Hunger Games-Inspired Fashion Fad?

Remember side ponytails? Crimped hair? How about overalls with only one side clipped together? Oh, and let’s not forget the Britney Spears-inspired schoolgirl outfits on everything from teenagers to grown women, complete with the trashy “tramp stamp” tattoo of a butterfly, flower, or tribal sign on the lower back.

Sigh.

Every decade has its standout horrible fashion trend that – thankfully! – fizzles out when the next absurd trend enters to replace it. So what’s the standout terrible fashion trend of the current decade? Easy. Hands down, it’s got to be the god-awful dye jobs and wigs celebrities are coming up with.

Hollywood is currently filled with starlets and musicians with hair every shade of the rainbow, not even attempting to look natural. Just forty years ago, popsicle-blue or fire engine red hair was worn only by clowns or punk rockers, who were usually ostracized or abused for daring to be so different. Back then, having rainbow-colored hair was a very strong social statement, basically telling people to “f**k off.” It was hair’s equivalent of the middle finger.

Today, however, a growing number of young actresses and budding pop singers have unnatural hues atop their heavily made-up heads. There’s Pink, with her trademark pink tresses; Rihanna has gone fluorescent red; 11-year-old singer Willow Smith was pink, then slime green; and Katy Perry has been cotton candy blue, deep purple, and bright orange.

In an even worse version of the trend, many of the celebrities seem to be only willing to commit chunks of their hair, or just the bottom half, of their trendy-long tresses to the fad. Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Vanessa Hudgens, Lauren Conrad, and Avril Lavigne are just a handful of the young celebrities sporting pink, purple, and blue-hued tips.

There are two women who stand out among them all as having the most offensive, horrible, and ridiculous hair: Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga. These women go so big and so bad on such a regular occasion that all they’d have to do in order to go out in public and not get recognized would be to don their own hair and tone down their makeup. Every time either of them is photographed, they have a completely different hairstyle, color, and length. These two are pretty much always wearing wigs, because if they did this stuff to their real hair, they would quickly go bald. For impressionable young girls, trying to keep up with them would likely mean frying their hair beyond the point of saving.

Am I the only one who sees the irony in this silly trend taking such precedence with the rich and famous just as The Hunger Games saga is growing in popularity? Does anyone else see that “The Capitol” and its ridiculous, self-absorbed, image-obsessed citizens are a very thinly veiled parody of the Hollywood celebrities?

Frankly, once I get past the annoyance of seeing the celebrities avoid their natural hair color, the whole fad is just silly. Who ever would have thoughts adults, those so many chose to look up to, idolize, and imitate would so closely resemble clowns? This is where fashion has taken us; what on earth could be next?

To those trying to keep up with the ever-changing Hollywood trends, all I can say is good luck – and may the odds be ever in your favor.