Women showing off many shades of gray
Hair color called one of the hottest looks for 2015
BALTIMORE — Writer Joan Didion, looking fragile and all of her 80 years under wispy, chalk-white hair, is the new face of Celine’s spring 2015 advertising campaign.
Joni Mitchell, signature cheekbones as hard as granite under her long, silver tresses, is the new face of Yves Saint Laurent’s Music Project this year, and she is 71. And Dolce & Gabbana is featuring gray-haired models in its spring and summer collections.
Meanwhile, young celebrities like Nicole Richie, Kelly Osbourne and Lady Gaga have all played with gray.
Talk about your “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
All sorts of trend reports are calling gray hair a hot look for 2015, for both younger and older women.
But the fact is, for the past couple of years we’ve been seeing gray hair on the catwalk and the red carpet.
When model Kate Moss first showed gray streaks in 2010, everybody thought it was a dry shampoo gone wrong. And Nicole Kidman sent thrills though the fashion world with her silvery strands.
Glamour magazine in the United Kingdom even asked if gray hair among the young was the new “granny chic.”
This is great news for women of a certain age, who spend an average of about $330 every year hiding their gray because they are afraid it makes them look old or puts them at a professional disadvantage in a work world filled with younger women.
The late Charla Krupp, author of “How Not to Look Old,” reinforced that fear when she once said, “When you’re competing for a job with someone who’s 10 years younger or 20 years younger than you are, being gray is the equivalent of wearing a necklace that says, ‘57.’ Would you do that?”
But that sentiment hasn’t stopped the guys. The notorious double standard is obvious when George Clooney, Ted Danson, David Gregory or Anderson Cooper can go gray with confidence.
Tiki Spruill, master colorist and artistic team member at About Faces Day Spa and Salon, says she has long talks with older clients who want to let go and go gray.
“It’s about what message you’re saying as an individual,” she said. “If your decision is about freedom, that’s one thing. But if your decision is about being too lazy to go to a stylist and color your hair
every four weeks, then that’s another.”
Still, in the last six months, more and more of her younger clients are asking to have their manes colored like the locks of Kelly Osbourne, Pink and Lady Gaga.
“I’m surprised it has caught on so fast,” she said. “(That’s) because the stars are doing it.”
Brian Oliver, a hairstylist for Phillip Michael Studio, has also noticed more clients dying their hair gray for fashion reasons.
“It’s younger girls who don’t have gray hair but love the look of it,” said Oliver, whose work has appeared in fashion magazines such as Vogue, Elle and Vanity Fair. But, he added, gray hair is tricky, especially for older clients who want to get off the coloring merry-go-round.
“It either flatters you or ages you,” he said. “It depends on your coloring, complexion or how you carry it off.”