Clad in Chanel and shot by Annie Leibovitz, Rihanni posed for her first U-S Vogue cover picture with her bottle-red locks. As I’ve said before, there isn’t a trace of “ginger” in Rihanni but I still think she wears the fire-engine red well. She’s six months into this new look and still going strong.
Vogue certainly pulled off the red haired mermaid look for their April, 2011 edition. Bottle or no, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a redhead on the cover of one of the most popular fashion magazines on the planet.
For the last four weeks, redhead mentions on the web have been almost entirely dominated by Rihanna and the world’s reaction to her bottle-red tresses. I don’t think I can go any longer without commenting on the pop star’s new look. The music video for her single “Only Girl in the World” is due out soon and I have no doubt her new and temporary hair colour will have influenced the direction and style of the video. The album cover alone is dedicated to her hair, from the vintage blood-red dress to the Sting-like fields of gold. How country. How quaint.
Honestly? I think she’s rocking the bottle-red. Margo Kaufman would argue that Rihanna never had to wear a t-shirt underneath her bathing suit. Although, I’m sure if anyone could pull that off in a fashionable manner, it would be Rihanna.
The truth is that real redheads don’t experience their hair colour as it relates to their style, fashion and sex appeal in the same, sensational way that Rihanna is experiencing it right now. There isn’t a trace of “ginger” in her new look. Her dark, brown skin in contrast to the clearly artificial hair colour has more in common with a Barbie doll that it does to any sort of redhead experience. But that doesn’t seem to stop her from commenting on her new look on the radio:
“Redheads have the most fun! And redheads have the most work too.”
Fun? Maybe. But “work?” All I can say is she must be listening to Bruce Springsteen. Because we all know “you ain’t lived ’til you’ve had your tires rotated by a red-headed woman.”
I can picture the photo opportunity, now: “pop star seen on the side of the highway with monkey wrench in hand.”
There’s nothing like a little elbow grease to encourage the redhead experience.
The Globe and Mail recently rebooted the entire look of their paper, putting extra special attention into their Saturday Style section which was long overdue for a new look and better content.
Just two editions in and redheads are already gracing it’s pages. There’s always a conversation to be had when a redhead is around. When in doubt, ask us how we feel about being asked about our red hair.
If the title is any indication, the new movie by French director Romain Gavras, “Our Day Will Come,” was preceded by an extremely elaborate trailer.
Five months ago, Gavras released the controversial MIA music video he directed, “Born Free.” If you have yet to acquaint yourself with this video, you can get the low-down here. At one point in the video, a mural appears that depicts three redheaded soldiers holding guns below a banner that reads “Our Day Will Come.”
The movie, Our Day Will Come, premiered at Toronto’s International Film Festival last week. It’sthe story of a young boy and his teacher and their journey from France, where people with red hair are treated as social outcasts, to Ireland. Intriguing, no? Especially now, when we can make the connection between the new movie and Gavras’ music video five months earlier.
In an interview with the CBC, Gavras described why he chose redheads:
“I use gingers as the oppressed people because they’re a visible minority, but they have no community, which is interesting to me,” says Gavras. “They’re kind of a good symbol for what it is to be different. It’s more about people being different from the rest of the world, and being frustrated. Extreme violence can be a product of that.”
A couple of quick notes on Gavras, himself. He’s 29 years-old, the son of French director Constantinos Gavras, and easy on the eyes. It will be interesting to see if Gavras continues to reference redheads in future work as part of a larger story that speaks to visible minorities.
Born Free, an MIA music video, was released in late April, 2010, removed from Youtube the same day, re-posted with an age restriction and pulled again the next day.
Boingboing describes the video, directed by Romain Gavras, as a “global ginger jihad.”
Of course, I don’t think this video is really about rounding up redheaded boys and injecting them with as much fear as possible before a violent death, but it’s produced with enough authenticity to make you think it is.
Whether it had to do with the current political climate in the States (the video was released right around the time new immigrant identification legislation was introduced in the state of Arizona) or it heralds back to MIA’s Sri Lankan roots (her father is Tamil), “Born Free” is about visible minorities and obscene violence. There isn’t one element in this video that isn’t designed to provoke a reaction, from the naked couple having sex in bed before being pulled from the sheets and beaten or the old man smoking crack cocaine, to the climactic and bloody end.
Here’s a quick summary care of The Guardian, in case you want to skip the video altogether:
“Here, in summary, is the basis of this year’s version of a controversial super-violent short film/promo for a new single: a set of grim looking policemen are conducting raids on grimmer-looking blocks of flats and targeting only young men with ginger hair. These men are rounded up, put in armoured buses, and taken away.
There is a suggestion that there is some kind of movement to resist this state-controlled ginger-genocide, but whatever it is, we only see a glimpse of it in this film. Anyway, when the red-headed young men arrive at their destination – a desert – they’re told to run for their lives, into the sunset. And when they pause, one of them (the youngest) is shot point blank in the head.Here, in summary, is the basis of this year’s version of a controversial super-violent short film/promo for a new single: a set of grim looking policemen are conducting raids on grimmer-looking blocks of flats and targeting only young men with ginger hair. These men are rounded up, put in armoured buses, and taken away. There is a suggestion that there is some kind of movement to resist this state-controlled ginger-genocide, but whatever it is, we only see a glimpse of it in this film. Anyway, when the red-headed young men arrive at their destination – a desert – they’re told to run for their lives, into the sunset. And when they pause, one of them (the youngest) is shot point blank in the head. “
Viewer discretion is totally required. Nudity, sex, blood, guns and murder are all depicted in this video. As Billboard.com puts it, “watch Born Free at your own risk.”
On the off-chance that you live in a cave with remote access to clever things, Unhappy Hipsters is a blog that takes images from the architecture and design magazine, Dwell, and offers captions about the people in the photo.
No doubt the caption’s author could resist passing up a reference to “gingers.” Hipster culture is all the more “unhappy” for it.
I picked up the August edition of Marie Claire magazine the other day. There were four different pages dedicated to a redhead’s beauty regime, from the shade of eye-liner that best suits a “copper-top” to the rising star Christina Hendricks of Mad Men fame and how often she needs to die her hair to keep it looking crimson red (… every other episode, in case you’re interested.)
It just goes to show that redheads, like blondes, brunettes and every other shade of hair, are singled out as having their own, unique, cosmetic ritual. Click on the images for a closer look.
“Stuff White People Like” is a blog about, well, stuff white people like. Here’s how it describes itself:
On White People:
“They love nothing better than sipping free-trade gourmet coffee, leafing through the Sunday New York Times, and listening to David Sedaris on NPR (ideally all at the same time). Apple products, indie music, food co-ops, and vintage T-shirts make them weak in the knees.
You know who they are: They’re white people. And they’re here, and you’re gonna have to deal. Fortunately, here’s a book that investigates, explains, and offers advice for finding social success with the Caucasian persuasion. So lose yourself in the ultimate guide (featuring brand-new entries and extras!) to the unbearable whiteness of being.”
Clearly, redheads have made the S.W.P.L. grade and it appears the blog is taking advantage of it’s mass popularity , best-selling book and has gone into the calendar business.
I don’t own the calendar. Neither does my mum, who says a friend (she can’t remember who) found this piece of paper on the ground and gave it to her to give to me. June 17th will forever be burned into my psyche as a day synonymous with redheads. And white people.
