Behind Brittany Snow’s Old Hollywood Bun

I haven’t watched The Hunting Wives yet, (I know, I know), but I’m so glad Brittany Snow is finally getting her moment. I’ve had a soft spot for the actor since her turn as the kinda evil but incredibly glamorous Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray, and the rest of the world is finally catching on.

It doesn’t hurt that Snow has been on a fashion roll as of late—her pink beaded Weiderhoeft look at the 2025 Emmys was one of my favorite gowns in recent memory. Last night, October 23, she continued this hot streak at InStyle’s Imagemaker Awards, which honors Hollywood’s most influential glam teams and stylists. For the occasion, the star chose a gorgeous white gown with a plunging back, and paired it with a classic updo.

The whole look was giving Old Hollywood energy, from the pearl details to her sculpted bun, crafted by Glen Oropeza. Ahead, he gives us the exclusive details on the look.

The Inspiration

At the event, Snow told Red Carpet Correspondent Lisa Rinna that her look was inspired by Shirley MacLaine in What a Way to Go!. In the film’s most iconic scene, MacLaine wears a gown that fully exposes her back and perfectly shows off a butt-grazing strand of pearls. Snow opted for a more demure take on the look, with a white column gown and a shorter—but just as glam—pearl deatil.

Her updo kept the Old Hollywood energy going, but her twisted bun was a little more wearable than MacLaine’s towering bouffant. “For this look we wanted something understated yet polished, Oropeza tells Byrdie exclusively. “The dress was a very structured white dress with pearl details falling down her back, so I knew right away I wanted the hair off of her face to show the details of the dress. The bun formation is sleek and minimal, yet structural to complement the dress” 

How to Get the Look

To create the style, Oropeza depended on Tresemmé’s A-List collection. He started by blowing out Snow’s hair with a smoothing brush until fully dry, and then sectioned off the hair into three separate sections. “To gather the hair into the pony formation, I start with spraying my smoothing brush with the TRESemmé A-List Collection Workable Hairspray and brush back,” he explains. He repeated this process, joining each section into one sleek ponytail.

“Once my sections are met into one, I will go back in my TRESemmé A-List Collection Workable Hairspray on a comb to remove any flyaways,” he says. Once the pony was perfected, he got started on the bun. Oropeza twisted Snow’s hair into a figure eight shape, securing with pins as he went. For a final touch, he went back in with his trusty hairspray and a tooth brush, smoothing any stray hairs. What a way to go!