From Gwen Stefani to Beyoncé, wigs are making a stylish comeback
It all started with Max Factor. "The father of modern make-up" saw a vacuum in the theatrical costuming market and started renting human hair wigs to film studios and movie stars familiar with his cakeless make-up. Soon celebs like Jean Harlow, started wearing "actress hair" to protect their own lengths from the peroxide processes that maintained the platinum color of the 1940s and '50s screen sirens.
(Actress Jean Harlow was known for her platinum hair)
For the same "bleaching gone bad" reasons, aspiring singer Anna Mae Bullock donned a wig that would come to characterize her stage persona, Tina Turner,
but it was her 1960s contemporaries -- Diana Ross and the Supremes -- that blew new volume in the wig craze. Glittering in evening gowns -- bogus beehives,
bobs and bouffants crowning their heads -- the trio took their own brand of black star power to the mainstream.
(A young Tina Turner, pictured here with her first husband, Ike, started
wearing wigs after losing her hair in a disastrous home bleaching.)
Diana Ross & The Supremes' shiny wigs and flashy elegance inspired a
generation of gonna-be divas.)
Even though excessive-styling continued to make fake hair a necessity, stars became much more secretive about their styles, sewing in weaves and gluing in tracks that they passed off as their own. But with the public's increasing access to the behind-the-scenes celebrity machine, stars like Raquel Welch, Dolly Parton, and Beverly Johnson introduced wig collections. Celebrity hairstylists started telling all and the rest is history.
(Jessica Simpson models a piece from
her HairDo™ Clip in Hair Extensions System)
Today, Jessica Simpson and her hairstylist Ken Paves sell their own line of clip-on wig pieces and Gwen Stefani proudly poses like a wig head in the publicity photos for her new album "The Sweet Escape". With Beyoncé set to star in The Supremes-inspired "Dreamgirls", we feel a craze around the corner.
Thinking about getting a wig?
Learn how to find the right one from this Essence Magazine article
What do you think about Gwen's new look?
Let us know by adding a comment!
1. Jessica Simpson looks ridiculous in that wig.. Its very unflattering on her not to mention it makes her look like a 50's housewife.. nothing wrong with 50's housewives but I wouldn't want to look like one if I was a glamourous celeb...
Lola at 6:48PM on Dec 5th 2006