NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 21: Olivia Rodrigo attends The Cure Music Video Premiere at The Metrograph on May 21, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Kevin MazurGetty Images for Olivia Rodrigo )Kevin Mazur/Getty ImagesSave this storySave this story
If you didn't live through the ‘90s in your teens or twenties, I’m not sure I can convey in a glorifying enough way the ubiquity, the importance, the power of a single bobby pin positioned just above eyebrow height in the hair. Whether or not you were using it to keep bangs off your face, it was a must-have hair accessory. Sure, we wore cute clips, too, but there was something about a lazy bobby pin that so perfectly captured a cross-section of the era's styles. And while Olivia Rodrigo wasn't even born yet, she absolutely nailed the look on her current trip to London.
The singer-songwriter is promoting her new album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, and on June 4, she made a stop at BBC Radio One. Rodrigo was spotted wearing a cropped, lime-green, knit vest over a black and white polka dot mini dress, as well as thigh-high white socks and black heels. The fit perfectly nailed influence 1960s mod style had on 1990s trends, worn in a 2026 way.
Photo: Getty Images
But what really brought it all together was one tiny detail: a bobby pin. Rodrigo's signature long hair was side-parted, with the thicker side held ever so slightly back by a little, folded piece of metal that cost maybe a few cents.
Photo: Getty Images
It's worth noting that Rodrigo, perhaps controversially, wore the bobby pin grooves-up. Some stylists say that the ridges should always face the scalp for maximum security, but hairstylist Andrew Fitzsimons previously told Allure, "The correct way to place a bobby pin is ridges up. The point of the ridges is to be able to glide over and secure the bulk of your hair, while still keeping it as flush as possible."
Truly the “tastes great, less filling” debate of the hairstyling world. (Sorry, that reference goes even farther back than the '90s.)
Rodrigo has recently shown how fond she is of the babydoll grunge style that's so indelibly associated with the ‘90s, so it just makes sense that she'd deploy such an accurate hair accessory. And it wouldn't surprise me in the least if she breaks out a snap clip next.
