Ariel Winter officially left Modern Family behind with her hair color transformation

Ariel Winter has officially left Alex Dunphy in the past. Shortly after shooting the final episode of the 10-years-running sitcom Modern Family, Ariel Winter, who plays the know-it-all little sister on the show, made a bold hair transformation—and we’re pretty sure her reserved TV character would be not be okay with it. Fortunately, that doesn’t really matter, because she looks incredible and she seems to be loving her new fiery red locks.

But before revealing the big color change to us all, Winter gave her brunette hair (and, in our minds, her time playing Alex Dunphy) a proper yet slightly harsh sendoff. On Tuesday, the star shared an Instagram post with pre-appointment pictures of her hair writing, “bye bye dark hair 🙂 I don’t think I’ll miss you :))).” Basically, it was a big “thank u, next” to the hair she’s had for as long as we’ve known her.

Winter’s on-screen sister and off-screen hype girl, Sarah Hyland, commented on the post with the same eagerness we were all feeling writing, “I WANNA SEEE!” She made us wait a day for the big reveal, but it was worth it.

Winter finally shared a picture of her new hair today and she looks radiant. Further leaving her old look and character in the past, the actor prompted suggestions for new nicknames from fans writing, “🍓🍰I’m a strawberry and a shortcake sooooo new nickname?🍓🍰🥰🤓.” Some, of course, made the connection to another red-headed Ariel we all know and love (the mermaid one). Others commented that they were getting more of a Kim Possible vibe, and with the combination of the black turtleneck and striking orangey-red hue, we can totally see it.

For anyone who saw Winter’s appearance on an episode of Law & Order: SVU awhile back, you might already recognize the color.

Two weeks ago, Winter shared a throwback from her time on the SVU set, hinting at her next hair move writing, “can’t wait to get back to this hair color.” Her hair stylist, Tabitha Dueñas, gave more context for Winter’s choice to return to this look, explaining that the actress has no plans to go back to her Alex Dunphy hair anytime soon.

“With Modern Family’s long run ending, Ariel is finally free to have the hair color she wants,” Dueñas says. “She wanted to strip out the black and go back to her strawberry golden blonde look we had done previously when she was on break from filming. She said she never wants to go back to black again.”

We’re not sure what the star is up to next (fingers crossed for a Kim Possible live action movie, though) but we love to see her feeling herself in this new ‘do.