A heavy, slightly too-long fringe. Thick eyeliner. Concealer lips.
Ringing any bells? I am, of course, describing Claudia Winkleman’s signature look, which she started to develop at the tender age of just 21.
So famous is her style, that it’s spawned copycats, countless Reddit forums, and even a (now defunct) Twitter account dedicated to her fringe.
But Claudia’s not the only famous face to have found a distinctive style and stuck with it; think Diane Keaton’s masculine tailoring, Anna Wintour’s neat bob and oversized sunglasses, or Dolly Parton’s gravity-defying blonde blow dry.
‘A signature look can act like psychological grounding. It gives continuity and familiarity in a world that is constantly changing,’ psychotherapist and life coach Ioana Rotaru tells Metro.
‘It communicates a sense of identity — you’re defining yourself rather than chasing trends.’
These three women know that only too well, having been in similarly-committed, decades-long relationships with their own unique aesthetics.
Here, they share why fashion fidelity works for them.
‘I’ll be a granny in a care home with a rainbow rinse’
‘I was around 15 when I found my signature look,’ Maddy Alexander-Grout, 42, from Southampton tells Metro.
‘I fell hard into punk and metal music, and dyed hair was part of that culture. It was expressive, rebellious, creative, and unapologetic.’
‘When I was a teenager I didn’t yet know I was neurodivergent, but I felt it,’ she says.
‘I was louder, more emotional, more excitable, more intense. Dyeing my hair bright colours helped me feel like those differences were intentional and that my “whacky” personality wasn’t something to be ashamed of, but just me being Maddy.
‘I was terrified people would see me as weird or too much, and colour helped me turn that fear into expression.’
After school, the colours got more vibrant – blues, reds, purples, all kinds of combinations. ‘That was when I realised something powerful,’ she notes ‘People remembered me. I wasn’t invisible anymore. Even if they couldn’t remember my name, they remembered the girl with the bright hair. That stuck with me.’
And since her ADHD diagnosis, Maddy says she’s leaned even harder into her rainbow hair. ‘I no longer feel the need to mask,’ she says. ‘I dress brighter precisely because I don’t need approval anymore.’
After almost 30 years, Maddy says can’t imagine herself with ‘normal hair’.
‘I once I had a genuinely wild idea that I might dye my hair brown,’ she shares. ‘My husband and friends laughed and told me it wouldn’t last, and they were absolutely right. I think I’d feel like I’d lost part of my identity.’
‘At this point, my look feels embedded. It’s part of how people recognise me, but more importantly, it’s how I recognise myself.
‘I think my friends and family would find it stranger if I suddenly changed than if I showed up with even brighter hair.
‘I joke that I’ll be the granny in the care home with a rainbow rinse, and I mean it.‘
‘I feel exposed and bare when my fringe is swept over’
‘My fringe is timeless,’ Maria Pike, 57, tells Metro. ‘Plus, it means the skin on my forehead hasn’t aged – there’s not a line or wrinkle!’
As an actress, Maria, from Derby, is all too familiar with having to adopt new identities for different roles. But in her real life, her fringe has remained a constant for 53 years.
‘My fringe has carried me through since I was four years old,’ Maria says, going on to joke how her parents always loved her hairstyle and insisted on her having the ‘classic pageboy cut for many years.’
She explains: ‘I think it was just a style that developed and I almost didn’t realise that the look had stuck for so long. I just knew this was me!
After a while, I wondered if going from dark to blonde I’d look completely different. But, as it turns out, it’s more or less the same style, with the same fringe.’
‘It was about 15 years ago that I developed my final signature look,’ Maria tells me. ‘I got to the point where I really didn’t like the grey appearing in my hair because it was so dark – the upkeep was too high. Now, when my roots come through you can see the dark hairs rather than the grey… Result.’
‘My daughter says I’m a mixture of Shirley Ballas, Dawn French, and Holly Willoughby.’
Without her trusty bangs, Maria feels ‘bare’ and ‘exposed’. ‘Also,’ she quips ‘I’ve got such a tiny forehead that it’s not really worth showing off anyways’
And to just really double down on things, she adds: ‘And I really do love the fact that because my forehead hasn’t seen the light of day in decades, I’ve not got any wrinkles up there!’
‘That’s a win win in my books.’ You’ve got to respect a woman who’s both fashionable and practical.
The actress has got big appreciation for other hairstyles, but even if she were tempted, part of her knows that she’ll always feel most like herself with her fringe by her side.
She explains: ‘I do love the centre parting and no fringe look, but I’m sure by the time I grew mine out it would be either out of fashion or I’d probably hate it and cut my fringe back in again immediately.’
Now, her fringe is left in the expert hands of her hairdresser, Britt: ‘She knows me too well,’ says Maria.
‘Whether she dries and styles it straight, or puts soft curls in, she knows my fringe will sit exactly the same.’
The only times Maria ever steps out of this comfort zone is for a job. And in the terrifying case that her forehead has to be exposed, she feels extremely unnerved.
‘I was once wearing a wig whilst filming a TV programme. I was one of the evil twins from The Shining. They wanted to double me up in a different episode as someone just sitting in a bar with my back mainly to the camera. But, just in case, they slicked my fringe right back and it freaked me out, it didn’t look anything like me!’
‘I was inspired by Liza Minelli in Caberet’
Emma Pruen, 60, is a transpersonal coach living in Winchester. Her signature look, a black bob and red lip, waltzed into her life at 14 years old.
‘I was allowed to watch Cabaret one Christmas when I was about 14 and wanted to model myself on Liza Minelli.
‘Annoying, I couldn’t persuade anyone to give me a fringe with a pointed centre, like hers, so I was given a blunt fringe instead. I added the red lipstick and voila.’
Emma is incredibly loyal to her hairdresser – going to the same salon since she was 25.
‘When I wanted the bob back, after trying to grow it out for a little bit, my hairdresser Andrew said “we have loads of time for that when you’re old.”
‘But I never really liked anything as much as my bob.
I just thought it really suited me, and even when I had a different stylist if Andrew was away, and they tried to make the fringe round, I just wouldn’t feel like myself.’
‘I did very occasionally let Andrew try something a little layered, but I grew it out straight away.’
Emma’s look is also a nod to her late husband, who loved her haircut.
‘He adored me with a bobbed haircut,’ she says. ‘He’d always admired the 1930s flapper, Louise Brooks, so if I toyed with the idea of change, he’d ask me not to.’
Now, Emma is wondering if she should finally try something new – but she’s not quite convinced yet.
‘My husband passed away in 2024, and this year, I’m going on my first holiday since he died. I’ll keep the bob for my trip, but I might try something different when I get back – but it’s only a “might”!’
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