Brad Johns, the colorist tied to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s blonde, died last week at his home in Los Angeles at 70. His death closes the book on a stylist who built his name on hair that looked bright, expensive, and deliberate.
In July 1995, Vogue ran Vanessa Friedman’s profile of Johns under the title “The Color Czar.” He said, “My mission on this planet is to make people’s hair look good,” and added that “Everyone’s hair, no matter what the exact tint, should be bright, beautiful, and expensive-looking.”
The Color Czar
Johns handled 30 to 40 heads a day, a pace that helps explain why his method spread through fashion and celebrity circles. He worked with Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Shalom, Marcia Clark, Yasmeen Ghauri, Claudia Schiffer, Meghan Douglas, Jon Bon Jovi, Brooke Shields, Tatum O’Neal, and Ivana.
That volume also fits the way he talked about hair as a finished product, not a neutral one. In the profile, he rejected the beige look as hair color and dismissed frosting, full heads of highlights, and Nancy Reagan blonde with blunt line-by-line force.
Bright, Not Beige
Johns described some shades as his nightmare, calling beige “the color of fur, not hair!” He also said, “Ugh—it’s highlights!” and “Cappellini hair! A head of little worms!” while pushing clients toward a brighter, more expensive-looking result.
He paired that attitude with a technique built for visibility under lights. Johns said, “You can’t be a model and not color your hair,” and “Real hair just dies under the lights.” That approach is part of why his work showed up in the look of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and so many other faces that defined the era.
Los Angeles After 70
Johns’s death leaves a gap in the specific kind of color work that made his name. The unanswered detail now is what caused his death at his home in Los Angeles, and that absence will sit alongside the archived profile that preserved his voice, his volume, and his rules.
