When Kim Kardashian showed up at Tom Ford’s fashion show earlier this month sporting a chic silver wig, she turned a few heads, while her half-sister Kendall Jenner walked the runway in a faux pixie cut. Both helped break one of the beauty industry’s taboos: wearing a wig. Beyoncé, Rihanna and Gwen Stefani are also known for changing their looks with wigs and extensions.
Once bought in secret by women hiding hair loss, the multibillion-dollar wig industry has gone mainstream.
“Wigs are a great way to change your look,” says top salon owner Angelo David, whose Madison Avenue clients pay from $2,800 to $7,000 for bespoke wigs. “We use very high-quality premium hair. Every wig is customized perfectly for the client’s needs.”
David says the number of his clients who wear his couture hair pieces — wigs, extensions, and toppers — has doubled in the past five years. “They do everything from concealing extreme hair loss to allow a fast fashion change, meeting every need from medical to the desire to become a platinum blonde for a day—without the commitment of a process that could damage your hair,” said David, who learned from his wig-making from his pioneering father Carmine.
His clients now use wigs, extensions and even clip-in bangs to change and play with their looks the same way they accessorize with make-up and handbags.
Clients are getting inspired by supermodels like Coca Rocha, who sports a pixie cut in one Instagram photo, and a long fishtail braid while attending a Paris fashion a few days later. “It’s no longer a taboo. Celebrities are no longer shy about faux hair, posting all over social media,” David said.
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