Though Dakota Johnson, a natural blonde, has dabbled over the years in all shades of chestnut and caramel, the actor does have a signature shade of brunette, too – a chocolate brown with cool undertones through her longer lengths. Ever one to provide us with endless hair inspiration, the actress has debuted a striking new shade of brown, and just in time for autumn.

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Our first glimpse at Johnson’s new hair arrived this week, when she was photographed in Los Angeles heading to Warner Bros studios. Now deep and dark, she styled it glossy and straight, her bangs in their signature shape. The rest of her look was recognisably classic: a white tank, black pants, a slouchy black bag, and gathered ballet flats.

How To Dress Like Dakota Johnson For Autumn

Johnson looked to Tracey Cunningham – the celebrity colourist and Schwarzkopf Professional US creative director of colour and technique – for the job. Cunningham, who is known for her deft work on everyone from Emma Stone to Julia Garner, Madelyn Cline, and Michelle Monaghan, also created Johnson’s previous“dirty blonde” look. This time, she took Johnson’s brunette to what she’s calling “glossed espresso”: a richer tone that chimes with autumn’s shift into deeper and more sumptuous colour palettes.

“I wanted this to feel like a true dark brown – rich, glossy and dimensional – but never like a flat, inky black,” says Cunningham. “The goal was depth you can see into, not a solid block of colour. I layered different tones so everything melts together seamlessly.”

Cunningham applied multiple tones of Schwarzkopf Professional’s Igora Vibrance throughout Johnson’s hair simultaneously, blending the base into Zones 2 and 3 while the hair was still wet to create a seamless gradient with no visible line of demarcation. She describes the technique to as “placed, not painted”. She also switched from lotion at the root to gel through the lengths, allowing her to work the colour through each section for even saturation and a glossy finish.

As autumn approaches, it’s getting to be the right time for a seasonal refresh: summer’s more buttery and bright hair colours will move into rusty reds, cherry colas, and roasted caramels. It’s a colour spectrum that offers skin a little more glow as the days get shorter. And, as the glossed espresso look seen on Dakota Johnson shows, the shade switch-up results in an expensive-looking brunette that feels dramatically darker, without sacrificing dimension or shine.