Rihanna’s Chunky Highlights Have Early 2000s Energy

We wouldn’t blame you if you guessed the above was a photo of Rihanna from 2008. The multi-hyphenate is no stranger to bold hair transformations—she practically invented them—and her latest look puts a high-fashion take on two controversial trends from the early aughts.

The singer kicked off Paris Fashion Week with a bang (we couldn’t help it!), arriving to support her beau A$AP Rocky for his American Sabotage colection, in partnership with AWGE. For the event, Rihanna swapped her natural curls for extra-long black hair with frosty blonde highlights and fringey Millennial side bangs that looked as though she stepped out of the early 2000s.

If anyone has the influence to bring back chunky highlights, it’s Rihanna. “Skunk hair,” the modern take on the Y2K trend, had a moment a few years ago but its popularity (thankfully) fizzled out. The 36-year-old’s spin on the trend included long black hair with an exaggerated side bang that rested just above her eye. Her bang was detailed with stripe-like bleached blonde highlights which were more muted throughout the rest of her hair. It was a big change from her latest hairstyle—she wore her natural curls in a bleached blonde shade for the launch of Fenty Haircare.

Just like her bangs, the singer’s outfit had the perfect touch of Rihanna flair. She wore a red bomber jacket with white fur trim, which she layered over a white dress with the illusion of another jacket falling out of it. She styled the outfit with strappy white buckled heels and accessorized with large red sunglasses, lots of diamond jewelry, and a chic vintage Dior shoulder bag.

Her makeup look for the night included heavy brown lip liner, which also felt very cohesive to the Y2K aesthetic of her outfit, and a glowy, hydrated complexion.

Rihanna’s really in her hair-era. Perhaps it’s the release of Fenty Haircare inspiring the star, or maybe she’s in the midst of a creative moment (she did say R9 is *finally* in the works). Regardless, her chunky highlights were a fun way to kick off Paris Fashion Week.