Is something in the air? Anne Hathaway pulls an Emma Watson; Fergie and Nicole Richie go back to blonde

Wowza—I can barely keep up with all the celeb hair switcheroos lately!

Must be something to do with fall coming (sob!). Some of us become compelled to make big changes—like getting bangs (even if they’re clip-ins, Kim, we’ll forgive ya) or going red (in the case of Hilary Duff).

Of course, the celeb who set all of this in motion a few weeks ago was Emma Watson. And oh, look! Anne Hathaway has stolen a page out of her book. UPDATE: Confirmed: it’s just a wig, people. Clever commenter Nel was right! Now I feel REALLY foolish—was also duped by Kim’s faux bangs. Oopsie!

Apparently it’s for a movie (right—that’s what they ALL say until public opinion is clear; it’s like a fallback excuse if people hate it).

So what do YOU think of it?

I’m not loving it, I must confess. Whereas the short hair shows off Emma’s delicate, pixie-like features, on Anne it’s sort of frumpy—even though she’s a pretty, pretty girl. It’s okaaaay… but I really prefer her with long hair, Devil Wears Prada-style.

And in other hair news—it’s a case of déjà blonde for Fergie and Nicole Richie.

Here’s Fergs:

SO MUCH better now that she’s a blonde again, right?

Brunette hair—especially a cool shade like this, which is likely darker than Fergie’s natural colour—is really very unforgiving. Blonde (done right) has the opposite effect: it creates this halo of softness and light around your face and makes you automatically look younger.

And here’s Nicole—who not only returned to blonde but also ditched at least five inches of hair to get The Haircut of the Moment. (See: January Jones, Alexa Chung, Chloë Sevigny et al.)

And this is how Nicole looked before:

I’m on the fence with this one, being one of the few people who loved Nicole as a brunette. Then again, pulling off the brunette likely required copious amounts of makeup (which you can see here from this Met Ball pic), and that’s not really Nic’s thing as a low-key, Boho-type California girl. And really, pretty much everything she does to her hair looks good to me (just as long as she doesn’t return to those early-’00s Simple Life red and black extensions!).

So tell me what you think of these latest celeb hair changes…

How do you feel about Anne’s new cropped ‘do? Is it Frump City or Stylish and Chic?
What about Fergie’s and Nicole’s return to blonde?
Do these peeps inspire you at all to make some hair changes of your own this fall? (Or quite possibly my running commentary on their every beauty move is scaring you off, right? eeks!)

Photos: NYmag.com, People.com