The Scene-Stealing Hair at Gucci Resort: Model Marga Esquivel’s Silvery Gray Color

Though she was up at 4:00 a.m. to prep for the Gucci resort show and her agent’s phone has been ringing off the hook ever since, model Marga Esquivel is chilled-out—a fact she attributes to her West Coast nature. “I just grew up in California so it’s just kind of embedded in me,” she says during a stop by the Vogue offices. “I was playing Pokémon waiting for the casting!” As for the nineteen-year-old’s hair? It’s anything but low-key—slicked over in a faded Seapunk gray with a hint of blue.

Call it the year of deliberately unnatural hair color: On Louis Vuitton’s recent fall 2015 runway, Aussie Fernanda Ly—and her Pepto pink mane—nearly walked away with the show. Esquivel’s lopped-off bob, by contrast, isn’t blindingly bright. But that’s the double-take factor—it’s subtle and packs a punch when combined with her blunt, razor-sharp shoulder-length cut.

It’s not her first foray into artificial pigments. She chopped off her long chestnut mane and dyed it platinum in 2013 when she needed a change. Earlier this year, she went neon violet for a job. As for protecting it from damage, Esquivel does not overload on anything chemical-infused. She uses organic non-sulfate shampoos and conditioners by Kevin Murphy, takes biotin, drinks plenty of water, and eats healthfully. “I start from the inside out,” she says. Sometimes, she forgoes traditional cleansers altogether. “If there are no products in my hair, I just use water. I guess at a certain point, your body gets used to the oil balance,” she says. “Also, salt water—there is something in the water in California that keeps it shiny for me.” In the event her hair ever does get dried out? The solution comes from Trader Joe’s in the form of coconut oil. “If I feel like my hair is really frizzled out and dry, I just take a glob of it, put a shower cap on, and sleep with it overnight.”

The hypernatural look is quite the different aesthetic from the one Esquivel embraced while pursuing her original career path: nursing. But she likes the high-octane contrast. “When people see me they think I’m a raver girl—eccentric, wild, out there,” says Esquivel, a Philippines-native who moved to California as a child. “But the majority of the time I’m just really laid-back.” As for what’s next? “Maybe bangs or a buzz cut like Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta. I usually try to do what fits my mood.” And what’s more chill than that?

Follow Marga on Instagram at @marga_esq.

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