Camila Mendes Explained Why Veronica Is Now Rocking A Side Part On 'Riverdale'

Veronica Lodge has always been on the cutting-edge of what's trendy, and her latest hair transformation hit on one of the buzziest styling debates of the moment. As millennials and Gen Z face off in an ongoing disagreement over whether side parts or middle parts are the best way to do your hair, Ronnie is testing it out on her own. You see, after Season 5's time jump, Veronica switched out her iconic middle part for a side part, seemingly weighing in on the conversation in her own way. However, Camila Mendes' tweet about Veronica's side part on Riverdale revealed the choice had nothing to do with the current argument taking over the fashion and beauty world.

As reductive as it may sound, hair color and styling plays a huge part in the characterizations of the main Riverdale players. Archie's bright red hair is iconic, just as Betty is so defined by her blonde ponytail and Jughead is barely ever seen without his signature beanie. But when the show jumped ahead seven years after high school graduation, many of those hairstyles were changed. Betty started wearing her hair down rather than in a ponytail and Jughead left his beanie in the past. For Veronica, it was a migration of the part in her hair from the middle to the left.

Veronica actually started out with a side part in Season 1, but Mendes convinced the show's stylists to make a middle part Veronica's signature look in all prior seasons. "It's funny because [in] Season 1, her hairstyle was always side-parted. I didn't really like my hair Season 1," Mendes told People. "[In] Season 2, I convinced them to let me grow it out and do a middle part. I just didn't like my hair for the show because it would, like, curl out, and it was really complicated on my off days. I just … I didn't feel beautiful. I really felt insecure about it ... So they let me have long hair and have my middle part, which I just think frames my hair better."

Veronica had been rocking the middle part ever since then, but that changed a few episodes into Season 5, when an older version of Veronica showed up with her hair parted on the side. The hair change seemed to be a nod to the ongoing generational debate about where to part your hair, but it turns out it was a way for Mendes to cover something up.

On Feb. 19, after fans began talking about the side part, Mendes tweeted to reveal she switched up Ronnie's hairstyle after noticing an alopecia spot right where her middle part started.

So there you have it: Riverdale really wasn't actively jumping in on the whole side-versus-middle debate with Ronnie's new 'do. That's not to say the show won't include some commentary or jokes about the whole hair parting situation in coming episodes, though. I mean, now that Veronica's a high school teacher, her Gen Z students could definitely make fun of her side part (although that would be very rude).

See what happens when new episodes of Riverdale Season 5 air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.