All Babes are Wolves: Silver Foxettes

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Silver Foxettes


Kristen McMenamy I have long been a fan of grey. Growing up in Southern NZ, it was all about a dark, moody palette - black, grey, charcoal. Very Bronte sisters on the moors, or a gothic Miss Havisham. Maybe it is something to do with the Scottish heritage. There's something very romantic about grey, which is kind of ironic given it is perceived as a dour, 'lifeless' colour. But I love all the variants of grey. From charcoal to gun-metal, indigo tinged blues to creamy doves. Grey can be moody & urban, like concrete, a stormy sky or steel. Grey can be soft like dove feathers, Weimaraner dogs or smoky coloured cats. Grey can be majestic like dappled grey horses or granite statues. So I have been intrigued by the grey hair trend that hit last year. Kristen McMemany (above on I-D magazine) leads the charge with her striking long grey locks. The silver tone is quite stunning. Men have long been able to go grey and be seen as sexy, suave 'silver foxes' - a la George Clooney, Anderson Cooper, Tim Gunn or Richard Gere. Andy Warhol (below with Debbie Harry) was famous for his trademark grey punk-do. "I thought that young people had more problems that old people, and I hoped I could last until I was older so that I wouldn't have all these problems...So I decided to go gray so nobody would know how old I was and I would look younger to them than how old they thought I was. I would gain a lot by going gray: (1) I would have old problems, which were easier to take than young problems...I could occasionally lapse into eccentricity or senility and no one would think anything of it because of my gray hair...So I dyed my hair gray when I was about twenty-three or twenty-four." The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. Women traditionally had to dye their greys to look 'young and sexy' - until now. Recently I've noticed women, not only older but young girls too, embracing grey hair. It looks hot! My lovely friend Lorna Storm (below) went bleached silver-platinum at age 20. In her heyday as lead singer of Total Magenta she was described by various reviews as Cyndi Lauper's disowned bad little sister and a cross between Nico & Minnie Mouse. It was an amazing look - bright white locks against white skin with darkest brown eyes, & shock of red lippie. (See more on Lorna here.) Here are some of my latest fave grey haired looks. Kristen McMenamy Kristen McMenamy off-duty