“Supermodel Highlights” Combine 3 Popular Hair-Colour Trends Into 1

• “Supermodel highlights” are making a return.
• The hair colour trend was famously worn by Cindy Crawford in the ’90s.
• This updated version of the hair colour features shadow roots.

If Cindy Crawford à la 1992 was ever on your mood board, this one’s for you: “supermodel highlights” are making a comeback, and much like the supermodel lip trend that came before it, its resurgence is long overdue. The list of born-again ’90s beauty trends is a long one with butterfly clips, french manicures, and chunky highlights positioned comfortably at the top, but this season’s latest addition comes just in time for seasonal salon appointments and has a chance of stealing the number one spot.

At first glance, supermodel highlights can look a lot like the celebrity-loved chunky-highlights trend combined with the money-piece highlights trend, but the key difference here is how the colours are blended. While supermodel and chunky highlights are all about contrast, supermodel highlights are blended into your roots and less streaky.

“Supermodel highlights are bold, with a slight root shadow,” celebrity hairstylist and Matrix brand ambassador Rachel Bodt told POPSUGAR. “This look has lots of strong, face-framing highlights that bring attention to the face.” Crawford famously wore the hairstyle in the early ’90s, but we’ve seen it more recently on celebrities like Addison Rae, Jennifer Lopez, and even the model’s daughter, Kaia Gerber.

While the look is characterised by thick streaks of colour and feels more daring than traditional blended highlights, it doesn’t have the same stark, striped effect as chunky highlights. “With people growing out their natural hair more, having that pop right around the face really gives a nice impact for your look,” Bodt said. “The pro is that this look isn’t super high maintenance.” This is thanks to the shadow root element of the hair colour.

Aside from the fact that supermodel highlights are low maintenance, the trend is also great because it works on all hair colours and types. “It’s all about the colour palettes and using root shadows to smudge the line of demarcation so it doesn’t look dated,” Bodt said. For more inspiration for the supermodel-highlights hair colour trend, keep scrolling.