For a minute there, it looked like everything I once loved was going to be deemed cheugy. An aggressively deep side-part: cheugy. Skinny jeans: cheugy. Looking like you made any sort of effort besides rolling out of bed: cheugy. I’m not saying these trends were universal hits (I would pay good money to never don a pair of drainpipe jeans ever again) but I didn’t realise they constituted such a failing of taste to have an entire word made-up to condemn them. 

Last year, Gen-Z TikTok users asked the seminal question: is blonde hair cheugy? A higher maintenance colour, blonde hair can necessitate toning, refreshing and touch-up appointments – an aesthetic at odds with the minimal-effort get-up favoured today. Then, they came for side parts. 

A seemingly inconsequential hair choice – namely, whether you flick it to one side or not – side parts were relegated to the heap, while the clomping running trainers my mum forced me into came roaring back. Did it make sense? No. Did it hurt? Of course. 

So, when I tuned into the Oscars news this morning, I was more than pleased to see side parts on the likes of Billie Eilish, Zoë Kravitz and Mindy Kaling. I was vindicated. 

Here are the 15 side parts I revelled in most from the ceremony. Enjoy. 

Main image: Getty