Brad Johns, the celebrity hair colorist who helped define the look of the 1990s and created Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s signature blonde hair, has died. He was 70.
Johns died Aug. 27 at his home in West Hollywood, California, after battling prostate cancer for several years, close friends told Women’s Wear Daily.
The influential colorist spent more than four decades in the beauty industry and became particularly well known for his work with blond hair and a highlighting technique known as "chunking." His roster of famous clients included Kate Moss, Christy Turlington, Johnny Depp, Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Lucille Ball, Matthew Modine and artist Cindy Sherman.
But one of Johns’ most recognizable creations was the sun-kissed blonde worn
by Bessette Kennedy, the Calvin Klein publicist and wife of John F. Kennedy Jr. whose minimalist style remains influential decades after her death.
Brad Johns created Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s famous blonde hair
Johns began coloring Bessette Kennedy’s hair in 1996, transforming her naturally light brown hair into the warm, multidimensional blonde that would become a defining part of her look.
Earlier this year, Johns told Peoplethat he considered Bessette Kennedy’s “blue surfer girl eyes” when determining the right color for her and referred to the finished shade as a “child-of-the-beach” blonde.
"Eye color's first because if it's blue, anything that's golden's going to show that up," Johns explained. "And if they're icy blue, white shows that up. I would look at the whole package... I mean, she was just gorgeous."
The look incorporated Johns’ signature chunking technique, in which larger, strategically placed pieces of hair were lightened to add dimension. For Bessette Kennedy, Johns placed lighter pieces around her face and the underside of her hair so the color would be visible when she wore ponytails and updos.
Johns also colored her hair shortly before her secret September 1996 wedding to Kennedy. In an interview with People, he recalled that an anxious Bessette Kennedy arrived at the salon wanting to dramatically dye her hair black, though she had not told him she was about to get married. Johns persuaded her against the drastic change and instead made her existing blonde slightly lighter.
Who was Brad Johns?
Born in Pittsburgh in 1955, Johns grew up in the projects. "We were poor and very ashamed of being poor," he once said. He initially moved to New York to study acting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts before switching careers and attending the Robert Fiance Hair Design Institute. He went on to work at several prominent New York salons, including Cinandre, before opening his eponymous salon.
He also chronicled his life and career in the 2023 memoir "Dye: A Memoir of Art, Music, Faith, Family and Hair Color."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s hairstylist Brad Johns dead at 70
