1961 with the black-and-white , starring Ta ...

'' ''

Amachan is a Japanese television drama series. It debuted on April 1, 2013, and was broadcast until September 28, 2013. It was scripted by Kankurō Kudō and starred Rena Nōnen as Aki Amano, a high-school girl from Tokyo who moves to the Sanriku Coast ...

'', Haruko Amano (

), who played the youth, appeared with a Seiko-chan cut as an aspect of the time. In 2016, when Fumi Nikaido appeared in ''Gochi 17'',

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu , known professionally as Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (Hiragana: ), is a Japanese singer, model and tarento. Her public image is associated with Japan's ''kawaii'' and ''decora (style), decora'' culture, centered in the Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo. Ky ...

also showed this hairstyle on her Instagram.

References

* {{Citation, last= jp:中川右介, title=松田聖子と中森明菜［増補版］一九八〇年代の革命, date=December 2014, publisher= jp:朝日文庫, isbn=978-4022618146, ref={{Harvid, 中川, 2014 1980s in Japan Japanese fashion Hairstyles