Is it a combover? Contemporary art, maybe? Or, wait, a cross between an otter's tail and a blooming ear of corn? Donald Trump's signature helmet of hair has top stylists shaking their heads and spewing scathing criticism.
The Republican frontrunner's do -- which descends down his forehead and ranges in shade from canary yellow to tawny orange depending on the season and lighting -- has become so synonymous with the man himself that it even made it onto a cover of The Economist. "Washington, we have a problem ..." the respected magazine entitled a tongue-in-cheek photo montage showing Trump's tresses suspended from a helicopter hovering above the White House.
Indeed, hairdressers to the rich and famous stated. Trump's mop is a "cross between an otter's tail and an ear of corn," quipped Frederic Mennetrier, a French coiffeur whose high-end clientele includes reality star Kim Kardashian and Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio. As for the color? "In a word: abstract. Contemporary art," he added. "It makes us think of many things -- except what he'd like us to." Stephane Bodin, whom Hollywood stars Uma Thurman and Naomi Watts have trusted with their locks, piled on. Trump's "egg yolk yellow" hair is the "height of bad taste."
Trump's hair -- or possible lack of it -- has supposedly preoccupied "The Donald" for decades. According to an unauthorized biography, it sparked a fight as far back as 1989 between him and his then-wife Ivana -- the couple divorced in 1991 -- who recommended a doctor he blamed for a botched scalp reduction procedure. If Ivana's loyal hairdresser Louis Licari is to be believed, Trump ended up getting hair transplants.
Waving wagging tongues aside, Trump knows how to work the hair hullabaloo to his advantage. "It may not be pretty but it's mine," he has insisted unabashedly. This summer, he went so far as to summon a supporter on stage during a campaign event in South Carolina to prove his point, letting her get up close to check for herself in an episode that once again proved Trump's media savviness and ability to connect with the public. Still, the do debate rages on.
