News

CHRISTINA AGUILLERA

BEYONCÉ KNOWLES

KELLY OSBOURNE

PARIS HILTON

NICOLE KIDMAN

AVRIL LAVIGNE

SERENA WILLIAMS

ALANIS MORISSETTE

Am I tired of being blond? Tired of living my life just to catch the colour of the sun? No, but thanks for asking. Clichés are clichés for good reason: Blondes have way more fun.

Not only do we win Oscars, but anthropology is on our side: A recent study suggests blond tresses evolved as a way to catch a man when times were hard. It's certainly worked in Hollywood: Up on the podium last Sunday, there was Reese Witherspoon, who turned a hair colour into a Legally Blonde franchise before she took her quick wit to the juicy role bank. And of course, Harlow blond just screams Old Hollywood glamour.

"There was a return to glamour this year at the Oscars and beautiful blondes are back," says Toronto-based stylist and hair-product king Marc Anthony, who was in L.A. for the awards.

"Charlize Theron, Michelle Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Felicity Huffman and Keira Knightley all showed blond ambition on the red carpet. Tone-on-tone blond in honey and caramel shades are one of the hottest trends for spring and summer this year."

Even the musicians are into it: Just look at our own little punk-turned-glamour songstress, Avril Lavigne, photographed ringside at the Chanel couture collections in Paris, and Alanis Morissette, who is suddenly sporting Farrah-Fawcett-style locks. "There's Beyoncé for black girls and J.Lo too. And Jessica Alba has become a golden goddess," makeup and hair artist David Goveia says. "Everyone wants to be that golden girl at some point in their life."

Blondes also get big modelling contracts: Theron is the face, hair and body of J'adore Gold Supreme, new from Dior.

In a yet-to-be-released commercial for the fragrance, the South African-born glamazon struts through a grand, marble-and-silk festooned setting, boldly stripping away her jewellery, then her dress, to reveal a gilded silhouette of blond hair and curves, clad only in perfume.

"We've put flecks of gold into the eau de parfum," says Lionel Kalinowski, the fragrance product manager for Dior Canada.

He's most jumped up about the dry perfumed body oil, which makes the actor's skin as blond and glistening as her hair.

The sea change started, as always, on the runway. Says Canada's modelling superagent Elmer Olsen: "When Russell Marsh did the casting for Prada last season [the spring 2006 collection], he hired only blond models. We all knew it would trickle down. It has taken exactly six months." Oh, that Miuccia. Leading us all around like her expensive wheeled baggage.

The last big hair trend was for Belgian brunettes, although Canadian model Jessica Stam bred a fondness for electric redheads. She's since gone blond. A recent Paolo Reversi shoot of her in The New York Times spring fashion mag shows her platinum.

The Paris shows, just finished, were notably sunny-tressed. And here in Toronto, Paola Fullerton, who did the casting for the Pink Tartan show, the blowout that closes Toronto Fashion Week next Thursday night, says: "We're really feeling for blondes. The show is almost all blond. But not the trashy, Vegas, Paris Hilton blond. The elegant, chic, clean blond."

Therein lies the rub: Going really blond doubles or triples the upkeep required. "You go very blond, honey, you get into blondage," says my colourist, Marina Loo of Rapunzel in Toronto. She means, of course, touch-ups every two weeks.

Hollywood gals can do that: Touchups are their job. Models and fashion editors, similarly, are paid for that long, boring chair time. (For those who have never met a bleach brush, it can take up to four hours to look this good.)

At the salon level, L'Oréal Professionel has introduced the Platinum Lightening System, a paste that is supposed to protect hair from damage as you crank up the brightness.

"You need to walk the line between bleach and straw," says Nicole Dupuis, the Montreal-based technical director for L'Oréal. She feels the swing to blond is cyclical, but that right now extreme is the way to go. She says the new system can take almost anyone into Marilyn Monroe territory.

"You can go seven shades. If you are under professional care, you can keep this paste on for up to an hour."

Do not, however, try this extreme stuff at home, folks.

It requires commitment, this blond lifestyle. When I first met my hairdresser, Pino Spadafora, I said I wanted a natural colour, and a wash-and-go clip.

He looked at me, laughed and said with what has amounted to great prescience: "My dear, you are simply a high-maintenance girl. Put your money where your hair is, and you'll be a happy girl." So far, so blond.