37 Models Dyed Their Hair Pastel for the Marc Jacobs Runway Show

“This is the biggest color project I’ve ever worked on,” Redken Gobal Color Creative Director Josh Wood announced backstage at Marc Jacobs’ Spring 2019 show. “I’ve never done anything with this many girls who are willing to color their hair so it’s a very proud moment for me.” 37 models total—more than Wood originally planned—had their real hair bleached then dyed an array of dusty pinks, blues, greens, peaches, and more to match color-match their looks for the show. To say this feat one-ups last season’s nine neon dye jobs is an understatement.

The dye jobs, which each featured shadow roots and an almost-metallic sheen, were created to coordinate with fabric swatches each girl got. “Marc didn’t want a ‘fun’ pastel, he wanted it to have history and for it to look a little vintage,” Wood continued, calling the hues “almost like grown-up pastels” and “slightly anti-unicorn hair.”

The vintage vibe was complemented by lead hair stylist Guido Palau’s ’60s-inspired, “extravagant” hairstyles. There were three different looks: a high bouffant-ponytail hybrid, a beehive-bob, and buzzcuts, all of which Palau says have an “egg-shaped” finish. He described the looks as a nod to women Marc loves like Barbra Streisand and Lee Radziwiłł. The nostalgic looks are also meant to evoke and celebrate a time when women prioritized always looking “done” and polished.

“We’ve seen a lot of natural looks and we know how to do ‘cool,’” Palau said. “A ‘finished’ woman is something Marc really wanted to emphasize again. She had been to the salon. It’s a very coiffed look.” When asked how to achieve the look at home, the hair stylist laughed, “You don’t.”

Both Palau and Wood were surprised so many of the models were willing to get their hair dyed and buzzed (nine models took the plunge) so drastically. “Marc’s very lucky that a lot of girls want to do his show, and lots of girls are much more open to change now,” Palau mused. Wood pointed out that Instagram likely plays a role. “There’s so many images everywhere of people having color and changing color. Bleaching isn’t like it was even two or three years ago…technology supports the fact that the most important thing to us is hair health.”

The makeup look also harkened back to past decades with a focus on powdery light eyeshadow. “We’re doing a wash all over the lid into the eyebrow,” Lead makeup artist, using Marc Jacobs Beauty, described. To make sure the shadows—pink, blue, purple, yellow, and more colors to match the hair and clothes—didn’t look too sweet, Kendal didn’t use any blush and kept the skin fresh-looking. Her tip for making sure colors pop on skin? “I always put foundation on the eye that helps ground it when you’re using a powder pigment eyeshadow,” she said.