Look for a major battle

raging on the beauty front

between old-school charm vs.

rougher, street-wise styles.

In the right corner, a 1,000-pound elephant in the form of ladylike waves, sweater sets and prim ballerina buns. In the left, an urban contender with studded jeans, burlesque boots and a fragmented geometric haircut made fierce with blazing red. Welcome to the fall-fashion face-off, where the only way to go down for the count is to look like you never picked sides. After all, fashion is political, and in a red-State, blue-State world, personal choice says something important about you. But, because fashion is also about fun, mixing it up is fully allowed, as long as your eclecticism is well-refereed.

Hair has rarely been more important, whether you're underscoring retro-glamour looks straight from charm school or radical chic that ranges from sultry to mannish. It's rare to see a fabulous cut without stunning color these days, but the choices for both range far and wide. On the fashion fence? Here: The ten top trends to help you rate a best-tressed title.

YOU'VE GOTTA HAVE CURL

Curls are the must-have look of the moment when glitz is it. From loose tendrils

to deep waves, the inspiration is old Hollywood. If you're too young to recall Natalie Wood, Grace Kelly and Veronica Lake, check out their styles on the Internet, or in re-released DVDs. Fingerwaves, pin curls and hot rollers are all integral to getting the looks, which is why even perms are making a modest comeback at salons like New York City's Oscar Blandi, where they're delivered on oversized rods that ensure sexy curls and waves that last a style-trend lifetime.

Getting the looks on your own presents a problem: Finesse with a Marcel iron is not in most girls' bag of tricks. In addition, looser, shattered curls look good in glossy magazines but don't last long in reality. What's easiest for you to do, says Eric Fisher, owner of Eric Fisher Salon in Wichita, KS, is to use a curling iron and don't even open the lip.

"Start at the root or scalp area and wrap sections around the closed iron, all the way to the ends," says Fisher. "You get a tighter, more beautiful curl than you would with rollers. Or, try a rag wrap. Hold a cotton strip perpendicular to hair, take a wide section of hair and capture the ends in the center. Roll up the strip and tie the ends."