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With her startling blue eyes and dusting of freckles, Saoirse Ronan is instantly recognizable. At the 2025 BAFTAs, even more so. Nominated for her performance as Rona in The Outrun, the actor and former Vogue cover star attended the event wearing custom Louis Vuitton and channeling her signature minimalist aesthetic—but with a twist. Or, to be more precise, a knot.
Created by celebrity hairstylist and British Vogue contributing editor Sam McKnight, Ronan wore a knotted bun for the 78th iteration of the awards—a choice that, he says, was a question of balance when the rest of her look was taken into account. “I wanted to keep the knot detailed and high in the back to balance the strong red lip Nina (Park) painted.”
McKnight, who has previously collaborated with Kate Moss, Cate Blanchett, and Emilia Clarke, among many others, broke down his method for us. “Start with a sharp side parting,” he advises. “For this, you’ll need a tail comb and a can of hairspray that you’ll mist through the roots to smooth the hair down.” McKnight used his Modern Hairspray on Ronan, sectioning the hair before spraying. “Next, draw the hair back into a ponytail at the occipital bone and tie it off with a hairband.” The occipital bone is the area just beneath the prominent bone at the back of the skull, and can be found easily by drawing your hands together at the back of the head.
After that, McKnight says to take a small section of the ponytail and wrap it around the elastic—an easy trick to hide the accessory once the knot is finished. Then take a balm (naturally, McKnight had his own Happy Endings Nourishing Hair Balm on hand) and run it along the length of the ponytail to “de-fluff” and smooth the hair, before twisting the entire thing into a knot secured with pins—a hairstylist staple.
As for make-up, Park, who has also worked with Ronan for myriad events—most recently the Gotham Awards, as well as international premieres for her films The Outrun and Blitz—stuck to the duo’s mission objective: impossibly fresh skin, naturally strong brows, a dark, slightly smudged eye and an ultra-clean red lip.