As anyone who’s ever been the victim of a bad dye job or accidentally gone a little too short for comfort can attest, hair is both “just hair” and, well, not just hair. Yes, it grows back, and no cut or color is ever a truly permanent beauty change. At the same time, most of us have some sort of emotion or deeper meaning attached to our hair—think a sense of loss when we’re forced to chop it after years of heat styling or the rush of confidence a fresh set of bangs can give.
Whether that’s also true of celebrities, who change their beauty looks more often than the rest of us change our Brita water filters, we can’t say for sure. With access to wigs, weaves, extensions, and industry-leading professionals whose skills are nothing short of magic, they try more new styles in one year than many of us do in a lifetime. What we do know is that their transformations give us plenty of inspiration for our own.
From subtle yet significant changes like Amal Clooney’s (relatively) major chop to dramatic overhauls like Timothée Chalamet’s shocking buzzcut, these were the biggest celebrity beauty transformations of 2025.
Janelle James
The Abbott Elementary actress traded in her usual long, sleek look (courtesy of LA-based hairstylist and bespoke wig designer Joy Johnson) for a choppy pixie earlier this year—and it was just a taste of what was yet to come. The most dramatic change occurred in June, when James revealed a bleached buzzcut.
Emma Stone
Stone kicked off the year with a bang—or, rather, a pixie—after shaving her head for her role in Bugonia. Mara Roszak, her go-to stylist, ensures that her red-carpet looks stay aspirational, never awkward, during the grow-out phase.
Rihanna
In between being a billionaire businesswoman, superstar musician, and mother of three, Rihanna still somehow finds time for constant hair switch-ups, like this long waves-to-angled pixie transformation.
Anok Yai
The 2025 Model of the Year launched her new era earlier this year, when Saint Laurent designer Anthony Vaccarello personally shaved Yai’s head before her runway appearance.
Kim Kardashian
Kardashian showed off her most striking, albeit brief, hair change yet: a cool, slightly choppy pixie, care of celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton (and very reminiscent of mom Kris Jenner).
Emma Chamberlain
The natural brunette took “hair transformation” to the extreme when she first chopped and bleached her shoulder-length style late last year. She spent 2025 fine-tuning it, most recently landing on a super-short, super-platinum pixie styled by Sami Knight.
Brie Larson
Larson went fully buzzed for her role in the play Elektra beginning in January and has maintained a close-cropped look ever since.
Keke Palmer
No stranger to the frequent hair (and wig) switch-up, Palmer opted for a big chop in the form of a short pixie cut by Academy Award–winning stylist Jamika Wilson.
Timothée Chalamet
Chalamet buzzed his signature floppy brown curls for his role in Dune: Part Three.
Zoë Kravitz
Hairstylist Nikki Nelms was behind Kravitz’s vintage-y micro bob, a significant departure from the long, loose curls she wore for most of the year.
Amal Clooney
Clooney proved that “going shorter” is relative when her stylist, Dimitris Giannetos, chopped off “between six and eight” inches of her hair. “Amal has never had a haircut like this before,” Giannetos told Vogue at the time.
Hailey Bieber
Bieber traded in her long waves for the ultimate cool-girl cut with this blunt bob by celebrity hairstylist Justine Marjan.
Rosalía
Maybe our favorite color change of the year: Rosalía’s literal halo. The artful look, originally created by late hairstylist Jesus Guerrero and maintained by hairstylist Evanie Frausto, involved meticulous free-hand bleaching around the crown of the Lux artist’s head.
Sofia Richie Grainge
Known for the iconic slicked-back bun that launched a thousand tutorials, Richie Grainge eschewed her lush lengths in favor of a significantly shorter French bob by hairstylist George Curran.
Have a beauty or wellness trend you’re curious about? We want to know! Send Vogue’s senior beauty wellness editor an email at beauty@vogue.com.