Thinking of changing your hair colour? Changing your hair colour should be a careful and considered decision; as per usual, take a leaf out of the celebrity book. Any female celebrity worth her salt knows that transforming your hue can transform your career from stagnant to stellar. If you don’t believe me, take the following example of supermodel Linda Evangelista; with over 600 magazine covers and to her name, she is regarded as one of the greatest supermodels of all time. However, once upon a time, she was just a small-town Italian-Canadian brunette from St. Catharine’s in Ontario. Fast forward to the early 90s, she had shorn her hair into a boyish crop, coloured it 17 times in four years and was now famous for uttering the immortal line associated with the supermodel stereotype: “We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day”.
Image courtesy of InStyle.com
So, before you reach without thought for that hair foil, take a look at how these celebrities changed their lacklustre career into a one-way ticket to becoming legends.
#5 Agyness Deyn
Supermodel-of-the-moment Agyness Deyn is part of the new breed of models who are establishing themselves as unique brands. Born Laura Hollins in Lancashire, Agyness changed her name in order to advance her career; aged 13 she had already cropped her hair and aged 17 shaved her hair off! In true fairytale style, she met the fashion designer Henry Holland at her first job in a fish and chip shop. It was the 2006 Italian Vogue shoot with Steven Meisel that launched her as the face of the future with a bleached pixie cut; Anna Wintour said that she “wears her hair in an uncompromising style”
#4 Rihanna
The Rihanna we know and love now in 2012, is not the Rihanna who came to prominence when she released her debut album. In order to fit in with the R&B diva mould, her record company styled her with long, light brown hair in 2005. By her own admittance, Rihanna has said her look back then was “too generic” and in 2007, we saw the Barbadian singer re-emerge on the scene with a gorgeously silky, black asymmetrical bob and a new world-beating single Umbrella, which propelled her to international superstardom. Rihanna then followed this with two crops; one in 2009 with a blue hue and the other in 2010 with a blonde pompadour. Both styles epitomised Rihanna’s outlook at this time, emerging as a survivor from an abusive relationship with Chris Brown and gaining hip-hop status from performing on Run This Town with rap behemoths Jay-Z and Kanye West. In 2010, Rihanna showcased longer, scarlet hued, corkscrew curls, which signified her further success with the Loud album. However, if ever a hair colour has made a splash in recent times, it is her 2012 transformation into a shaggy-haired blonde with brunette roots. Such was her style change, she caused one of the most well-known Twitter storms in recent times!
#3 Katy Perry
No one but Katy Perry is truly synonymous with rainbow hair colouring; starting out in 2005 with her natural brunette tones against a luminous milky skin tone, Katy was a pretty non-descript former Christian singer who wanted to make it on the pop scene. Fast forward to 2008 and her break-out hit I Kissed A Girl has pushed her to become a household name, by way of a MTV-friendly video and a seductively burlesque inspired new look with glossy, black hair. However, not content with this recognition and in fear of ‘that difficult second album’, Katy re-emerged with a series of multicoloured hues from 2010 onwards. The success of the Teenage Dream album, coupled with life as a newlywed, possibly contributed to her ever-changing experimentation with hair colour. In 2012, Katy has been seen with a grungy turquoise bob with evident roots, perhaps signifying her status and direction post-divorce.
#2 Lady Gaga
The artist formerly known as Stefani Germanotta famously once said “I’ve always been a weirdo”; once a New York City Catholic schoolgirl-turned-songwriter for Britney Spears, it took an extra special transformation to emerge from the overpowering shadow of an icon like Britney. In 2007, Lady Gaga started making the rounds on her path to stardom, although with a distinct black shade and fringe. The look what really launched her into our consciousness was the strong, bleached blonde look of her debut album in 2008. At risk of unwarranted comparisons with the more mainstream Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga showcased a peroxide wedge bob that contained a crimped blowout and at that, a star was born. In 2010, determined to add a little change to her blonde look but without losing her trademark flaxen-haired look, Lady Gaga firstly added some sunshine yellow highlights and then went for the all-out platinum shade. As with any star promoting a second album, in 2011 she started to experiment with out-there green and blue shades for instant headline-making and stratospheric world domination.
#1 Marilyn Monroe
Perhaps no surprise that she is the number one celebrity colour chameleon on this list, Marilyn Monroe revolutionised the way that us girls could feel about our hair: if you don’t like it, change it. Legend has it that her personal hairstylist kept the formula a well-guarded secret, such was the star-making ability of this hair colour transformation; whenever we see a platinum blonde with winged eyeliner, red lipstick and a beauty mark, instant resonance with Marilyn comes to mind. It is also indicative that with a hair colour transformation came a name change: born Norma Jean Mortensen to an American mother and Norwegian father, the girl who became Marilyn is beneath the bleach, a bona-fide brunette!
Do you agree with these choices for top chameleons? Have you got any other suggestions?
