Sarah Jessica Parker has gone grey – and Carrie Bradshaw would be appalled
Sarah Jessica Parker has gone grey – and Carrie Bradshaw would be appalled
Laura CraikFri, October 2, 2026 at 3:15 PM UTC
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SJP debuted a dramatic waist-length grey braid at the New York City Ballet’s autumn fashion gala on Oct 1 - Getty/Gilbert Carrasquillo
Carrie Bradshaw might once have said that she “will never be the woman with the perfect hair, who can wear white and not spill on it”. But Sarah Jessica Parker (SJP) is quite another matter. Stepping out on the red carpet at the New York City Ballet’s autumn fashion gala on Thursday evening, Parker was not only wearing a white dress. She was also, indubitably, the woman with the perfect hair.
While romance appeared to be on Parker’s mind, so, too, did drama. A fervent ballet fan (she’s a founding member of the gala), she embraced the spirit of the evening in a floral-sprigged white dress by Simone Rocha, decorated with pale pink ribbon and teamed with bejewelled silver pumps. She also wore her hair swept off her face in a flattering updo.
So far, so chic. And then, the reveal: a long, coiled braid entwined with pink ribbon, snaking so far down her back that she could easily have sat on it – a beautifully executed middle finger to anyone who still believes women over a certain age need to go shorter rather than longer.
She wore a floral-sprigged Simone Rocha dress with a dramatic waist-length braid entwined with pink ribbon - XNY/Star Max
As an avid fashion fan, Parker knows that the “party at the back” look – where an understated front view gives way to a surprising rear view – is a popular trend. While most celebrities pay lip service by wearing a V-back dress or flashing a G-string, how typical of SJP to do things in her own inimitable way.
While the hairstyle was a big departure for an actress who almost always wears her hair down and a few inches past shoulder-length, what was even more surprising was the colour. At 61, Parker is embracing her grey – and looks all the lovelier for it.
Carrie was supposedly 59 when the final season of the Sex and the City sequel,And Just Like That, aired last August, a year younger than Parker at the time. So we know exactly what her thoughts were on the ageing process. Grey hair? She didn’t know it – or want to. As befitted her character, Carrie was forever wedded to her warm, honey-blonde tones. While her hair oscillated between bouncy curls and sleeker styles, its colour rarely varied. Whole Reddit threads and Pinterest boards have been dedicated to Carrie’s hair, with one Reddit user summing it up perfectly: “Her highlights are blonde goals. Her colour is flawless.”
Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in 2004, with the character’s signature honey-blonde hair - WireImage/James Devaney
Which it still is, even now that it’s grey. Parker’s hair is tended to by Gina Gilbert, her longtime colourist, at New York’s Benjamin Salon, with the two working to transition her from honeyed blonde to grey using a technique called “grey blending”, which incorporates grey hair with highlights for a seamless, natural look.
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“It looks like a lovely ashy blonde, because the blonde blends really well with her natural salt and pepper,” says George Northwood, the hairdresser. “The mix of blonde and gold is subtle, which is always key.”
According to Sarah Bower, a grey blending specialist at Larry King salon in Marylebone, London, the secret to making grey hair look modern is to keep the front section whiter, then add low blonde lights further through the crown. “This creates more dimension, as well as a focal point. What’s important is how the colours merge, soften and complement each other.”
As for its length, this is easily achievable. “She’s obviously used either extensions or just hairpieces added in,” says hair extension specialist Hadley Yates, whose A-list clientele often turn to him for similarly one-off dramatic looks. “It’s cleverly done: the blonde has been blended in with the grey to lift the colour while making it look as natural as possible.”
Yates has observed an uptick in demand for grey-blended hair in his London salon. “We’ve had loads of women coming in lately where we’ve added small pieces of grey extensions to get a perfect blend. Sometimes clients will want to add blonde extensions to their grey, while others will want darker pieces to camouflage the greys. But we’re definitely seeing more clients wanting to embrace it.”
Grey blending combines natural silver with blonde highlights to create a softer, more seamless transition - Getty/Gilbert Carrasquillo
While it shouldn’t be headline news that a 61-year-old actress appears on a red carpet with long, grey hair, here we are. In a youth-obsessed world, it takes guts to step away from the received narrative that women must disguise or remove all visible signs of ageing for fear of being looked down upon or judged. AI is already judging us: every day, another story surfaces of a woman’s CV being summarily rejected because of her age. Rather than asking why women who went grey long ago still dye their hair, perhaps a more useful question is why they feel they need to.
Which is why Parker’s silver statement feels so important. Just like Olivia Colman, 52, who recently debuted a joyful mane of long grey curls, Parker is normalising the ageing process instead of hiding it. By doing so, she’s probably given other women the confidence to ditch the dye, should they so wish.
Carrie would be proud. Actually, scrub that: Carrie would be appalled. But then, she wasn’t right about everything.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
