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Rooney, we're not sure whether you're the problem or the solution.

Snip, Snip, Bangs, Bangs! From Rooney to Runway, Cropped Tops Come to the Fore(head)

Rooney Mara stayed in character for months after The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo wrapped. Call it method marketing: From the pages of Vogue to Jimmy Fallon, she almost always appeared wearing simple black dresses with severe, skin-baring cut outs—Lisbeth Salander goes to prom.

It made sense that Ms. Mara, blandly pretty in her Social Network days, would hitch her rising star to her character’s signature look. Trish Summerville, the Dragon costume designer, had already capitalized on the best-seller heroine’s appeal with a capsule collection at also-Swedish H&M.

But who would have guessed that when Ms. Mara showed up for the Oscars last month in a lacy cream Givenchy gown, Lisbeth’s weird baby bangs—short, black and severely straight across her forehead—would stay in the picture? Read More