12 Gorgeous Celeb Looks That Were Ruined With A Hairstyle

Hair is as much a part of red carpet style as the outfits themselves. In the golden age of Tinseltown, starlets would frequently sport old Hollywood waves and victory curls as they waltzed down the red carpet in a head-turning statement piece. But as the years have passed, celebs' approach to hair styling has grown increasingly less conservative, with the rich and famous pushing the boundaries of red carpet aesthetics. However, with greater leeway and autonomy in their approach to styling, there's also more room for error. 

Sometimes, a bad hair day is all it takes to ruin an otherwise stunning outfit. For better or worse, a haircut can completely transform a celebrity's look, turning them from Becky with the good hair to Karen with the... well, "Karen." Admittedly, there are ways we all ruin our hair — and when it comes down to it, celebs can be just as self-sabotaging as the rest of us. 

A captivating ensemble necessitates an equally impressive hairstyle, and one false move can render a slay into a nay. Let's take a look at the biggest faux pas — or should that be fur pas? — on the red carpet and rundown 12 gorgeous celeb looks that were ruined with a hairstyle.

At first glance, Juliette Lewis was the belle of the ball as she graced the Oscars ceremony in 1992. The then 19-year-old, who was accompanied by beau Brad Pitt, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Martin Scorsese's harrowing remake of "Cape Fear." On the red carpet, she sported a retro 1920s-style get-up, complete with a beaded cream gown, oversized pearls, and matching satin gloves. Truly, she was a princess come to life. Upon closer inspection, however, this look was far from innocuous.

Lewis ruined an otherwise stunning ensemble by putting her hair in cornrows, a style with significant cultural ties to Black history. Accordingly, her hairstyle may be viewed as a form of cultural appropriation. In an op-ed for Time, basketball great and writer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar highlighted the pernicious double standard behind white celebrities appropriating Black culture on the red carpet (it should be noted that Lewis is neither the first nor last star to don cornrows in public). "While high-priced cornrows on a white celebrity on the red carpet at the Oscars is chic, those same cornrows on the little black girl in Watts, Los Angeles, are a symbol of her ghetto lifestyle," Abdul-Jabbar wrote.

Indeed, Lewis' retort when reflecting on the unfortunate hairstyle merely confirms this dichotomy: "I had gangster braids at the Oscars because why wouldn't you," she told Yahoo! Movies in 2013, with the outlet noting that she was being tongue-in-cheek.

There were some truly iconic celebrity hairstyles in the 2000s. One of the most enduring symbols of aughts chic is that of Carrie Bradshaw's cascading curls as she waltzes through the Upper East Side. However, in 2002, Sarah Jessica Parker did the unthinkable — she chopped off her long locks and got out the hair straightener.

In 2002, the "Sex and the City" star attended the Golden Globes decked out in an effortlessly stylish strapless black gown, which she wore in tribute to the victims of 9/11. "Although sitting shiva is over, there is still a sort of sadness," she told Entertainment Weekly. "And I thought there was something nice about wearing black." But the look was marred by Parker's new 'do: a quintessentially Y2K ironed bob that seemed inharmonious with the old-school couture look. One can't help but imagine this sophisticated little number juxtaposed with Parker's signature long curls.

Since then, Parker has embraced her natural — not to mention enviable — waves. "I don't know how to blow my hair out, never have, didn't care to learn, don't have the time or the temperament," she told Refinery29 in 2016. "For me, I accept my hair as it is."

Throughout the years, Scarlett Johansson has rocked all manner of different hairdos, from auburn curls to platinum blond locks. ScarJo is lucky enough to look great with just about any hairstyle. Emphasis on "just about."

In 2003, she attended the Independent Spirit Awards in a retro pink smock top and beaded white skirt coord, which evoked the likes of Mia Farrow circa 1968. But whereas Farrow sported a pixie cut, Johansson decided to pair this look with a mullet. The mélange of the ultra-feminine fuchsia and the harsh mullet simply didn't work, making the styling appear haphazard and amateurish.

Reflecting on the haircut in a chat with InStyle in 2022, Johansson acknowledged that while the mullet wasn't her best look, she enjoyed playing around with different aesthetics. "I wanted to have a Bowie-meets-Silkwood vibe," she explained. "When I look back, it felt like it was beyond forward, it was probably extreme, but now it's back and I still think it was a really cute haircut."

More often than not, celebs can't go wrong with a beehive updo. From the Ronettes to Queen Bey, the classic hairstyle has been worn by A-listers for decades, its timelessness and simplicity the perfect addition to any red carpet look. But Mena Suvari's updo at the Women In Film Pre-Oscar Party was anything but simple.

Appearing at the event in 2010, Suvari donned an elegant pink shift dress with exquisite floral detailing. Alas, the number was overshadowed by whatever was going on atop the star's head. Her brunette locks were fashioned into something kind-of-sort-of resembling a beehive, with side-swept bangs falling into the actor's eyes (a surefire safety hazard when wearing 4-inch stilettos). Inexplicably, the 'do was topped off with a braid. 

While a classic beehive would have enhanced the 1960s vibes of Suvari's dress, the calamitous styling seemed to merge Twiggy with twee in an unholy anachronistic union. Moreover, it overpowered Suvari's delicate features, which were barely visible beneath that disastrous mane. Unfortunately, this was less beehive, more bird's nest.

With her porcelain skin and green eyes, Emma Stone is a vision with red hair. Although she's rocked a number of different shades throughout the years — from chestnut to strawberry blond and even raven hair in "Poor Things" — the auburn tresses have come to encapsulate the star. But in 2013, the actor left fans shook when she debuted platinum blond locks after starring as Gwen Stacy in "The Amazing Spider-Man." And the bleached look stuck, with Stone embracing her newly dyed locks throughout the year.

Attending the premiere of "Gangster Squad," she wore a stunning red strapless dress with matching stilettos and purse and an oversized ruby necklace. But Stone's light ash hair, styled with wispy bangs, didn't sit right with the sultry ensemble. The lack of contrast between her hair color and skin tone washed her out and drew attention away from her fetching 'fit. This all-crimson look would have been far more striking with Stone's signature red hair, making the vibrancy pop against her pale complexion and serving major Rita Hayworth vibes.

The Met Gala is a time for all the fashion girlies to shine. And while hair is an integral part of any red carpet look, it should complement, rather than dominate, the outfit on display. Alas, Nicole Richie didn't quite get the memo when attending the Met Gala in 2013.

That year's theme was "Punk: From Chaos to Couture," allowing attendees to go all out with the tartan and PVC. Richie stayed true to the rebellious theme by eschewing haute couture in favor of a custom Topshop dress. While the juxtaposition of dark lipstick against the bridal-style dress looked spectacular, the outfit was ruined by Richie's hair. The Millennial It-girl gave granny chic a whole new meaning with a silvery white updo that overpowered the otherwise stunning look. Ultimately, Richie's get-up should have been the centerpiece, but she drew attention away from the outfit by making her hair the main character. 

Following the ceremony, Richie wound up betrothed to her Bride of Frankenstein-adjacent hair for several days. "It was a spray and it was stuck in my hair for five days," she told Refinery29. "I had a 7 a.m. commercial flight home the next morning, so you can imagine what they probably thought of me on that plane."

Before heading to the hairdressers, it's important to know which bangs will work for your face shape. For someone like Kaley Cuoco, who has a super feminine oval countenance, long bangs can appear overpowering against her small features. Unfortunately for the sitcom star, she discovered this too late.

Attending the SAG Awards in 2013, she debuted a bizarre layered bob complete with obvious clip-on bangs. The bangs were Cuoco's idea, as she was trying to cover up a black eye she obtained on the set of the "Big Bang Theory." It was a disappointing accompaniment to the star's striking look, with Cuoco giving classic Hollywood movie star in a Romona Keveza red lace gown that wouldn't have looked out of place on Grace Kelly back in the day. Accordingly, her ensemble would have been more suited to some vintage curls or even a simple updo.

Years later, Cuoco has shuddered at the thought of the hairdo. "Literally, I look at pictures and I'm like, 'That was the worst decision I have ever made,'" she told People a decade after the faux pas. "It just did not work. It looked so fake."

Truth be told, some haircuts make you look older than your years. Jennifer Lawrence found this out the hard way in 2014. As the star graced the Oscars red carpet, she was a vision in red, wearing a fetching Dior peplum gown accessorized with a simple diamond necklace and matching clutch. The fit harked back to her crimson look in 2011. But while cascading waves accompanied the earlier lady-in-red moment, Lawrence's 2014 look was let down by her swept-back pixie cut, which was aging on the A-lister. Despite being a mere 23 years old at the time, Lawrence appeared a decade older — not to mention the type of person we'd spy asking to speak to the manager in the local Starbucks. That's certainly not JLaw, and she's the first to admit it.

In a 2022 chat with Vogue, Lawrence was asked if she had any advice for people who wanted to rock a pixie cut, and she confessed that she lives to regret the unflattering 'do. "Obviously, my advice is don't do it," she said. "Think everything through and if I could have the internet scrubbed of those photos — or not scrubbed, just add extensions to them. If anybody knows how to do that, that'd be great." Thankfully, there are ways to easily grow out a pixie cut, and that's just what JLaw did.

Styled the right way, bob hairstyles can be alluring and chic. But one false move and all that chopping and styling can end up looking harsh and unflattering. Accordingly, the usually on-point Taylor Swift suffered a major style misstep when she debuted her new bob at the 2016 Grammys.

Swift looked majestic in a Versace coordinate, consisting of an orange bandeau and hot pink skirt with a flowing, regal train. But her blunt bob clashed with the ensemble: The discordance between the imaginative and bold attire and the conservative hair was simply too jarring. Swift would have benefitted from a shaggier style to complement her trendy outfit.

Fans took to social media to voice their grievances over Tay's new hair, with some comparing her unfavorably to Anna Wintour and others arguing that the 'do aged the songstress beyond her years. "Have we talked about Taylor Swift's terrible hair yet? It's terrible," one observer wrote on X. Thankfully for Swifties, the singer soon returned to her signature shaggy locks and curly bangs, which are far more flattering on her youthful countenance.

No stranger to style faux pas, Kim Kardashian was actually winning the red carpet game when she showcased a classic cream and silver twin-set at the MTV Movie Awards in 2018. That all changed, however, once fans caught a glimpse of the accompanying hairdo: Kardashian was sporting Fulani braids, leading to a major backlash. The Karjenners have long been accused of appropriating Black culture, but one might have — perhaps naively — expected more from Kim K. The reality star is, after all, the woman who penned a poignant, albeit misguided, essay about race after becoming a mom to Black children, and later said that she studied law to protect her kids from systemic racism.

Speaking to Time, Wanna Thompson — who coined the term "Blackfishing" — argued that by appropriating Black hair, Kardashian was misleading the public into believing that such styles are merely aesthetic; this in turn propagates the harmful notion that Black identity is a trend to be consumed by white women. "Now people think they're copying the Kardashian-Jenners when they dress or do their hair or tan their skin a certain way," Thompson explained.

In an interview with Bustle, Kardashian defended her decision to wear the braids, insisting that her daughter, North, came up with the idea. "I actually didn't see backlash," she said. "I actually did that look because North said she wanted braids and asked if I would do them with her."

Ever since she rose to fame in the 1980s, Madonna has sported just about every hairstyle imaginable, from her famous Marilyn Monroe curls to the gothic raven locks of her "Frozen" era. Always one to embrace the changing cultural climate, Madonna appeared at the 2023 Grammys with a thoroughly on-trend hairdo. Seemingly taking inspo from the Y2K resurgence, she wore her hair in babydoll braids, with barely there aughts eyebrows to match. 

But the 'do didn't quite match her head-turning outfit, with the Queen of Pop looking phenomenal in a power suit, accessorized with fishnet stockings, Vivienne Westwood purple platforms, and a riding crop. While Madge deserves props for pushing the envelope, the juxtaposition of the chic suit and the Y2K-inspired hair simply didn't gel. Of course, there was nothing wrong with the braids themselves, but they would have been better suited to a similarly 2000s-inspired fit. The androgynous drip, meanwhile, called for something far edgier.

Then again, Madonna has never been one to play by the rules. "Here's what I've learned after four decades in music," she said as she took to the Grammys stage, per Women's Wear Daily. "If they call you shocking, scandalous, troublesome, problematic, provocative, or dangerous, you are definitely onto something."

Since leaving her tween persona at the Disney backlot, Miley Cyrus has come to embody the rocker girl aesthetic. It was all the more jarring, then, when she attended the 2024 Grammys with a giant bouffant atop her head.

Cyrus looked stunning in a see-through Maison Margiela gold dress held together with safety pins, making her one of the most uniquely dressed stars of the night. But her '80s-inspired hair wasn't it. The heavily hair-sprayed tresses and ash-blond highlights were inharmonious with the risqué Cleopatra-esque look, appearing clumsy and anachronistic. 

Bob Recine, the man behind Cyrus' wild bouffant, talked fans through the painstaking styling process. "This last year l featured Miley's wet look for hair," he wrote on Instagram. "This year we decided we wanted something dry and bigger, more fuller hair, but sexy and tousled and touchable." 

As impressive as Recine's commitment to the look was, fans couldn't help but express their disappointment in Cyrus' surprising pilar misstep. "Miley Cyrus's hair giving Dog the Bounty Hunter vibes," wrote one unimpressed X user. Others compared the songstress to Kurt Russell in his "Tango & Cash" '80s heyday. The singer's bouffant would have been better suited to a retro look, whereas her majestic gold dress called for empress vibes.