Off the top of my head

It’s work team photo shoot day next week, and I’m hoping to get my hair cut on Saturday. I haven’t booked anything; I’ll just see if any of the salons in town can take a walk-up, which probably says something about my general experience with hairdressers. I’m not expecting a miracle, let’s put it that way. I haven’t been in over a year, but it really is looking tatty with overprocessing and needs a cut beyond my usual ‘chop the end off a ponytail’ technique. I’m toying with asking for one of two styles this time.


Option 1: Dana Scully
This breaks my usual rule of ‘don’t wear it if you could have worn it the first time round, as you’ll look like you haven’t changed your style in 25 years’. But dammit, Gillian Anderson was so beautiful as Scully – and indeed still is, though the mid-90s look is the Scully-cut I prefer. It might look a bit mumsy on me, but then I’m a tubby woman in my 40s, I’m intrinsically mumsy anyway. But would it require the purchase of a lot of sleek trouser suits, eh? She's up there with Katharine Hepburn when it comes to women who look good in smart trousers.

Option 2: Emma Peel
No, I’m not going to look like Diana Rigg. I’m not going to kid myself there. But that hairstyle does look relatively achievable for me, unlike pretty much every other ’do in the universe. This is the option I’m favouring right now, though it might be a little more work to keep up than the Scully cut. As a bonus, it would go with the small collection of 1960s dresses I seem to be slowly building up. I’ve just bought a new one online, which is either 60s or 80s-does-60s; the colours and print are keeping me guessing so I’m waiting to see the label. Either way, it’s peak Mim, with a very simple shape and a graphic print in bright colours. And a bit of navy. GOTTA HAVE SOME NAVY, eh?

Anyway, what do you reckon, Scully or Peel?

In case you’re wondering what I’ll wear for the photo shoot, it’s dead simple: T-shirts. I almost always wear T-shirts. Traditional cut (men’s cut, as they’re called nowadays, though when I was growing up it was the only shape, and I’m still annoyed that nowadays T-shirts are gendered). I try to look nice without actually asking for any further attention than ‘oh, she exists’. It’s better to come across as one of the blokes. So I’ll probably take my favourite Cathulu one and nick a couple of old band T-shirts out of Pete’s drawer. I’ll save my nice dresses for you!