This weekend on the Academy Awards red carpet I noticed that a few celebrity women chose to wear braids. To me, it a celebration of the style and affront to people like Wendy Williams who once said that natural hair is too casual and not glam enough for the red carpet.
The look has long been considered casual because traditionally, in the work place, it has been associated negatively. People often get their hair braided when they are going on vacation because they need a low maintenance style they can have in place without having to spend extra time in between events and outings fixing the hair.
Two women stood out in the way they remixed their braids. I’m not sure I like it but The Hate You Give star Amandla Sternberg did banana braids but in a peculiar twist, she had tiny individual braids swept in the front to give the illusion of a wave. Interesting. It looked O.K. from afar but a bit untidy up close.
Also, KiKi Layne, the breakout star of If Beale Street Could Talk, also sported a pair of halo braids over her slicked back bun, accented with pearl hair accessories. Loved it!
The Walking Dead and Black Panther‘s Danai Gurira also did a crown halo, but it was an accessory. Gurira did a remix on her style. She simply did a blunt chop off her long medium length cornrows and individual braids in between the Oscar award show at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California early in the evening and the popular Vanity Fair party afterwards.
I have seen Sterberg do this once before in 2015: blunt cut and loosen out her braids to create a new look altogether.
And more recently, she has worn her box braids as a bob with rubber bands on the end and blunt cut at the end. It is an interesting look. Do you like it?
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I am a content creator, social media agency owner, former attorney and publicist, wife and mom. I love working in cafes, wine, food and music festivals, Sunday brunch, home decorating, travel and life.