This Wang Gang Model Just Went Extreme Platinum Blonde for the Alexander Wang Runway

Model Issa Lish is no stranger to the Alexander Wang runway. But ringing in her ninth season at his Fall 2019 show in Brooklyn tonight, Lish was rendered nearly unrecognizable (yes, even despite that unmistakable, otherworldly beauty of hers) by an extreme hair-color switch-up. At the designer’s request, the 23-year-old half-Japanese, half-Mexican stunner and faithful Wang Gang member ditched her dark raven hue and went platinum blonde.

It’s a well established fact that Wang has a proclivity for convincing his runway regulars to take the peroxide plunge. But even by his shows’ all-bets-are-off standards, Lish’s shock value transformation was a standout amidst the array of “uptown WASPs” and “downtown punks” as coined by hairstylist Duffy, who worked backstage alongside NARS makeup artist Diane Kendal in collaboration with Wang; Need more explicit references? Wang cited Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Lil’ Kim as this season’s beauty muses.

For Duffy, Lish was an amalgam of the show’s contrasting inspirations made incarnate—with her unconventional features offering a cool twist on the archetype of the traditional uptown Bergdorf Blonde. “The purity of [the shade] clashes with her explosive punk personality,” explained Duffy backstage.

And as one can imagine, the transformation was no in-and-out salon visit. According to It colorist Lena Ott, taking Lish from jet-black to white-hot blonde took six hours total. But, was an exciting evolution to witness.

“She has a range of hues in her skin tone including tan, olive, and cream, which is a unique combination of warm and cool,” she explains. “So every step of the process looked great on her from the blue of the bleach to the yellow-gold in-between color before the second application. Issa literally made brassy look elevated.”

Opting to make Lish’s blonde as clear and translucent as possible while still maintaining the integrity of her hair, Ott used L’Oréal Smartbond Strengthening System (“It can turn straw into gold!” she says) as reinforcement for the equal parts taxing and tedious undertaking. “She’s a champ!” says Ott simply of the model’s good-natured patience during the marathon session. “The color process was practically a cross-Atlantic flight for her in my chair!”

While Lish is thrilled with her new look for obvious reasons, her bold transformation was also a love letter to Wang and the affection and loyalty he’s shown her through the years. “He’d been asking me to do it for a couple seasons and now seemed like the right time, so I did it for him. He’s like family!” Planning on keeping her new chemical blonde shade light and bright for as long as possible, Lish recognizes the gravity of her radical metamorphosis for her burgeoning career—and she’s not the only one. “When Alex first saw me, he shouted, ‘A star is born!’ ”