{"id":8260,"date":"2014-03-05T15:12:41","date_gmt":"2014-03-05T15:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/?p=8260"},"modified":"2014-03-05T20:31:34","modified_gmt":"2014-03-05T20:31:34","slug":"wigging-out-the-rise-of-wig-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/?p=8260","title":{"rendered":"Wigging out: The rise of wig fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hair. It\u2019s everywhere, even sprouting up in closets across Canada. No cause for alarm, however. This type of hair is a fashion accessory, and it\u2019s sometimes hard to spot.<\/p>\n

Wigs have been present since Antiquity: They\u2019ve graced the heads of famous figures like Cleopatra and Marie Antoinette.\u00a0 But now wigs are coming at us more subtly. They are blending in seamlessly with natural hairstyles, enabling everyday women to experiment with fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve\u00a0noticed an up-shift in the fashion-wig market,\u201d says Alexandra Gunn, fashion editor for Ottawa Life Magazine<\/em> and anchor for Sun News Network.\u00a0\u201cFashion changes so quickly, and this emerging market of hair pieces and wigs allows women to avoid any sort of commitment.\u201d <\/strong>Molanda Joseph, sales representative at Wigs R Us in Toronto, is of the same opinion: \u201cIt\u2019s a new trend, I would say.\u201d New people are trying it, she explains.<\/p>\n

Joseph says she has witnessed the trend taking shape on Canada\u2019s streets: In cities like Toronto and Montreal, there are increased numbers of people wearing wigs. Consumers are embracing the idea that they can switch up their hairstyle as easily as any other fashion accessory.<\/p>\n

Roaming the streets and catwalks<\/p>\n

The idea of effortlessly switching hairstyles has even recently made its way onto the fashion runways. The spring\/summer 2014 collections that hit runways from designers like Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Fendi and Rodarte featured models wearing wigs, hairpieces or extensions, says Gunn, adding that designers are using these accessories to change a model\u2019s look without consequence. \u201cIt really is a big beauty trend, something that the industry is keeping tabs on because it has become quite prevalent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retailers are also taking note of the trend\u2019s popularity. \u201cFast-fashion retail giant ASOS is keen to capitalize on the trend and has launched a fun and affordable wig range,\u201d says Gunn. \u201cThis alone suggests that retailers are aware of this growing trend and the possibility that it may become a commonplace accessory in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sarah
“Another way to express yourself”: Fourth-year undergraduate Sarah Graf says she wears a more obvious wig style about once a month.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Off the runway and on the streets of Ottawa, one might encounter Sarah Graf wearing one of her wigs. The fourth-year Biology student at Carleton University has used wigs as a fashion statement since high school; she admits that her wig choices tend toward the more obvious. For her, the appeal of wigs stems from her interest in things like comicon (conventions held for comic book fans) and cosplay (wearing costumes associated with fictional characters). \u201cI see it as another type of accessory,\u201d says Graf. \u201cIt\u2019s another way to express yourself, if you want to have long hair one day and short hair another day. You can kind of colour that to your outfit.\u201d Wearing wigs at least once a month, she explains she has had a lot of positive reactions: People are surprised at first, but soon become intrigued by the style choice.<\/p>\n

\"Lady
Lady Gaga’s love of wigs for performance and for everyday is inspiring many people to experiment likewise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also helping further interest in wig wearing are celebrities. As Gunn notes, \u201cCharacters like Lady Gaga or Katy Perry, [are] leaders in this trend where we are seeing women and men using wigs as a form of expression, to better portray and to depict the character they\u2019re looking to show to the world.\u201d Currently this seems especially true in the United States, home and playground to many world celebrities and their imitators. \u201cAlthough we don\u2019t often see women in Ottawa sporting a Lady Gaga\u2013style turquoise wig, women are becoming more adventurous and will opt for a wig when [attending] a stylish event, or to try out a new hair colour or style,\u201d says Gunn.<\/p>\n

Katherine Riley, a Client Care Worker at Inner City Health in Ottawa, wears wigs for personal necessity. She says she\u2019s recently seen a substantial increase in the number of wigs in public and on social media: \u201cAs a wearer of wigs, I\u2019m able to pick someone wearing one out of a crowd. I\u2019ve\u00a0noticed an increase in wigs worn for fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shedding the stigma<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like eyeglasses,\u201d says Evelyn Valcourt. \u201cI\u2019m finding that there are a lot of women who wear glasses for fashion. So it\u2019s the same thing [with wigs]. It just needs a little bit more tweaking here in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Winnipeg's
Rebranding wigs with the term “spare hair,” wig vendor and activist Evelyn Valcourt hopes to weave a positive spin on this style option.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Valcourt has owned and managed Evelyn\u2019s Wigs, a wig shop in Winnipeg, for 27 years. Throughout that time, she has noticed a shift in the way wigs are accepted in society. \u201cI remember seeing women going to their work with a black-haired wig one day and then the next day they\u2019d go red and who would care,\u201d she says about wig wearing in the \u201950s and \u201960s. \u201cThey thought that was fun. That was great. And then it all kind of folded up into nothing really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valcourt explains wigs\u2019 dip in popularity as\u00a0 a side-effect of more people with cancer wearing wigs in the \u201960s. A stigma developed around wig wearing. Women did not want to be signalling misinformation about themselves.<\/p>\n

Removing the stigma from wigs has been a long process. Acceptance of both wig wearing and cancer in society has allowed wigs to once again enter into everyday fashion culture. Using the term \u201cspare hair\u201d to refer to the item, Valcourt hopes to eliminate any negative association that might still remain. She sees wigs as an extra style option \u2014 allowing\u00a0women to test out new looks without damaging their hair through processes like dying and perming.<\/p>\n

\u2018Characters like Lady Gaga or Katy Perry are leaders in this trend where we are seeing women and men using wigs as a form of expression.\u2019 \u2014 fashion editor Alexandra\u00a0Gunn<\/p>\n

Technology has also helped fuel the trend, as more people are realizing that itchy, hot, heavy wigs are a thing of the past. \u201c[The trend] is growing because the wigs are getting better and better,\u201d says sales person Joseph.\u00a0 Similarly Valcourt, with over 300 wigs in stock at her store,\u00a0 has definitely noticed wigs\u2019 improvements through the years. She says that the quality of some synthetic wigs today outshines the human-hair wigs available, making it easy to adjust to wig wearing.<\/p>\n

These new and improved wigs provide an outlet for those seeking a means to express themselves. \u201cMany people identify themselves through their hair, whether it\u2019s for confidence, sex appeal, individualism, et cetera,\u201d says Cindy Yip, president of Eva & Co. Wigs in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re having trouble spotting this new trend on Canada\u2019s streets, that\u2019s to the wig\u2019s credit. Says Gunn, \u201cSometimes the wigs are so well done that you won\u2019t even notice that they are wigs on some people.\u201d Such is the case for Valcourt. When she chooses to wear one of her wigs, she often gets confused reactions from peers. \u201cThey can\u2019t figure [out] \u2018is it her hair?\u2019 I had one girl sitting beside me at a meeting, and she looked at me and said, \u2018Is this yours? Is it your wig?\u2019 And I said, \u2018Well, what do you think?\u2019 and she said, \u2018I don\u2019t know. I can\u2019t tell.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Ok. So let\u2019s leave it at that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Home-page photo courtesy of Evelyn Valcourt.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo by Eva Rinaldi from Sydney, Australia (Lady Gaga) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a new fashion accessory trending across Canada. But you may need a fine tooth comb to spot it\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":8516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8260"}],"version-history":[{"count":54,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9210,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8260\/revisions\/9210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}