Hair Heroes Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Jessie J Prove It's Time To Wig Out

There's an awful lot of hair on the red carpet these days. And none of it real. At what point did wigs become as ubiquitous as Swarovski and slits?

Pretty much the time that Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Katy Perry and Jessie J took over the chart. All three are fans of augmenting/altering their hair with wigs and/or clip-ons and are currently the most photographed celebrities at time of press. This goes some way to explain why hairpieces - flamboyant or natural - are fast becoming de rigeur for fashion-forward women the world over who want to road-test a trend – say pink rinse – without bleaching and rose-tinting their hair.

"The wig business now is crazy ... it's just exploding," French wig maker Julien d'Ys recently told LA Times Magazine. Renowned for his somewhat avant-garde hairpieces, as seen in Vogue and Vanity Fair, he should know. The Parisian-based designer has collaborated with designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel, and also cites the catwalk trend for ‘uniform’ models as a case in point.

So what to wear: nowadays, the ubiquity of wigs on the high street means you can pick up one up from around £25. A tenner from your local market. Woefully synthetic, yes, but a great way to temporarily dip dye your tresses.

Ditto lace-front wigs - full wigs made from either natural or synthetic hair sewn onto a delicate mesh lace base - as favoured by Beyoncé and Shakira.  These, however, retail at a fair whack more (the very best can go for up to £8,000) so maybe an actual trip to the hairdresser is more in order.

So wigs - the pluses are multiple: you can match your hair to an outfit, switch your look to be on-trend the moment it does and trial bangs without actually commitment. But outside of a hen party, would you dare to wear?