Brad Johns, Colorist Behind Carolyn Bessette's Blonde, Dies at 70

Celebrity hair colorist Brad Johns, known for the 'chunking' technique and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's iconic blonde, died Aug. 27 in West Hollywood at age 70.

Brad Johns, the celebrity hair colorist best known for his work with Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, died at age 70 on Thursday, Aug. 27, at his home in West Hollywood, California. According to People, which cites WWD, close friends said Johns had been battling prostate cancer for several years. Vogue also reported his death last week at his home in Los Angeles and republished Vanessa Friedman's July 1995 profile of Johns, 'The Color Czar.' Johns's four-decade client list, per People, included Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, Johnny Depp, Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Lucille Ball, Matthew Modine, and artist Cindy Sherman.

People reports he began working with the fashion publicist in 1996 and described the hue as his 'child-of-the-beach' look, telling Vogue that achieving it was something 'we worked really hard to get right.' As Vogue's 1995 profile recounts, Johns built his fame on 'chunking,' a technique he invented that went public with Christy Turlington in 1990, painting large sections of hair rather than fine streaks.

According to People, Johns was born in Pittsburgh in 1955, moved to New York in the 1970s to study acting at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts through the Stella Adler Studio, then left acting for the Robert Fiance Hair Design Institute. His 2023 memoir, 'Dye: A Memoir of Art, Music, Faith, Family and Hair Color,' co-written with Marianne Dougherty, recounts his start at the legendary New York salon Cinandre, where clients included Salvador Dalí and Joni Mitchell. He later served as color director at Clive Summers, Jean Louis David at Henri Bendel, and Oribe at Elizabeth Arden. Vogue's archive profile describes him commanding the Oribe color room atop Fifth Avenue, doing 30 to 40 heads a day.

In a February 2026 interview with People, Johns recalled Bessette Kennedy arriving frantic on the eve of her Sept. 21, 1996 wedding to John F. Kennedy Jr., insisting on dyeing her hair black. 'I'm not ruining all my work to make you look like Morticia!' he remembered telling her, jokingly invoking Morticia Addams. He said she eventually let him do what he wanted, and the result was a bit blonder. Johns also openly criticized FX's 'Love Story' casting, telling Vogue that Sarah Pidgeon's hair color was 'totally wrong, the opposite of what we were going for.' His influence, per both outlets, endures in the chunked, sun-kissed color that still defines 1990s minimalism.