‘BlacKkKlansman’ Star Laura Harrier Is Delivering History Lessons With Her Hair

Article via: Rick y Riley, blavity.com ‘BlacKkKlansman’ Star Laura Harrier Is Delivering History Lessons With Her Hair

You’ve seen actress and model Laura Harrier gracing the red carpet promoting the latest Spike Lee film in which she stars, “BlacKkKlansman,” but what you may have missed were her gorgeous hairstyles paying tribute to black women throughout cinema history.

In a recent interview with Refinery 29, celebrity hairstylist Lacy Redwaytold the fashion and women’s lifestyle outlet that Harrier’s hair was an homage to blaxploitation actress Pam Grier, award-winning acting icon Cicely Tyson and music icon Diana Ross.

Harrier plays an activist named Patrice in the latest Spike Lee joint, which is about a black officer infiltrating his local Ku Klux Klan chapter.

“I knew the movie was taking place in the 1970s, and Laura plays an activist. That is where my initial inspiration started,” Redway said. “I wanted to use this moment as a teachable one and celebrate both the strong women of that time and strong women in general.”

The proof is in the pudding. If you scrolled through Redway’s Instagram feed, you could get a glimpse of some the looks Harrier channeled. On the first red carpet appearance, Redway styled Harrier after Grier’s kickass character Foxy Brown.

Redway styled Harrier’s hair into cornrows as a way to show her commitment to the natural hair movement.

“More often than not, young people aren’t aware of where things originated from and how important some things are as far as preserving history within a community,” she said. “With social media and lack of education, you can easily have braided hairstyles — identity symbols for tribes in Africa — be dwindled down.”

Not all of the hairstyles came from the 1970s. Some were inspired by the Himba woman in northern Namibia, Janet Jackson in Poetic Justiceand Brandy from her time playing the title character on the TV show Moesha.

See Harrier in the Spike Lee-directed film, BlacKkKlansman, currently in theaters.