Dakota Johnson has gone several shades darker for September, swapping her familiar chocolate tones for a near-black 'glossed espresso' brunette created by celebrity colourist Tracey Cunningham. The Fifty Shades of Grey and Materialists actor debuted the colour on Tuesday, 1 September while heading to Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles, pairing the high-shine transformation with her instantly recognisable fringe.
The switch is more significant than a routine brunette refresh. Just over four months earlier, Johnson had surprised with a soft dirty-blonde shade at the 2026 TIME100 Gala, making her new espresso colour a sharp reversal of one of her lightest looks in years.
From Dirty Blonde To Glossed Espresso
Johnson stepped onto the TIME100 Gala red carpet in New York on 23 April with a subtle brunette undertone at the roots and lighter blonde pieces woven through her lengths, another Cunningham creation. The shade was deliberately low contrast, allowing Johnson to experiment with blonde without completely erasing the brunette undertones associated with her longtime look. By September, however, Cunningham had taken those lengths in the opposite direction, building a dark brown designed to retain visible dimension rather than reading as solid black.
Dakota Johnson Debuts A Dramatic Hair Transformation For Autumn https://t.co/oSrMRW0jYp
— British Vogue (@BritishVogue) September 2, 2026
'I wanted this to feel like a true dark brown – rich, glossy and dimensional – but never like a flat, inky black,' Cunningham said of the new colour. 'The goal was depth you can see into, not a solid block of colour.' Johnson kept her brow-skimming bangs intact and wore the rest of her hair sleek and straight for the first sighting of the transformation.
How Johnson Got the High-Shine Colour
Cunningham achieved the 'glossed espresso' effect with several tones from Schwarzkopf Professional's Igora Vibrance range rather than relying on a single uniform shade. She blended the base colour into the mid-lengths and ends while Johnson's hair was still wet, helping create a gradual transition without an obvious line between tones. Cunningham described the method simply as 'placed, not painted'.
Dakota Johnson with a new hair color and braids in Beverly Hills pic.twitter.com/Mnd2luOXYK
— J&T (@JamesFoxyy) July 29, 2026
The colourist also changed the consistency of the formula depending on where she was working, using lotion at the roots and gel through the lengths for more controlled saturation. Schwarzkopf Professional describes Igora Vibrance as a demi-permanent colour system designed for services including colour melting and glossing, with its Natural and Fashion shades lasting up to 25 washes depending on the shade and condition of the hair. Cunningham serves as the brand's US creative director of colour and technique.
A Major Shift Without Losing Her Signature
New pictures of Dakota today in LA#DakotaJohnson pic.twitter.com/F1x4rDj4yJ
— Team_dakotajohnson (@dakotamjfan) September 2, 2026
Johnson has experimented with chestnut, caramel and lighter bronde shades throughout her career, but long brunette hair and a full fringe have remained two of her most recognisable beauty signatures. The September transformation changes the colour considerably without abandoning that familiar silhouette, taking the depth further while keeping movement and tonal variation visible. It also closes, at least for now, the dirty-blonde chapter she opened in April.
The timing puts the new look squarely at the start of the autumn beauty season, although neither Johnson nor Cunningham has publicly linked the transformation to an acting role or forthcoming project. What has been confirmed is the shade, the technique and the colourist behind it. For Johnson, that makes 'glossed espresso' her second major hair-colour switch in less than five months.
