blonding time stamp for a generation that—gasp!—barely
remembers the ’90s.
Looking back into the cultural kaleidoscope of older
millennials’ early adolescence reveals a particular kind of
heroine: brash, a touch basic (in modern parlance), and
almost always blonde. We had our vampire slayers and our
lovesick private school girls on the small screen, our rival
cheerleading squads with bouncy bobs and spiky buns on
the big screen, and our pop stars in low-rise jeans and
high-concept, emotionally charged music videos on MTV—
and they all offered a crash course in highlights best
described as deliberate. The more I reflect on that era, the
more I realize how influenced I was—and still am, at 33—by
Beyoncé’s sea-salt-textured, flaxen spirals as she washes
ashore in the 2001 video for “Survivor,” and Kirsten Dunst’s
streaks in 2000’s Bring It On. Lorri Goddard, a Los Angeles–
based colorist who works with both Dunst and Rodarte
codesigner Kate Mulleavy, thinks this precise “Brigitte Bardot
meets Kurt Cobain” color is trending along with #Y2K
because it nods to a foregone era of “self-expression, creativity,
freedom, and good times,” she says. “In the world’s current
political climate, so many scenarios can feel shadowed. [This
is] a fun, easy way to add a bit of brightness.” Colorists can
also have a little more artistry with these honey-hued tones,
too. Masami Hosono, the owner of New York’s Vacancy
Project salon, notes that the all-over color required to go
fully platinum or lavender-gray feels like “such a 2015 thing”
to do right now.
It’s enough to make me consider going back to blonde—
especially given the wealth of new products engineered to
mitigate damage. Goddard, who prefers a custom-blended
amethyst oil to keep brassiness at bay, also uses Rossano
WINNING STREAKS
HINTS OF KATE MOSS’S 2003 BLONDE
RESONATED ON THE RUNWAYS
AS A NEW GENERATION OF CATWALK
STARS CHANNELED THE ORIGINAL
SUPERMODEL’S NOUGHTIES DYE JOB.
Ferretti’s Prodigio Regenerating Treatment, a color-safe
pre-shampoo mask with shea butter and macadamia-seed oil
to smooth rough cuticles, while John Frieda London
colorist Nicola Clarke boosts all of her color mixes with
Virtue’s Colorkick, an in-salon infusion of reinforcing
human keratin. Clarke, who has been behind Kate Moss’s
blonde for two decades, reveals that a lot of her younger
clients have latched on to the “two-toned” effect she gave
singer Dua Lipa in October—an exercise in noughties
color-blocking heard round the internet. But a less drastic
riff on Moss’s eternal experimentation with golden
accents always “gets the most compliments,” Clarke says,
revealing the unlikely origins behind the supermodel’s
referential 2003 shade. “Believe it or not, our main blond idol
was Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker from the original 1977
Star Wars. His color was beautifully natural with wonderful
youthful tones.... Kate and I called it ‘Skywalker Blonde.’ ”
And so the taxonomy grows.—haley mlotek
When Alyssa Ravasio
founded Hipcamp in
2013, she wanted to create a website
that not only made campsites, log
cabins, tree houses, and the like
easier to book, but welcomed those
who didn’t fit the “man with beard
conquering nature” archetype, as she
puts it. “I never felt super-included
in those images—I like being outside
with my watercolors.” In 2019, her
company was valued at $127million.
“Women today have the money
to travel alone, and it’s socially
acceptable to do so,” says Cece
Drummond, a managing director at
travel company Virtuoso. “That
didn’t exist decades ago.” Google
Trends reported a 35percent
increase in worldwide searches
for “female solo travel” from 2018
to 2019, and booking platform
Hostelworld saw an 88 percent rise
TRAVEL
Solo Flight
FIELD TRIP
SEGERA RETREAT, ON KENYA’S LAIKIPIA PLATEAU,
IS A STOP ON ROAR AFRICA’S ITINERARY.
in single women travelers over the
past four years. The market has
taken note. Along with Hipcamp
there’s Golightly, a female-members-
only home-sharing and vacation-
rental site. Founder Victoria
O’Connell came up with the idea
after a group of men who had rented
her home burglarized it. “What
would make me feel safe while
traveling?” she says of her concept.
Golightly has a wait list of more
than 3,000. Adventure excursions,
in particular, resonate with this
massive market: Drummond says
they’re one of the fastest-growing
areas for solo travelers at Virtuoso.
Safari company ROAR AFRICA,
for instance, recently launched a
Women’s Empowerment Trip, where
everyone—including drivers, pilots,
trackers, concierges, chefs, and
sommeliers—is female.—ELISE TAYLOR
VLIFE
94 APRIL 2020 VOGUE.COM
MOSS: NICK KNIGHT/TRUNK ARCHIVE; JENNER: BERETTA/SIMS/SHUTTERSTOCK; TRAVEL: COURTESY OF SEGERA RETREAT.
