A great blonde dye job can be so many things—but historically speaking, brassy isn’t usually one of them. The term is as unfavorable in the lexicon of hair color as it is when applied to women. And yet, fueled by the rebel pop star platinum of Justin Bieber or fashion’s recent love affair with so-wrong-it’s-right dressing, the synthetic allure of bad blonde suddenly seems both timeless and dangerously of-the-moment.
Worn by icons from Rihanna to Debbie Harry, a subversively yellow single process reads like an afterthought—an at-home peroxide dip cut short on time. What other color would have sealed the sinister promise “You will be hurt” that Brigitte Bardot carelessly delivers to her lover in Two Weeks in September, or could telegraph the wayward heart of Nastassja Kinski in Paris, Texas? Monica Vitti’s honeyed hair needed to be as imperfect as her love story in An Almost Perfect Affair. And its impossible-to-replicate nature is exactly what made a fan out of David Bowie. Glowing like an acid-dipped halo around its wearer, there’s something wonderfully louche about its neon tinge. So, before you reach for the violet toning shampoo between colorist sessions, take a look at these 15 icons who made bad blonde look good.