• Intelligencer
  • The Cut
  • Vulture
  • The Strategist
  • Curbed
  • Grub Street
  • Subscribe to the Magazine Give a Gift Subscription Buy Back Issues Current Issue Contents
    Subscribe to New York Magazine
  • Subscribe
  • Profile
    Sign Out
The Cut
  • Style
  • Self
  • Culture
  • Power
Style
  • Fashion
  • Beauty
  • Shopping
  • Parties & Red Carpet
  • Fashion Shows
  • Cathy Horyn
Self
  • Health & Wellness
  • Motherhood
  • Advice
  • Sex & Relationships
  • Horoscopes
Culture
  • Books
  • Television
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Celebrity
Power
  • Politics
  • Work
  • Money
  • Rebecca Traister
More
  • Latest Stories
  • Video
  • About Us
  • The Cut Shop
  • nymag.com
  • New York Magazine
  • Intelligencer
  • Vulture
  • The Cut
  • The Strategist
  • Grub Street
  • Curbed
style icons
September 3, 2015

Joan Didion: She Loves a Good Hair Clip

By Alex Ronan

Share

  • Share
  • Tweet
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

With the recent publication of The Last Love Song, a 752-page biography of Joan Didion, the esteemed writer’s legacy has come up again. Widely regarded as an immensely talented critic, thinker, and packer, Didion is also a “master of the author photo,” as The New Yorker recently pointed out. There’s the one of her standing in a foot of Hawaiian water with one hand on her hip and the other holding the straps to her sandals. There’s Didion with a cigarette and Didion with a husband, a daughter, and a good balcony. Then there are the iconic shots of her looking young and glamorous in Hollywood that were taken by Julian Wasser for a Time profile. (Asked about the photos in 2012, Didion suggested that posing with the Corvette “must have been some whim of Julian’s.” Wasser, meanwhile, said, “You don’t tell a woman like that what to do.”)

While We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live™, we also look at photos in order to learn how to live like others. Two people recently paid $2,500 for the pleasure of owning a pair of sunglasses from Didion’s own personal collection, but one needn’t look further than the corner drugstore for an unsung Didion signature. Ever since she began sporting shorter hair, Didion is rarely without a plastic hair clip.

She wore it when she received the 2005 National Book Award in Nonfiction and she wore it to speak at Norman Mailer’s memorial. Didion wore it to sign books at Borders (R.I.P.) and Barnes & Noble; she wears it with sunglasses and a scarf or a cable-knit sweater (in chartreuse or off-white). Hanging out with the late Nora Ephron? Hair clip. Chatting with Toni Morrison? Hair clip. Getting a formal portrait taken? Lemme just grab my clip.

In 1971, Didion wrote, “A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his image.” Sure, she was talking about Kilimanjaro, Hawaii, and California, but the same could be said for a signature piece. And that piece is a hair clip.

View
1 / 14 Photos
Signing her book at Borders Bookstore in New York, 2003. Photo: Rose Hartman
Posing for the Los Angeles Times at home in New York, 2003. Photo: Jennifer S. Altman/2003 Jennifer S. Altman
With Robert Silvers at a party hosted by the New York Times publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. in New York, 2004. Photo: Bowers/2004 Getty Images
At a reading of The Year of Magical Thinking in New York, 2005. Photo: JOHN SMOCK
At the 56th annual National Book Awards in New York, 2005. Photo: Robin Platzer
Reading at the Los Angeles Times  Festival of Books in Los Angeles, 2006. Photo: Katy Winn/© Corbis. All Rights Reserved.
With Nora Ephron at the Matrix Awards in New York, 2007.
At the Matrix Awards in New York, 2007.  Photo: Jemal Countess/Jemal Countess
Giving an interview for a film on David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter at home in New York, 2007. Photo: Kathy Willens/2007 AP
Speaking at a memorial for Norman Mailer in Carnegie Hall, 2008. Photo: Stephen Chernin
Receiving an honorary Doctor of Letters in Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2009. Photo: Darren McCollester/2009 Getty Images
With Shelley Wanger at a Pace Gallery dinner for Jennifer Bartlett in New York, 2011. Photo: Joe Schildhornnyc.com/BFA
Posing for a profile in New York Magazine, 2011. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe
At an American Theatre Wing Gala honoring the Redgraves at the Plaza Hotel in New York, 2012.  Photo: Bruce Glikas/2012 Bruce Glikas
1 / 14

Tags:

  • love and war
  • style icons
  • joan didion
  • hair
  • beauty
  • hairy situations
  • candy
  • More

More Galleries

parties! May 20, 2022
The Bestest Party Looks of the Week  Harry Styles > everyone! 
parties! May 13, 2022
The Bestest Party Looks of the Week  Bury me in Dove Cameron’s Saint Sintra skirt. 
parties! May 6, 2022
The Bestest Party Looks of the Week  Cue the Met Gala after-party FOMO. 

Most Popular

  1. Chrishell Stause and G Flip Can’t Keep Their Hands Off Each Other
  2. Which Women Do We Choose to Believe?
  3. Ellen Barkin Recalls Johnny Depp As ‘Jealous’ and ‘Controlling’
  4. It’s ‘Hot-Girl Walk’ Season
  5. What Is Johnny Depp’s Deal With Alpacas?
  1. Which Women Do We Choose to Believe?
  2. Ellen Barkin Recalls Johnny Depp As ‘Jealous’ and ‘Controlling’
  3. Chrishell Stause and G Flip Can’t Keep Their Hands Off Each Other
  4. What Is Johnny Depp’s Deal With Alpacas?
  5. It’s ‘Hot-Girl Walk’ Season
met gala 2022 May 2, 2022
Met Gala 2022: All the Looks [Photos]  Billie Eilish, Kim Kardashian, Michelle Yeoh, Hailey Bieber, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Blake Lively, and more. 
parties! Apr. 29, 2022
The Bestest Party Looks of the Week  This one goes to Olivia Rodrigo and her sweater vest. 
parties! Apr. 22, 2022
The Bestest Party Looks of the Week  “Fuck those Zoom tops.” 
celebrity style Apr. 18, 2022
The Best Looks From Coachella 2022  From Harry Styles’s sparkling Gucci set to Megan Thee Stallion’s metallic bodysuit. 
style Apr. 13, 2022
A Look Inside the New Museum’s Spring Gala  Featuring all the best looks. 
grammys 2022 Apr. 3, 2022
Grammy Awards 2022 Red Carpet: All the Looks  Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo, Lenny Kravitz, Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish, and more. 
oscars 2022 Mar. 28, 2022
How Were The Oscars After Party Looks Better Than The Actual Award Looks?  Finally, some fun. 
oscars 2022 Mar. 27, 2022
All the Looks From the 2022 Oscars Red Carpet  Zendaya, Regina Hall, Timothée Chalamet, Andrew Garfield, Kristen Stewart, Ariana DeBose, and more. 
style Mar. 22, 2022
Bridgerton Season 2 Premiere: All the Red-Carpet Looks 
style Mar. 13, 2022
BAFTAs 2022: All the Red-Carpet Looks  Florence Pugh, Daniel Kaluuya, Emma Watson, and more! 
celebrity fashion Mar. 6, 2022
Spirit Awards 2022: All the Red-Carpet Looks  Julia Fox, Andrew Garfield, Kristen Stewart, and more! 
Mar. 1, 2022
All of Rihanna’s Maternity Looks  From belly-baring looks to sexy leather dresses. 
Feb. 27, 2022
SAG Awards 2022: All the Red-Carpet Looks  Selena Gomez, Ariana Debose, Daveed Diggs, and more! 
paris couture week 2022 Jan. 27, 2022
Glenn Martens Wows As Guest Couturier for Gaultier Haute Couture It is a sight to behold.
By Vivian Chuang
Dec. 9, 2021
All the Looks From the And Just Like That … Red Carpet  Sarah Jessica Parker, Billy Eichner, Sara Ramirez, and more. 
style Nov. 29, 2021
Gotham Awards 2021: All the Red-Carpet Looks  Tessa Thompson! Kristen Stewart! And more. 
red carpet Nov. 29, 2021
All the Best Looks From The British Fashion Awards Dua Lipa, Demi Moore, Kehlani and more looks.
  • Style
  • Self
  • Culture
  • Power
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Help
  • We’re Hiring
  • Press
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Ad Choices
  • Do Not Sell My Info
  • Accessibility
The Cut is a Vox Media Network. © 2022 Vox Media, LLC. All rights reserved.