Hayley Williams of Paramore on GMA's Summer Concert Series, 082517

Hayley Williams Thinks It's 'Super Cool' Her Paramore Look Became Halloween Costume

Home / Entertainment / Hayley Williams Thinks It's 'Super Cool' Her Paramore Look Became Halloween Costume

By Kristin Myers on October 22, 2021 at 1:45 PM EDT

Hayley Williams is a 32-year-old singer-songwriter best known as the lead vocalist for "Paramore," which she founded in 2004.

After the release of their debut album "All We Know Is Falling," the band became a smash success with their 2007 hit single "Misery Business" off their second album, "Riot!"

Fans embraced the pop-punk vibe and especially Williams' hairstyle, which included a fiery mix of red, orange, and yellow colors.

From there, Williams became known for her signature hairstyle and bold colors. Although she went back to blonde for "Brick by Boring Brick," she spotted a bright pink hairstyle for the "Playing God" music video and a split orange and pink contrast divided directly down the center in "Still Into You."

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After rocking shades from blue, green, and everything in between, Williams finally launched her own brand of vegan and cruelty-free hair dye called Good Dye Young to help fans recreate her signature look. She founded the company along with her longtime hairstylist Brian O'Connor.

Good Dye Young describes itself as "a safe and inclusive community that values vibrant self-expression and creativity. We also make badass hair products."

With Halloween coming up, Williams recently talked about what it was like to see people dressing as her during spooky season.

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A Surreal Experience

Although the business partners admit that it's "super cool" to see fans recreating Williams' signature looks, they also describe it as a bit surreal, considering the look debuted over a decade ago.

"It's so crazy that it ever started in the first place to get to a point where people will do it for Halloween," Williams said in a recent interview. "I can remember it starting out — just being on tour, looking into the crowd, and being like, 'Oh, that's my hairstyle!'"

She continued, "One of the craziest memories for me tied to people emulating the looks we've done was walking into a Halloween store somewhere on tour and there was just this wig called 'Emo Angsty Girl' or 'Emo Angsty Teenager' — something like that."

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"You know how they can't use the actual names of anything because it's all copyrighted or whatever? It was literally the look that Brian created for Misery Business; the look that put he and I put on the map in that world. It was just so funny. I should've bought it. I don't know what I was thinking."

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Not Just Halloween

Even though there are a lot of fans who dress up as the "Hard Times" singer on Halloween, Williams revealed that she often sees fans dressed as her when she's on tour.

"When we're at shows, we see people mimicking it — the 'After Laughter' glitter tears, or the 'Still Into You' hair," O'Connor explained. "I've had plenty of people say I'm the reason they've gone to cosmetology school or they end up doing makeup or both, and it's way beyond what I could ever ask."

He added, "It's so cool because that was never the intent in the beginning. It was just two people having fun and being creative together."

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Although Williams recently deleted her social media accounts, fans can catch her and O'Connor hosting a Sally Beauty DIY University Class on Friday, October 22. The free event will give fans tips and advice on how to use Good Dye Young hair dye to achieve the Halloween look of their dreams.

"This is a chance for people, especially those who want to experiment with their hair on a holiday, to get some tips and inspiration," Williams explained. "We're doing a vampire look using one of our MetalHeads shades, Killswitch, and there's going to be a rock star in the shade, Toxicity, which I'm already embarrassed about, but also very excited for."

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