Kerry Washington's Cottagecore Crown Braid Is Straight Out Of A Storybook

If Kerry Washington ever felt like adding yet another role to her already-packed résumé, there’s always hosting her own travel series. This summer alone, the producer-actor-activist has been on a non-stop tour of what feels like the entire globe, exploring more than a few different countries for both work and fun. But you know what they say — while international jet-setting is great, there’s so much to see right in your own backyard. She spent July’s final days in New York City, uploading a summery selfie featuring the Statue of Liberty in the background. The braid crown encircling Washington’s head is like a (non-copper) version of Lady Liberty’s own headpiece, a romantic updo and overall matching moment made all the more poignant by the touching caption posted alongside the photo.

In the photo from her NYC boat ride, Washington’s dressed up in a long sleeve crewneck sweater with gold hoops and reflective rose-gold aviator sunglasses. Her hair is streaked with sunny blonde highlights, arranged into a thick, wrapped-around braid with two tinier pieces plaited to hold her shorter layers in place. The whimsical style is a significant departure from the warm red locs she had installed back in late June, but it’s no less summery — and both looks incorporate some of the season’s most popular hair colors, like that warm golden honey and fiery amber.

Underneath her selfie, the star wrote, “I ALWAYS get emotional sailing toward the Statue of Liberty. Both my mother’s parents came to this country from Jamaica. I think of my grandmother, Isabelle, as a young woman, risking it all to adventure into the unknown and seek a better life for herself and her future generations,” she shares, explaining how she tells her family’s story in further detail in her memoir, Thicker Than Water, due out September 26. “I think of how brave it was for her to come here with so little but with the willingness to dream of something more.”

Washington spent much of July in Jamaica herself, visiting family and working on her assorted projects. When she got warm amber locs and twists added to her long hair, fans immediately (and correctly) declared it a defining look of summer 2023.

The sweet braided crown from her New York trip is right in line with Washington’s penchant for romantic aesthetics. Pay attention to he red carpet and real-life fashion and beauty choices and you’ll see tons of storybook silhouettes, intricate updos, and petal-pink blush — she’s Hollywood royalty, but with this hairstyle, she looks like the real deal, too.