Blondes go brunette and brunettes go blonde at Balmain

A model’s hair is his or her crowning glory. In fact, it’s so valuable that model agents prowl around it like ferocious lions lest some hair stylist attempts to make any drastic changes. This afternoon though, at Balmain’s AW16 womenswear show at Paris Fashion Week, Olivier Rousteing did exactly that: he changed the hair colours of some of the fashion industry’s modelling heavyweights.

The show opened with a blonde Kendall Jenner and a brunette Gigi Hadid – as if the two Instagram It-girls had swapped hair. Following closely in their wake came the usually brunette Alessandra Ambrosio whose hair had been dyed (or concealed by a wig of) straw blonde. The usually blonde Devon Windsor, Lily Donaldson, Lindsey Wixson and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley on the other hand, had golden hair change to a shade of dark, chocolatey brown.

And these weren’t only hair change on the catwalk: former Dazed cover star Lineisy Montero had her trademark mini afro exchanged for a shoulder-length weave, also in a shade of dark brown. Whether any of these hair changes are permanent remains to be seen.

Rousteing’s AW16 collection itself saw a continuation of his high-octane glamour, with heavy embellishment and embroidery, frills and fringing, lace and lacing. It was so ornate, so decorative and so grandiose that it felt almost rococo. Pay London’s Wallace Collection a visit and you’ll see why.