Kaia Gerber Is Bringing Back Curtain Bangs

The haircut is as effortless as her recent street style.

Kaia Gerber with her hair in curtain bangs in NYC
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Kaia Gerber is an undisputed It girl with a sense of style as recognizable as her modeling campaigns (and her famous mom, Cindy Crawford). This summer, she's made fashion headlines for her all-black summer outfits, daring color combinations, and instructive high-low pairings. Now, Gerber is reviving a hair trend alongside Y2K graphic T-shirts and ballet flats. Specifically, she's bringing back long, early 2000s-esque curtain bangs.

Gerber showed off her fresh, layered look during a New York City outing with her boyfriend, Austin Butler. Alongside a delightfully on-brand tee that reads, "Come to my house. I have great books" (Gerber started a book club four years ago and founded a literature platform called Library Science in February), the model wore her dark hair loose around her shoulders. Long, slightly curled curtain bangs fanned out from either side of her center part.

It's unclear who crafted this style for her, but the star has worked extensively with celebrity hairstylist Guido Palau in the past. She even collaborated with him this year on a styling book, Hidden Identities.

Kaia Gerber with curtain bangs in NYC with Austin Butler behind her

Kaia Gerber debuted curtain bangs on a date with boyfriend Austin Butler.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Gerber's curtain bangs fell in front of her face à la 2008, when stars from Rihanna to Hilary Duff wore them the first time around. More than a decade later, Gerber is in good company: Kate Middleton, Julia Roberts, Gigi Hadid, and Gabrielle Union have all opted for the look since the pandemic, proving that all styles come back in vogue eventually. There's also civilian support this time: the hashtag "curtain bangs" has been used more than 140,000 times on TikTok, with the top videos under it generating millions of views.

Kaia Gerber wearing a "Come to my house, I have great books" navy tee with navy leggings and black pumps in New York City July 2024

Gerber's curtain bangs gently curled at the end.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

With a simple walk from her car and into the theater for a Broadway show, Gerber might have proved the best quick, easy hairstyle of all time really is a well-planned haircut. The model didn't have to adorn her hair with accessories or ornate additional styling, because her bangs did all the work for her.

Her nostalgic haircut is bound to inspire a curtain bangs renaissance. Confession time: I've already booked my next salon appointment. Ahead, a few of the products you can use to get Gerber's smooth, high-shine look.

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Gabrielle Ulubay
Beauty Writer

Gabrielle Ulubay is a Beauty Writer at Marie Claire. She has also written about sexual wellness, politics, culture, and fashion at Marie Claire and at publications including The New York Times, HuffPost Personal, Bustle, Alma, Muskrat Magazine, O'Bheal, and elsewhere. Her personal essay in The New York Times' Modern Love column kickstarted her professional writing career in 2018, and that piece has since been printed in the 2019 revised edition of the Modern Love book. Having studied history, international relations, and film, she has made films on politics and gender equity in addition to writing about cinema for Film Ireland, University College Cork, and on her personal blog, gabrielleulubay.medium.com. Before working with Marie Claire, Gabrielle worked in local government, higher education, and sales, and has resided in four countries and counting. She has worked extensively in the e-commerce and sales spaces since 2020, and spent two years at Drizly, where she developed an expertise in finding the best, highest quality goods and experiences money can buy.

Deeply political, she believes that skincare, haircare, and sexual wellness are central tenets to one's overall health and fights for them to be taken seriously, especially for people of color. She also loves studying makeup as a means of artistic expression, drawing on her experience as an artist in her analysis of beauty trends. She's based in New York City, where she can be found watching movies or running her art business when she isn't writing. Find her on Twitter at @GabrielleUlubay or on Instagram at @gabrielle.ulubay, or follow her art at @suburban.graffiti.art