Julianne Hough changed to red hair to mark a new chapter in her life.
Julianne Hough
The 29-year-old dancer-and-actress sported her signature short, blonde bob for years but recently changed up her look to flame coloured locks, and her stylist Anita Patrickson has revealed the drastic change was to reflect the personal and professional shifts in her life after marrying professional ice hockey player Brookes Laich and leaving 'Dancing with the Stars'.
Anita told PEOPLE: "I think she's exploring a slightly different side. She's just going on to a new chapter, she's not on 'Dancing with the Stars', she's a wife now and all those things. It's probably hard for a celebrity in the public eye to take a leap from one chapter or one phase of your life to the next. We all do it without anyone looking at us. But as a stylist, you get to be a small part of that evolutionary thing."
And the 'Safe Haven' beauty admitted she felt "like a red head [her] whole life" so the colour change was a natural step for her.
Unveiling the new colour on her Instagram account in February, she said: "I have never felt more like ME than I do right now!! I have always felt like a red head my whole life, even to the point that I've thought that my future daughter would 100 per cent be a red head! I've seriously talked about doing this for 6 years, ask anyone who knows me ... and now that I'm on this new journey, exploring and finding out who I truly am, I said screw it! I feel more feminine and alive and I love it!"
And Anita said that the pair have had to switch up her red-carpet wardrobe since the hairstyle change, opting for more neutral colours to make her bold hair stand out, and staying away from colours which clash with her new look.
She said: "Obviously the colors she wears are different. For [the Vanity Fair post-Oscars party] we wanted to do something more womanly and old-school. That moment had to be all about her hair. It was such a dramatic change, and she's always been known for her short, cute bob. So I wanted to feature it and feel it, so the dress accentuated that.
"Redheads think they can't wear red, and it's actually a great colour for them. Yellow is really fun, especially a mustard, and white is brilliant. Blues aren't always good but I like a deep navy. Green is a go-to, though you've got to be careful--Jules and I actually tried a green dress on and were like, 'Oh, this looks like Poison Ivy.' "