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Hollywood’s brightest are feeling romantic. From the Academy Awards to the Dune promotional circuit (a style event in its own right), manes of pre-Raphaelite waves are the ultimate in soft, fantastical glam.
“In pre-Raphaelite artworks, such as those by John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Holman Hunt, hair is left long and loose as a representation of extreme femininity and beauty,” says Rachael Gibson, also known as the Hair Historian. “Although paintings often depict allegorical figures and imagined worlds, they still represent an aspirational beauty ideal.”
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Zendaya’s waist-skimming curls, worn for the New York premiere of Dune: Part Two, drew influence from the film, along with a more modern aesthetic source. “We decided to go with something big, very much inspired by Diana Ross and the sand in the Dune universe,” says her hairstylist Tai Simon. “I was inspired by Dune’s sand worms and wanted to create a shape similar to how they shape the sand.” The look was executed with the help of 30-inch clip-in extensions, the T3 1" SinglePass Extra-Long Curler, and a good brush out—perhaps the most essential step.
The same Dune premiere saw Anya Taylor-Joy shaking out her signature peroxide lengths worthy of the early 19th century, her look inspired, in part, by her Galliano gown. “This collection from John Galliano was so glorious, and I was thrilled when she was wearing my favorite dress,” says hairstylist Gregory Russell. “I wanted to create a hair look with texture as a nod to the runway, but have a red carpet kind of ‘Anya’ spin, and landed on pre-Raphaelite texture.” Russell opted to make 1-inch waves with the help of a small flat iron, each section finished with dry shampoo and brushed up to fluffy perfection. “ I love that it’s classical, soft, and romantic. It looks angelic on Anya and was a fun way to play with volume and texture.”
The hyper-femininity associated with down-to-there texture played into Vanessa Hudgens’s look for Vanity Fair’s Oscar Party, the same brand of rumpled, separated curls pinned to frame the face. “We decided to channel an ethereal, mother goddess look to celebrate Vanessa and her pregnancy announcement,” says hairstylist Danielle Priano, who finished the 28-inch extensions with an equally extensive comb-out and spritzes of High Tide Texture Spray and SexyHair Love Oil for hold and shine.
Kaia Gerber got in on the fun, too—donning a similar style to her much-loved 2022 Met Gala gala look for the Vanity Fair party. Styled by Hos Hounkpatin, Gerber showed off all the body and fun big curls can have on Instagram.
The classical extra-long length lends to the dreaminess of the trend. “I love the otherworldly nature of super long hair, especially when styled in slightly wild, crinkly lengths,” says Gibson. “There’s something about the fine line between ethereal, fairytale hair and slightly unsettling, weird cult hair that appeals to me. It feels like such an extreme interpretation of femininity that has a slight disconnect to the real world.”
Though the approach of spring and summer tend to inspire chops, the better to weather the temperature, consider the visual impact of hair left loose and wild—a sense of free-spirited escapism plays well with sunny days and long, balmy nights.
