In the recently released music video for her latest hit, titled “The Subway,” Chappell Roan fused her idiosyncratic strawberry-ginger hair with her fashion, dressing in a custom Todd Thomas jacket and skirt set inspired by Maison Margiela’s 2009 hair coats. The 27-year-old “Pink Pony Club” singer, born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, hid under the mop of human hair as she lethargically moved through the New York City underground like an animalistic ingenue.

Roan’s hairstylist, John Novotny, helped conceptualize and produce the material of the outfit made from 35 bundles of curly human hair, three lace closures and two wigs. The idea came from Roan’s personal stylist, Genesis Webb, who reached out to Novotny to ask if he’d be willing to formulate a unique design.

“I had recently made a wig on my client, Julia Fox, to go with an amazing Dilara Findikoglu dress that looked like the Birth of Venus. The Dilara gown was sheer lace and had tracks of hair sewn into it to look like the hair was draping down Julia’s body, and we made a matching black wig that we tucked into the dress to make the hair appear thigh-length. That look and Genesis’ request really got me inspired,” Novotny told WWD.

For Roan’s look, Novotny didn’t want to create the illusion of hair running down her body; he wanted Roan to be fully covered in it. The vision was “woolly mammoth,” but at the club. Novotny explained: “I wanted to create something that pushed the boundary of what hair can be. The idea of a full silhouette made entirely from hair felt both surreal and intimate. It’s a wearable sculpture, yet deeply tied to her beauty and iconic, fiery red hair that pushes boundaries beyond just length.”

To match the texture of Roan’s natural hair, Novotny sourced a variety of hair types, from curly to wavy, and let them dry overnight for maximum volume. Every lock of hair started as honey blond before eventually becoming a fiery red akin to Roan’s coloring. Novotny played with three shades from Schwarzkopf Professional’s Igora Royal line, ensuring not all bundles were the same. “Some of them I processed twice so they would be richer, some I added roots, some I made all solid color — so that the garment could have as much light and shadow as possible. And then with the styling, it added so much shine and dimension. I needed every curl to still feel alive,” he explained.

According to Novotny, coloring extensions is not the same as coloring natural hair; it takes more people, more hair dye and a lot more time. With that process underway, Thomas worked to form the skeleton of the garments, creating a base made from fabric before hand-sewing the tracks one panel at a time. Novotny said: “We had a fitting and realized that we wanted more darker tracks toward the top as those were the best match to Chappell’s hair, and lighter towards the bottom. Todd went in and repositioned a bunch of the tracks, and it turned out amazing. He worked probably 40 hours straight.”

Issues arose from the behavior of the hair; it would tangle and shed, forcing Novotny and Thomas to redo sections to even out the weight distribution. The coloring wasn’t nailed down on the first try either. The process was trial and error. Indeed, in the end, the hues blended seamlessly.

“I’ve done a lot of transformative hair looks, but this wasn’t just about styling; it was about engineering the look as a performance piece. Working with Todd Thomas, we had to think like fashion designers and hairdressers at the same time. The scale, the movement and the symbolism all had to come together,” Novotny said.

Although Roan may never don the garment again, the piece was coated with “strong but bendable hairspray” and hung as it would on the body to help preserve its shape. And who knows, maybe Roan will outfit repeat for a night out in the city.

The use of human hair in fashion has ramped up in recent months as interest in vintage fur has simultaneously increased. Several stars have fearlessly stepped out in the theatrical yet movable designs, including Jenna Ortega and, of course, Julia Fox. This trend is also coinciding with a wider shift within the beauty lexicon where people are breaking down body hair stereotypes.