Rando Report: The Unhinged Power of Pink Hair, A Dark Horse Chloé It Bag, and More
Nicky Hilton’s bag collection is kind of fab.
Should I Dye My Hair Pink?
I’ve been mesmerized by the Tumblr-era Addison Rae music video “Headphones On”. If you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know how the music video goes, well, here is the gist: A bored version of Rae clocks out of her humdrum job at a shoddy Iceland supermarket in England. As she leaves, she puts on her headphones, and we see her transported to Iceland, the actual Nordic country, and into its frothing green fields. Rae rides a white Icelandic horse, as her hair, in a buzzing shade of psychotically hot pink, flows behind her.
The hair is valiant, daring, and ethereal. It’s Rae in her alternative universe as her imagined, fantastical self! Her best self! Her ultimate self. She’s in her zone; the apex of galloping, searing cool. It’s a killer take on the girlish color and girlhood itself, iPod Nano and all.
Pink hair (or its cousins of orange or red) is a mask that unmasks. The hair unlocks a warped honesty. The person drenched in those concocted hues leans into the color’s maximalist eccentricity and its subversion of femininity. They are follicularly saying “fuck it”, and we’re witnessing that raw, outré expression.
There are a bevy of women who are their full-throttle selves with bubblegum pink, blazing fuchsia, or violently red hair. I think of the likes of Nicki Minaj during her Pink Friday (2010) era, an explosive album with the most saucy yet saccharine oomph. There’s Lola in Run Lola Run (1998), a poor little rich girl who lives on the fringes, and is tasked with becoming a criminal. She has a choppy lob with a ruffled Bump-it flair, drenched in Gatorade orange. Then the quirky, hyperactive Clementine from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), a more biting, distorted version of a manic pixie dream girl. She’s a meteor, flaring into a man’s life. Gwen Stefani’s coming-of-age period was during her Return of Saturn (2000) album, in which she sported a raging pink lob. This was a time when Stefani delivered some of her most pissy and passionate songs! (“Simple Kind of Life”, anyone?) Natalie Portman, perpetually stiff and sexless, becomes seductive in Closer (2004) when she dons a Bubble Yum bob wig. No more goody two-shoes. Portman transforms into a come-hither woman, soaked in blush. In this case, pink hair did the impossible.
Nicky Hilton’s Chill Girl Bag Collection
Paris Hilton has historically been the sister who has gotten all of the fashion love. Sure, yes, Paris practically created the vocal fry-inflected looks of the ‘00s. But I admire Nicky Hilton…she’s down to earth. Stars—They’re Just Like Us! Case in point: The heiress took the subway…as seen in her latest Instagram post with none other than a Chloé Paddington bag. That big, massive, juicy lock that is the weight of a newborn! That impenetrable Kevlar leather! She’s been hauling that thing around for years: There’s a 2012 image of her strutting around in a parking lot in Isabel Marant sneakers and short shorts with the Chloé P. It’s the workhorse of designer It bags of yore! A stuffed schlepper. Also in the mix: The YSL quilted lambskin Icare tote and her black Birkin. I know Nicky puts her bags to work.