Hair

Ellen von Unwerth

Katharine McPhee is a born brunette, but for the cover shoot for her new album Unbroken, which hits stores October 6, the singer is trading her long brown locks for a sexy platinum shag — and she’s sharing the look exclusively with PEOPLE. “My music is a little more edgy so that inspired me to be adventurous,” she explains of taking the leap to blonde with stylist Peter Savic. “I’ve never dyed my hair before so this was a pretty drastic change. I’ve always been known as a brunette but I’ve been thinking about it for a long time and it kind of just fit with all of the searching with the music and experimenting that I would do the same thing with my look.” And she’s been noticing other effects of the new style as well. “The look has affected the way I dress, it’s inspired me to be more adventurous with what I decide to wear. It’s silly that something so simple as changing your hair could have such a big effect,” she muses. “I’m just having fun with it. This is a great time for me to do something different. I’m young — I always try to have a good time.” Learn more about Katharine’s new look in this week’s PEOPLE magazine, which hits stands today. Tell us: Do you prefer Katherine as a blonde, or do you want her to go back to brunette?

Courtesy Elle

She’s one of America’s most gorgeous women, and next month Jennifer Aniston will be getting the beauty recognition she deserves in the coveted cover-model spot on Elle magazine’s big September issue — and PEOPLE.com has a first look. In an exclusive interview inside, Jen dishes on her love life, friendships and life in Hollywood. “I’m not going to ignore the pink elephant in the living room,” she says of the media’s insistence that she’s lonely. “It’s fine. I can take it. If I’m the emblem for ‘this is what it looks like to be the lonely girl getting on with her life,’ so be it.” And she’s happy to help others who find themselves in a similar position. “I support women, men, anybody who is in a place that’s not their strongest and who is ready to push forward,” she says. But if you are more interested in the star’s style than her love life, click over to Elle.com now for an interview with her longtime hairstylist, Chris McMillan, who dishes on the secrets behind star’s much-imitated tresses. “I’ve been doing Jennifer’s hair forever. When I first met her, she had long, one-length hair with bangs, and she was like, ‘Don’t cut my hair — I want my hair long,’” he reveals. “I cut a couple inches off and layered it from her bangs down to the ends…The next thing you know, her bangs were down to her chin, and the rest of her hair was at her shoulders in these long, loose layers that sort of flipped out — and that’s what we called the Rachel.” Click here to read more about Jennifer’s hair how-tos — and her must-have products and hair styling tips at Elle.com. Tell us: What do you think of Jennifer’s Elle cover?

Santiago Baez/Ramey

Heather Mills might be most famous for her acrimonious divorce from Beatle Paul McCartney and dazzling turn on Dancing With the Stars, but the former model — and new vegan restauranteur — also knows a thing or two about style. And after she chopped off her hair into a Kate Gosselin-esque do, she chatted to PEOPLE.com exclusively about the funky new look. “I decided I had no more time to keep drying my hair with having to work late and get up early for the new VBites cafe and restaurant, factory, travelling, school drops, etcetera, so I chopped it off back to how I had it in my twenties,” she explained. And while Heather might be a long way from having to scrimp and save, following her $48.6 million divorce settlement last year, she didn’t splurge when it came to her new cut. “I asked a local village hairdresser if she would do it, and thought what the hell,” she says. “She did a great job. I love it. It’s easy. I now just wake up and run my fingers through my hair, as it’s a just-got-out-of-bed look — after a great night in bed, of course!” Tell us: What do you think of Heather’s new do? – reporting by David Caplan

Landov

After Twittering about her new super short summer do, Ciara  gave a little more insight on the inspiration behind losing her ultra-long locks.  “We went in, we played around, we created something fun and that’s where it came from,” she tells PEOPLE of her new hairstyle created by hair stylist Kiyah Wright.  Looking stunning in a red Marchesa jumpsuit, the “Love, Sex and Magic” singer hosted the Express TXT L8TR Campaign party Wednesday night at Nobu West Hollywood to help increase awareness on the dangers of texting while driving. But her dramatic look was the question of the night.  “I have to admit I love my hair long,” confessed Ciara, “but trying shorter is fun too because with fashion and with women, our hair is our way of us expressing ourselves.  That’s kind of what I felt and that’s what inspired me to go short. I was like, ‘I just want to go short today,’ so I said to my hair stylist, [Kiyah], ‘what can we do?’”  And voila!  The new look emerged — along with some low maintenance perks and an obsession with a whole new product: the Tancho Stick, ($11 at amazon.com).  “You take it and you piece your hair.  This hair takes ten minutes to fix.  I wake up in the morning and I don’t have to rush as much.” Stylish and easy — does it get better than that? Tell us: Would you go as short as Ciara? –Shruti Dhalwala

Meet The Famous

She’s already famously channeled Marilyn Monroe for two magazine photo shoots, and even named her 6126 legging line in honor of the blonde bombshell’s birthday, and now, Lindsay Lohan is sharing the ’50s style icon’s signature hair color, debuting new platinum locks in Beverly Hills last night. And while this isn’t the first time that the natural red head has gone blonde, we always love it when she changes things up. Tell us: What do you think of Lindsay’s new color? Should she keep the blonde or head back to red?

Splash News Online

Solange Knowles’s new cropped hairstyle has caused an internet storm, sending her to the number three spot on Twitter’s “Trending Topics,” which tracks the popularity of subjects people are discussing on the site. And the singer is taking her own Twitter page to express her bafflement at all the attention. “i. was. simply. taking. my. son. to. school,” she writes of the images that came out this morning revealing her shorn hairstyle. She goes on to explain that it’s not the first time she’s tried the look: “i. have. done. this. twice. in. my. life. i. was 16. i was 18. did. not care about your opinion. then. dont. care. now.” But the singer, who is an AIDS awareness activist, expresses her distress that the attention given to her new look is taking precedence over more serious news. “ONLY reason i responded to this i have is because i was disappointed to see my name more talked about then #iranelection,” she explains. And in fact, she says that the new look is more about practicality than fashion. “dont. want. a. edge. up. or a perm. because. im not trying. to make this “a style” or a statement,” she explains. “i. just. wanted. to. be. free. from. the. bondage. that. black. women sometimes. put. on. themselves. with. hair.” Tell us: What do you think of Solange’s frank attitude about the attention over her hair change?

Splash News Online

To all the girls who wept after Chace Crawford sheared off his signature bangs recently, he has a reassuring message. “It wasn’t intentional!” says the Gossip Girl actor, who is back to his feathered-over-forehead bangs that female fans know and love. “I was over in London and someone cut it too short and I had to go to an event and I threw it back and it turned out to be some big deal.” When he reported back at work for the new season of Gossip Girl two weeks ago, the actor, 24, “showed up on set the first day and said, ‘Listen…can we do my hair this way for the first episode? Because it’s a little short…’ . And it kinda stuck. It was good to switch things up, though.” While taking a break from shooting today, Crawford helped to launch Wii Sports Resort’s new interactive video game by Nintendo in Times Square, joking to PEOPLE that “I was sweating, I’m gonna be sore tomorrow, but I won the speed slice!” Maybe he’s still sore from his recent move out of his shared apartment with costar Ed Westwick and into his own place in Manhattan. “I needed my own space and it’s a little bit secluded and I like that…I have my own privacy. I’ve been walking around a bit. I found a nice Chipotle in the neighborhood and that’s all I need. I need my Chipotle and my little coffee maker and I’m good.” Also a recent change is the addition of a new love interest for his alter-ego Nate Archibald, played by Joanna Garcia. “Do we kiss? That’s about all (we do)!,” he laughs. “She’s lovely, so it’s really difficult….” We can’t wait to see it, no matter what do Chace is sporting! –Natasha Stoynoff