By Katie May Ruscoe

Where once it was the radio or news bulletin that broke news of an icon’s passing, it was arguably Instagram Stories that most rapidly disseminated and processed word of David Lynch’s death last week. With each tap on Friday, a new image of the enigmatic film-maker stared back; impossibly stylish shot after impossibly stylish shot accompanied by one of his many pithy musings — some humorous, some profound. All deeply insightful and impossibly clever.

This takeover of the algorithm is testament to the broad cultural reach of the auteur, despite the almost defiantly absurdist, unsettling, and often downright menacing style of his work (an obit in the Guardian described him as "the weirdo’s weirdo" and that’s about as perfect a description as you can get, tbh).

One of the most widely shared of his aforementioned Lynchisms was a quote given to the Los Angeles Times in 1989: “I don’t know why people expect art to make sense when they accept the fact that life doesn’t make sense.” In a time where reality seems to become stranger and more terrifying than fiction with each passing day, perhaps, more than ever, there is a perverse comfort to be found in the unapologetic strangeness of Lynch’s cinematic world (brb, off to rewatch Blue Velvet for the however-manyeth time).

An iconic filmmaker, visual artist, musician and actor, Lynch's career spanned over five decades, during which he created some of the most memorable and wildly original works in cinema. Originally studying painting, Lynch transitioned to filmmaking in the late 1960s.

His first feature-length film, Eraserhead (1977), became a cult classic and established his reputation for creating dreamlike, often disturbing narratives. He later gained mainstream recognition with The Elephant Man (1980), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director, before entering into his most prolific professional stretch through the 90s and early 2000s — a period which gifted us masterpieces like Wild at Heart, Mulholland Drive, and of course, the cultural reset that was Twin Peaks.

Perhaps the only thing more studied than Lynch’s cinematic style was his personal one — his signature look defined by an unfussy uniform of khakis, crisp white button down, black blazer, dark sunglasses (he favoured Persol)... and of course, that exceptional head of hair.

A voluminous swoop described by the New York Times as ‘lavish’, Lynch’s hair was a work of art in itself - one he enviable held onto even into his later years.

Hair also played a key role in much of Lynch’s work: from the iconic homecoming queen-coded updo of Laura Palmer, to the mysterious ‘Blue-Haired lady’ in the closing scene of Mulholland Drive, the various hairstyles of his characters lent an extra layer to the sultry, terrifying or just straight up WTAF vibe he was creating.

Join us to take a look back through the many standout hair moments across the late David Lynch’s inimitable oeuvre.

Dealing with a newborn IS a hair raising experience, and especially so when said baby is a literal screaming mutant — as exemplified by the wiry, gravity defying pompadour of the film’s harried new father.

Nothing serves 1980s femme fatale glamour like an electric blue eye, a glossy red lip and a big ol’ fluffy bouffant. Isabella Rossellini's tortured nightclub singer is one of Lynch’s most iconic and disturbing characters, and the actress reported that she actually kept the wig for many years before her cat “shat on it”.

The hair on Laura Dern, eh? From brushed out and fluffy, to bouncy old Hollywood, to wild and mermaid-esque, Lula Fortune’s head of curls are as integral to the character as her collection of body-con dresses.

This is a hard one because the groundbreaking, baffling, eminently quotable series had SO many great hair moments, but in terms of cultural impact, timelessness, and the frequency with which its been brought into salons worldwide as a reference, we have to go with Audrey Horne’s divine Old Hollywood bob — especially as this particular style is set to be one of the biggest hair looks of 2025.

Another classic Lynch bob is Naomi Watt’s kicky little number in the sensual and subversive 2001 film. Lynch was known to use blonde vs brunette to symbolise the girl next door vs the femme fatale (see also Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks etc), and nowhere is it more apparent in the interplay between Watt’s Betty/Diane and Laura Harring’s Rita/Camilla.

The lushly feathered mound in Dune. The boyish flop in Blue Velvet. The barber-fresh, heavily pomaded coiffure of Special Agent Dale Cooper. The various on screen looks of the internet’s ‘babygirl’ are a hair lexicon all of their own.

Age related hair thinning, who? David Lynch’s hair remained lush and magnificent even into his later years — internet forums are simply awash with fanboys of all ages eager to know his secrets (“be completely insane” being one answer).

Apart from a brief foray into a grown-out look during Covid (relatable), Lynch largely maintained a signature look that the internet variably descries as “flock of seagulls-esque”, “Ominous ethereal peacock”, or, more helpfully, “an exaggerated pompadour”. Surely now though it will simply forever be referred to as The Lynch — as iconic, dramatic and expectation-defying as the man himself.

RIP to a legend.