It was their biggest ever gig and the world was waiting with anticipation to see just how they would perform on the grandiose stage.

However, fans of One Direction were completely occupied with Zayn Malik’s new hair colour and seemed to forget about the actual performance.

As the boys entered the stadium on the back of a lorry all eyes were focused on 19-year-old Zayn’s fashionable blonde highlights in his quiff.

The golden boy: One Direction’s Zayn Malik caused a stir when he unveiled his new blonde quiff, last night, during the Olympic closing ceremony

The dark haired singer had maintained the same hair colour since he first auditioned for X Factor in 2010 but, clearly felt like spicing things up.

Whereas the rest of the band wore their individual trademark clothing style, Zayn switched things up by sporting a fedora with his blonde quiff sticking out the front.

The fashion statement worked as his fans were more than pleased about it with one Twitter user stating: ‘Can we just stop and appreciate the perfection that is Zayn Malik in a fedora his hair his jaw line he is beautiful.’ (sic)

Backing singers: While the rest of One Direction performed too, their fans only took notice of Zayn’s hair

Standard dress code: Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson all wore their typical outfits but, Zayn switched it up

Another follower said: ‘zayn malik looked perf at the closing ceremony tonight tho omg his highlights in his hair just o m g’.

Some fans were even moved to tears over the style and one said: ‘@zaynmalik forever crying because the blonde in your hair looks so freaking perfect.’

Blonde ambition: Zayn’s transformation is quite a different look from his old dark brown locks

The fivesome followed performances by Madness and the Pet Shop Boys at the Olympic Stadium and sang their debut single What Makes You Beautiful atop an extended lorry.

Niall Horan, Zayn, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson looked chuffed to be there, and of course were not phased by the large crowd.

Special moment: One Direction perform during the London 2012 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony

As usual, the X Factor stars were coordinated when it came to their attire and Harry found himself the centre of stage as he sang in the middle.

The curly-haired singer wore a dark suit, a blue shirt and white Converse trainers as he sang among the other four.

Niall and Liam both wore white shirts and also donned white trainers as they put an arm around one another and savoured the once in a lifetime moment.

Not phased: The X Factor stars were watched by one billion people across the world

Easy does it! The five guys stood on top of an extended lorry as they sang their debut single What Makes You Beautiful