The Cut caught up with Karen Elson at WWD's birthday party on Tuesday night and she confirmed that actress Christina Hendricks is to thank for her signature red 'do.
Christina (a natural blonde, people!) previously recounted an anecdote from her mid-'90s modeling days to Harper's Bazaar:
"I was in Milan, and you would see the same girls at castings. There was one girl--she was like, 'I can't get any work. I'm so sick of this, I'm ready to quit. I love your hair color. What do you color your hair with?' and I was like, 'Oh, it's red. Here's my formula.' It was Karen Elson. A couple of weeks later, she had bright-red hair." Christina leans into the tape recorder and says, "Sorry, Karen, but you did ask about my hair color. Then I saw her on the cover of Italian Vogue, and the rest is history!" She laughs. "Karen is amazing. I'm such an admirer of hers."
And Elson told The Cut:
"I read that [Harper's Bazaar story] and you know, she did tell me years ago....We did a shoot together and I remember her beautiful red hair, and I had the worst sort of strawberry blonde mousy hair, and she was like, 'Here, you should dye your hair red, it's going to work for you.' [....] But then when I came to New York and I was about to work with Meisel and do the cover of Italian Vogue, he was going to choose red or black; and I willed the red. Thanks to Christina Hendricks, I willed it. So yeah, she encouraged the red hair."