This Gen Z Artist Changed Her Hair Over 70 Times in a Year

Those invested in the addictive beauty pages of social media have likely come across the name Jenny Cha. When the 24-year-old artist isn’t studying 3D animation in Oslo, Norway, she’s displaying her rainbow-hued hair transformations. Experimenting with nearly 70-something styles last year alone, Cha treats her hair like a blank canvas, adorning it with everything from #BlackLivesMatter fists to baby devil horns. It all started when she shaved her head over the summer of 2020. “I really wanted to shave my head [at least] once in my life,” Cha says over our afternoon call. “I feel like a lot of women put their femininity into having long hair. So, I kind of wanted to prove to myself I could still be feminine with short hair.”

For Vogue’s Youthquake series, Cha harnessed both her chameleonic hair and her animation abilities to transform her bedroom into four Y2K worlds with total style. What started as a desire to escape the sameness of her space (a sentiment we can all relate to, two years into the pandemic) quickly turned into an opportunity to create whatever universe she wanted. The artist has never seen The Matrix, but she goes there anyway through her work. Her styled corsetry, over-ear headphones and hair accessories are proof of this generation’s desire to reference the coolest parts of the past as their own. 

After she finishes her bachelor’s degree, Cha hopes to apply her skillset to make an impression in more industries than one. “I want to produce a higher quality of edits and combine 3D work with fashion and music,” she says. As the world continues to move into an ever-evolving digital future, it’s minds like Jenny Cha that will ensure brightness reigns and boundaries get broken.