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The newly blond bobbed Victoria Beckham landed in Los Angeles last week. And while her future in TV is in doubt, her role as style icon seems certain: Her haircut is popping up all over.

The bob is back with a bang, on everyone from Beckham's buddy Katie Holmes to long-time long-haired Spanish bombshell Penelope Cruz. The tabloids are full of sassy bob shots: Rihanna, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Richie.

At the risk of overstating the importance of hair, not since Mia Farrow went supershort with teensy bangs for Rosemary's Baby has a chop had more impact. One of the rags even got a shrink (“who does not treat Katie”) to comment on how Holmes's new look is a sign of her growing emancipation from Tom Cruise's thumb.

“The bob is definitely the cut of the moment,” says Simon Bolton, a hairdresser at the posh St. James Salon in Old Montreal. “We tired of the long, wavy bed-head look, and the messy ponytail thing. That followed from the pin-straight socialite hair of the late nineties.”

The modern bob, he says, “is flirty, and layered underneath. The back should be shorter and the front should swing forward.” Exactly the look that model Natalia Vodianova wears on the cover of this month's Vogue, set in polished waves like a flapper, or Veronica Lake. (It's safe to say the hot roller is back.) “There is definitely a return to glamour,” says celebrity tresser Ted Gibson, a booming voice who keeps Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson groomed in Manhattan. He was in Toronto last month to launch his product line at Holt Renfrew, a series of goops and sprays that tops out at $200 for hair serum.

“Women want to look shiny and polished,” he says – like his movie star clients. “Messy used to look sexy. Now, it just looks dirty.”

The shift in fashion is what's really driving the bob. The fall season is full of restraint, building on a move back to polish that began this past spring. Clothes are not sexy, they are simple: blacks, greys, creams and white in crisp lines. Necklines are way up and pants are either narrow or wide, but not tight on the butt. Hence, the sex-kitten stars are all going for the sweet yet professional look.

This is great news for the folks at Vidal Sassoon, where the cut, not the styling, has always been the thing and every client walks out with swingy hair. Lorraine McAndrew, creative director at the Toronto headquarters, says the key is “a strong line, right on the chin. There is more movement with an A-line.

Caution: This can be extreme for some faces. “It's not for everyone,” she acknowledges. A round face can be overemphasized with the look. On the other hand, a heart shape, like Holmes has, looks great with a bob.

The look is very eighties, McAndrew says. No surprise there. We've already lived through the return of that decade's neon brights, exaggerated shoulders and V-shaped silhouette (all back to the tickle trunk now): It was just a matter of time before we got the hair back. The style will be perfectly retro with the gauntlet gloves and patent pumps on the way this fall.

Of course, a date with the scissors is not without angst. As Billy Bragg sang: “And then she cut her hair and I stopped loving her.” Women fear that shearing off their locks will make them lose their softness and sex appeal. A change in hair length has much more emotional impact on us than dips and plunges in hemlines.

But sometimes a shakeup is just what you need. And few things are as liberating as seeing the hair that has weighed you down piled around the barber chair. It's hard not to view a dramatic haircut as a symbol of change. Maybe Holmes is on to something.