Supermodel Kristen McMenamy and British Vogue’s own Sarah Harris are the fashion world’s poster girls for gray—their every Instagram post proof that a head of silver hair isn’t just acceptable, it’s seriously aspirational. But the period post-lockdown has seen the gray hair movement go mainstream.
Forced to relinquish their regular salon visits due to COVID restrictions, many women chose to embrace their regrowth, rather than run from it. It seems A-listers were no different, and the return of the party circuit (and unfettered access to glam squads) did nothing to quell enthusiasm for this newly liberated approach to beauty.
After Sarah Jessica Parker proudly showed off pearlescent roots in a viral Sex and the City reunion snap, and Andie MacDowell’s halo of silver curls became the most admired hairstyle on the Cannes red carpet, intentional regrowth is now infiltrating royal circles. Spain’s Queen Letizia arrived in Stockholm for a state visit this week looking characteristically groomed in a camel cape by Carolina Herrera, with natural strands of silver visible in her glossy dark hair.
Letizia, a former journalist and news anchor who married into the Spanish royal family in 2004, is as influential in Spain as the Duchess of Cambridge—whose tacit seal of approval can be worth millions of pounds in sales to a brand—is in Britain. Her relaxed approach to regrowth is further evidence that the rise of gray hair—part of a broader welcome shift towards age positivity—will be perhaps the biggest beauty headline of 2021. Her segue to gray follows that of another royal brunette, Princess Caroline, whose salt and pepper bob is suitably chic for the daughter of style icon Grace Kelly.