The story behind Kate Moss' iconic and short-lived pink hair
For almost a decade, the iconic and instantly recognizable photo of Kate Moss swathed in a white duvet from the neck down, her bright pink hair splayed all over the pillows with a light boyish smile etched on her face, has been a touchstone for 90s/noughties Tumblr and the decade altogether.
But the story behind the infamous hair is just as iconic.
For Versace's S/S 1999 show, Donatella Versace requested (on quite a whim) for Kate's hair to be dyed pink. The hairdresser who did the dye job, Laurie Foley, talked to newbeauty.com in 2018, recalling the experience. "It was all hush-hush. They drove kate in a car with a hat on and snuck her into the atelier, inside Gianni [Versace]'s old spa in Milan. It took at least eight hours because we had to get that brunette off of her without damaging the hair." The pink color was a special and specific shade meant to match the accessories for the show. They "had a bright, yet dusty pink look to them," recalls Foley "so, I took her all the way light and then lover-toned it with a beige, sparkly champagne toner to get that pinky-purple, dusty, vintage-inspired pink." Only a week later, Calvin Klein requested she change her hair back to a dark brown for his New York show. The re-coloring process took a day and was done by Kate's London hairdresser, Nicola Clarke. "We did it at Kate's house, and it was really relaxed… I had to bleach-bathe the hair to remove the pink, add orange to the pre-pigment, then to brown. It was a shame because Kate really loved the pink and the extreme change, but we needed to move on to the next look… afterward, she was happy."
Kate photographed by friend Juergen Teller at The Ritz in Paris for her 25th birthday, 1999.
The look itself only remained on Kate for a short amount of time, but its impact is felt in how fondly it is talked about today.
And hey, who could hate pink?
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