The pompadour is the hairstyle named after Madame de Pompadour, the influential mistress of France's King Louis XV, and it features hair swept upward from the face. Its defining feature is height and volume above the forehead, often created by combing the hair up and back.
The name is historically misleading: Madame de Pompadour herself generally wore her hair swept back rather than in the tall style now called a pompadour. The term was coined much later, even though elevated hairstyles had appeared at the French court before and after her lifetime.
The style became fashionable again in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, then gained new associations through men's hairstyles in the 1950s, especially among rock-and-roll performers. Modern pompadours can be worn by women, men, and children and may range from subtle volume to a dramatic sculpted crest. A bob is a cut, a chignon is a bun, and a bouffant is a broader high-volume style.