Selena Gomez sent her 426 million Instagram followers into a tailspin this week with a carousel of four photos and a single emoji: the blonde girl with a ponytail. It was the only caption required to reflect the images, all of which find the famously raven-haired superstar sporting a platinum-blonde mane.
Were they throwback photos? Some wig-related magic? Or has Gomez succumbed to the relentless promotional juggernaut surrounding Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which has seen leading lady Margot Robbie traverse the globe in archive Chanel (pink), playful Manolo Blahnik mules (pink) and custom Vivienne Westwood (pink), always with her tumbling flaxen waves styled to perfection.
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Selena’s take on the look on Insta is certainly reminiscent of the legendary blonde being brought to life in the film—especially in a shot of her sitting at a vanity in a mint-green peignoir with a slick of red lipstick and ’50s-inspired blonde pin-up curls. A bit of internet sleuthery suggests the likely explanation is that Gomez was merely digging through her camera roll for past iterations of herself as a blonde—perhaps mood-boarding before taking the plunge with a dramatic hair transformation? For anyone else considering taking the leap, Vogue’s guide to going blonde contains all the advice you need to keep your hair in tip-top condition.
