Brunette Ambition: Why Bright Young Things Are Going Brown
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Beauty trends come and go faster than H&M fashion collaborations. It seems like just yesterday that catwalkers were going platinum. Now they’re experimenting with a range of deep, dramatic dye jobs. In some cases it’s only for a day, like the eyebrow-grazing black wigs worn by flaxen-haired supes such as Karlie Kloss and Caroline Trentini at Marc Jacobs. Other models, like Ireland Baldwin, are thinking about making the change permanent. Baldwin recently tweeted: “Do I want to be a brunette?” While we don’t recommend crowdsourcing a major hair color decision, we do approve of shifting shades for the cooler season ahead—a tactic taken of late by Elle Fanning, Dakota Johnson, and Suki Waterhouse. If this batch of brown-haired girls is any indication, blonds won’t be having all the fun this fall.
Photos: Gianni Pucci / Gorunway.com; Gianni Pucci / Indigitalimages.com1/9Warming Trend
Aline Weber s flaxen hair and full lips have earned her comparisons to Brigitte Bardot. Which is why it was a bit of a surprise when she switched to a honey brown shade right before the Spring 15 shows. Her fresh color isn t full-on brunette, but sometimes a subtle change is a precursor to something more dramatic down the road. Needless to say, we ll be watching.
Photos: Gianni Pucci / Indigitalimages.com (2)2/9Good-Bye to Bleach
Within days of Weber s hair color makeover, Sasha Luss busted out with a pretty amber shade of her own. Her motivation for moving away from platinum? Damage control. "Bleaching looks fantastic, but it s not good for your hair. I m a model, so I m not like a normal human being—sometimes I had to color my roots three times a month. My agency and I decided to change it to honey gold, and I cut it," she told us backstage at DVF.
Photo: Adam Katz Sinding / Le 21ème3/9Sometimes it pays to break the rules. Just ask Katlin Aas, whose instincts led her to ditch her natural ash blond hair color. "When I first started modeling at 15, I went against what my agents said and went dark—I told them that the hairstylist fucked up," she remembered. In true rebel form, she doesn t always go to a salon for her touch-ups, either. "Sometimes I let my friends do it. Or if I don t have a lot of roots showing, I buy a $5 box and do them myself. Box colors are fine for a tiny bit of regrowth," she said.
Photo: Kim Weston Arnold / Indigitalimages.com4/9Shade Shifter
Edie Campbell was back on the bleach for the Spring 15 season, but we have a feeling the hair color chameleon won t be blond for long. The It Brit revved up her career when she dyed her naturally light brown hair black and chopped it into a Joan Jett-inspired shag. The look spawned a slew of bewigged copycats at Marc Jacobs Fall 13 show, and we even spotted a few look-alikes on the red carpet. (Rihanna, we re talking about you.)
Photo: Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com5/9Dye Hard
Model Janice Alida is yet another blond who has noticed increased success as a brunette. During a break backstage at Anna Sui (where her newly shorn shag inspired the beauty look), Alida gave us a simple explanation for the switch: "I dyed it black for a job and I loved it, so I kept it. It usually gets trimmed at work, but I always go to André Viveiros at Garren New York for the color."