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'It's almost like a weapon': How the blonde bombshell has symbolised desire and danger Western culture, she says, has built a whole mythology around female blondeness − from religious iconography and fairy tales, to art and advertising − that has told specific stories about what it means to be blonde. In cinema's early years, comedies such as Platinum Blonde (1931) and Bombshell (1933), starring Jean Harlow, embedded concepts of the dazzling, devastatingly beautiful blonde into the cultural vernacular. "The idea that you're a bombshell, it's almost like a weapon," says Nead. "On the one hand, it is this kind of ideal, but at the same time, it's also threatening."   Before Harlow, there was another − more natural-looking − blonde on the scene: Mary Pickford, whose amber curls helped earn her the moniker of "America's Sweetheart". But while Pickford played the guileless girl waiting to be rescued, Harlow's peroxide blonde ...
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Meet the Apple Girls from Charli XCX's Belsonic gig


Thousands of fans who attended Charli XCX's Belsonic gig on Wednesday night will have been waking up to watch clips of her performance back on their phones.

But two fans have been replaying their own performances again and again.

Anna Lawther and Maisie Smith were picked to be Belfast's 'Apple Girls' at the gig, selected from the crowd to perform a viral dance, projected on the big screens, during Charli's song Apple.

Maisie was originally going to make a sign that said "Hello from Bishop's Stortford" - her hometown, which is also where Charli went to school.

In the end, they did not get round to that and she said they were just "genuinely enjoying [themselves]" and not even trying to attract attention when they were spotted by a crew member.

He came over and typed on his phone: "Do you know the Apple Dance?"

"We just looked at each other and went: 'Oh my word, no way'," Anna said.

"And we were like: 'Yes, yes, yes'."

A few songs later, the girls were on the big screen.

"It's all a bit of a blur," Anna said, adding that they were so focused on the camera they didn't actually look at the screen.

Snow Patrol, Alanis Morissette, Charli XCX, Justin Timberlake and Irish DJ BLK are among a host of big names taking to the stage this year.

Also featuring are Stereophonics, Madness, Catfish and the Bottlemen and Lush! Classical.

For dance music fans, the Boiler Room will see Dutch DJ and producer Chris Stussy team up with KETTAMA, a DJ and producer from Galway.

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