Tracee Ellis Ross’s Chic Braid Will Definitely Be On Your Summer Mood Board

The search for summer hair inspo begins and ends with Tracee Ellis Ross’s braided ponytail. While glamour is in the actor and Pattern Beauty founder’s blood (she is, after all, the daughter of music and beauty icon, Diana Ross), she always seems to outdo herself when it comes to hair looks. Yesterday, Ross took to Instagram to show off her chic all-white outfit and sky-high heels on her way to “meetings”, but her dramatic hairstyle definitely pulls focus.

In the photo carousel, Ross poses in a doorway with her body turned to the side, revealing a waist-length braided ponytail cascading down her back. In accordance with the ensemble’s color scheme (clearly, she doesn’t give any weight to the antiquated “no white after Labor Day” rule), the braid has a white ribbon (or possibly string) running through it, upping the elegance factor by approximately one thousand notches. Her chunky gold hoop earrings help with that, too.

Ross’s tagged her hairstylist, Marcia Hamilton, who also shared the look on her own page, where followers are — to no one’s surprise — fawning over it. “Ponytail is everything!” one user commented. “Yesssss,” said another, along with a slew of fire emojis.

While Ross kept things pretty minimal for awards season (she wore a simple, slicked-back style for the Oscars as well as the Vanity Fair afterparty), she’s apparently been loving braids as of late. Last week, Hamilton created a sleek bun with Y2K-inspired baby braids for her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote the final season of her ABC sitcom, black-ish.

A single long, dramatic braid like the one Ross is rocking in her latest Instagram photos has been super on-trend lately, with fellow stars such as Gabrielle Union, Megan Fox, and Dakota Johnson getting in on the hype. There’s no denying that an extra-long braid is not only a sleek, romantic style but also a great way to beat the heat and avoid styling in the summertime. You can probably expect to see a lot more similar looks as the season creeps closer, but for now, Ross’s white-streaked braid is certainly enough inspiration to kick off the season.