French Instagram Star Is Proof That Gray Hair Is Super Sexy

French journalist and Instagram star Sophie Fontanel, 54, certainly rocks her mane of gray! In an interview with Vogue, the Parisian fashion journalist said that for years she had been “living a lie: the life of a woman with dark hair.”

She had been coloring her hair since she was in her 20s “to look younger,” she said. It wasn’t until after she attained literary fame, in her 50s, that a series of random encounters ― signs, if you will ― convinced her to revert to her natural hair color. Fontanel opted to let her layers grow in over time—and to document the entire awkward process both on Instagram (#uneapparitionsophiefontanel) and in a forthcoming book (to be called Une Apparition).

You can read the full Vogue interview here. Go Sophie!