Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Remembering the Inventor of the Beehive Hairdo
The B-52’s didn’t just wear beehives, the band was named after the hairstyle - since it looks a little like the nosecone of the World War II bomber. The Chicago-area hairstylist who invented the high-altitude hairdo passed away last Friday. She was 98. Margaret Vinci Heldt spun her first beehive back in 1960.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min readThe B-52’s didn’t just wear beehives, the band was named after the hairstyle - since it looks a little like the nosecone of the World War II bomber. The Chicago-area hairstylist who invented the high-altitude hairdo passed away last Friday. She was 98. Margaret Vinci Heldt spun her first beehive back in 1960. It quickly became a symbol of the era, and over the years it’s been adopted by some of the world’s most iconic stars - from Barbara Streisand to Amy Winehouse to Marge Simpson. Margaret Heldt created the style at the request of Modern Beauty Shop magazine. The magazine is now called Modern Salon and Madeleine speaks to the head editor.
