- 4 weeks ago
Mandy Moore revisits some of her most memorable beauty and fashion moments in this episode of Iconic Looks. From beloved film roles and red carpet appearances to unforgettable music video eras, Mandy breaks down the stories, inspirations, and transformations behind her most recognizable looks. Watch as Mandy reflects on the evolution of her style and career — and the beauty moments that defined each chapter along the way.
Mandy Moore stars in Sony Picture's THE BREADWINNER, exclusively in Movie Theaters May 29, 2026
Mandy Moore stars in Sony Picture's THE BREADWINNER, exclusively in Movie Theaters May 29, 2026
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00:00I'm a Florida girl, so I grew up in the sun that is a real tan that is not a
00:04fake tan.
00:04Hi, Laura, it's Mandy Moore, and today I'm going to be breaking down some of my most iconic looks.
00:16Oh, but, um, listen, Jill, my friends and I were wondering,
00:19this sweater you're wearing, was it designed for you, or did the knitting machines just blow up?
00:23Princess Diaries, 2001.
00:25I mean, I guess I just sort of leaned on some of the, like, mean girls that I went to
00:32school with
00:32that were a little bit of a, you know, a bully.
00:35I did go to Catholic school for a good half a year, so I was very used to the uniform,
00:40although we rolled up our skirts quite a bit shorter than my character does in the film.
00:45I came as a blonde.
00:47I mean, that's sort of, like, who I was in the music days back then anyway.
00:50But for the character of Lana Thomas, I was really happy to let the costume designer
00:56and the key hair and makeup department heads, like, kind of lead the charge with where they
01:00saw the character going.
01:01I'm such a people pleaser anyway, and I was so happy to have the opportunity.
01:04There's no way that I would have barged in on my first film and been like,
01:07excuse me, I have some ideas.
01:09I love, you know, performers like Bette Midler, who did everything, who did TV and movies and
01:13made records and went on tour and did Broadway.
01:16And I kind of, like, yeah, I want to, I grew up a musical theater kid, and I was like,
01:19I want to do everything if someone would give me the opportunity.
01:23When I got offered this small part on The Princess Diaries, I was like, wow, this is,
01:27like, summer camp.
01:29Like, I get to be around a bunch of kids my age, Annie and Heather and Robert.
01:33Like, it was so much fun.
01:36It's like the greatest tight-knit group for, you know, the couple months that you're working
01:40together, and I just, I was totally addicted.
01:43It was so much new information to take in.
01:45I was like, how do I hit a mark?
01:47And making sure that I had my lines memorized.
01:50And, like, the stakes felt really high, but it was also such a super comfortable environment
01:54with Gary Marshall and a bunch of other kids my age.
01:58So there is talk of a possible Princess Diaries 3.
02:01I have only heard what the internet has heard as well.
02:04I would love if my character just, even just, like, popped in for a little cameo and was
02:08like, hi, I've reformed myself.
02:10I've realized the error of my ways.
02:12I don't know, like, maybe karma hit her out of high school or something.
02:19Candy, 1999.
02:22I'm not sure who did my hair or my makeup because I was 15, and it was my very first
02:28time, like, on a set doing anything remotely professional.
02:31I'm not quite sure whose idea it was to do my hair in those weird little, like, space buns
02:38that stuck out like that.
02:39I feel like the whole look of the primary colors, everything that I'm wearing, my makeup
02:45and the hair, like, it was something that somebody just put me in.
02:49I was just excited to be in this position and to have this opportunity.
02:53I'd never made a music video before.
02:55Like, I was beyond excited.
02:57I will say those extensions were not doing me any favors.
03:00They were super blunt.
03:02Somebody sewed them into my hair that day, but I was just excited.
03:05I was like, wow, I have, like, instant long hair.
03:08It was so much fun to change, you know, multiple times and have, like, different wardrobe and
03:12obviously, like, different hair and makeup.
03:14The little armband wrapped around my, like, all of it.
03:16That is a look that I did replicate myself somehow when I went on tour with NSYNC, like,
03:23I don't know, a month after we shot this music video.
03:25I really sort of tried to level it up, take it up the next notch.
03:28I did a zigzag part and I started putting, like, bluing in little crystals.
03:32I think I did do my own makeup, like, on the road, but here I definitely had someone.
03:37It was age-appropriate.
03:38I will say when I look back on this time period, there was never anyone pushing me to do anything
03:43outside of my comfort zone.
03:45Like, nobody was telling me I needed to dress a certain way or, like, push myself into,
03:51you know, wearing something or looking away that, like, I didn't feel was comfortable.
03:56So I loved that I was still very much allowed to be a regular 15-year-old and it was
04:01like
04:01I just got to go and go on a shopping spree at the mall or something.
04:04It was so much fun.
04:07A Walk to Remember 2002.
04:11I dyed my hair for A Walk to Remember.
04:13It was a big part of kind of getting into character.
04:16It was how Adam Shankman, our director, saw my character, Jamie Sullivan.
04:20She was brunette.
04:21She had bangs.
04:22And so it was like, I was more than happy to go through any sort of transformation.
04:26I think it did help me, again, as like a new actor, not having a ton of experience, really
04:31sink into character and feel unlike myself.
04:35I loved that Jamie was always comfortable in her skin.
04:39She knew that she was an outlier and an outsider.
04:42And for the most part, like, she didn't let that bother her.
04:46The scene where I'm in the school play and I sing Only Hope, I think we filmed that scene
04:52right around my birthday.
04:54I'm sort of dressed in a manner, in a way that, like, is very atypical for my character.
05:01She's pretty plain, like a pretty modest dresser.
05:04And she's in this, like, beautiful ice blue dress that has been made for her as a costume
05:08for the play.
05:08And my hair's done and I'm wearing makeup, like, all of this for the first time.
05:12And I'd like to think that it's not just how she is presenting herself, but it's also
05:17her singing that kind of, like, makes Landon, Shane's character, kind of notice her in a
05:22new way and realize, like, oh, wow, I think I have feelings for this woman.
05:27I mean, beyond the obvious of, like, just not having a ton of experience, working with
05:32someone like Shane West, who had, like, done films and he was on a TV show at that time.
05:36Like, he really knew how to be an actor.
05:39And all of that was, like, new territory for me.
05:41But also, like, being so young and not having the experience of ever, like, really being
05:45in love before.
05:47Shane made it so easy to, you know, fall in love with that character.
05:50And it was, it was the best, the best experience.
05:55MTV Music Video Awards, 2004.
06:00Oh, okay.
06:02We're moving and shaking, guys.
06:04I loved having the short hair.
06:07I cut my hair for a movie a couple years before this.
06:11I was really, like, living for the short hair.
06:14This wasn't, like, Mia Farrow short, but it was, like, as short as I kind of went.
06:18I loved how kind of low maintenance it was.
06:21I remember, do you know the toncho stick?
06:23I'm sure it's still around.
06:24It's, like, a really, um, kind of dry, uh, it smells really good, like, a pomade.
06:32And I remember that's what I would use on my hair.
06:34And it was so easy.
06:35Like, I could just kind of wake up, put a little toncho in my hands and, like, kind of
06:39spike my hair around and go.
06:41It was the best.
06:42I feel like I was wearing a Calvin Klein dress.
06:45Because I had worn some Calvin Klein, like, earlier to, like, a premiere or something.
06:50When I did have to go to an event or a premiere or I was getting dressed up for something,
06:54I
06:54really, I think I leaned into how tan I was at this particular moment.
06:58I'm a Florida girl, so I grew up in the sun that is a real tan, that is not a
07:02fake tan.
07:03But this does feel very 2004 to me.
07:06Like, a quintessential Mandy look at the time.
07:08Like, it's a cheek, it's a little bit of a smoky eye.
07:12Like, it feels elevated for an award show, but it still feels very age-appropriate and
07:17very me.
07:17I grew up on MTV.
07:18I grew up with all of those VJs and Carson and just all of the crew at MTV at 1515.
07:25So when I think back to MTV, I think back to quick changes, quick hair and makeup changes
07:32and costume wardrobe changes.
07:34And as, like, a young woman, the opportunity to, like, go through hair and makeup, like,
07:38I was never one that turned down an opportunity to sit in glam.
07:42I loved it.
07:43I'm like, sure, change my nail polish, change my lips, wash my face and start over.
07:48Like, I love, I still love, like, sitting in the chair and, like, the whole experience
07:53is so much fun.
07:55But especially as, like, a young person, I really leaned into all of that.
08:00So this is the Vanity Fair Oscar party in 2001.
08:04Oh my gosh.
08:06Okay, um, I like how clean and simple it was.
08:09I like that you could see my skin.
08:10I don't know who did my hair and makeup for this.
08:13We're talking, like, 25 years ago.
08:14But I do remember it was, like, my first foray into sort of an adult world and going to something
08:21that felt very exclusive.
08:23And so this was my idea of, like, what a movie star looked like.
08:26I can't say that I subscribed to the hair.
08:28I like where I was going.
08:30You know, someone put, like, a little bit of a lash on me and the winged eyeliner and,
08:34like, sort of the pink glossy lip feels very age-appropriate but also, like, very of the
08:39moment in 2001.
08:40And those gigantic diamond earrings, good gracious.
08:43Because I wasn't able to go to my own prom and I didn't have that, like, typical high school
08:48experience, like, I got to treat some of these events, whether it was the Vanity Fair Oscar
08:52party or, like, a premiere or something, I got to treat those events as, like, what would
08:55I like to look like if I were going to prom with my friends right now?
08:58And I think this is kind of evidence of that.
09:01This is us from 2016 to 2022.
09:04I wonder who she was.
09:05I never have.
09:06Rebecca Pearson.
09:07Yeah.
09:08I got to play this woman from, like, 16 in one episode, which they definitely used some
09:17lovely computer stuff to de-age me a little bit.
09:21All the way till 80 in her, like, mid-80s and every age in between.
09:26We used prosthetics, we used wigs, more makeup, less makeup, lashes, no lashes, like, just
09:33everything under the sun and obviously sprinkling in wardrobe choices to kind of complement
09:38everything.
09:38But I really feel like this was a show that was about hair and makeup.
09:41I feel like she had this sort of bohemian spirit to her always with long necklaces and
09:47cardigans and sort of looser clothing.
09:49There was this sort of artistic element to who she always sort of was.
09:54She does go through some transformations, but it's funny because I look back at, like,
09:58pictures of my own mom and grandma, and they did as well.
10:02I mean, it was always so fun to go back to the 70s just because I think if I could
10:06pick
10:06a time period to have grown up in, I definitely would have picked the 70s, like the late 60s,
10:12early 70s.
10:12So, like, any time we were able to go there and make her young and fresh and have, like,
10:19the coolest vintage dresses and jewelry and, yeah, I didn't have to be a tired mom.
10:25That was always really fun.
10:26My life changed so fundamentally during this time.
10:30I started the show as a single woman.
10:33I got engaged.
10:34I got married.
10:35And I had my first child.
10:38At the very end, I was pregnant with my second kid right when we were wrapping up.
10:43Like, I was given the opportunity to do things and challenge myself in ways that no one had
10:48ever given me permission to do before.
10:51I'm so grateful to Dan Fogelman for, yeah, the role of a lifetime, truly.
10:56And I think it will be hard for anything in my life to ever top this experience.
11:02Creatively, the friends I made, the work we all got to do together, what it meant to other
11:07people out there, what it meant to us, like, all of that is just, like, such a once-in-a
11:11-lifetime
11:11thing.
11:13Met Gala 2017!
11:17This was the Met Gala I went with Michael Kors.
11:21And Jen and Ashley, the Stryker sisters, they did my hair and makeup.
11:25I feel like we really leaned into the asymmetrical sleeves and the one glove and a really big
11:31swing with the makeup.
11:33But also, it's like, it's the Met.
11:34That's kind of what you want to do.
11:37There's a lot going on with the dress.
11:38It's sort of, it's cashmere, but it has these sort of origami, like, flowers up and
11:42down it.
11:43But because it's such a dark color, it's hard to sort of see the detail.
11:46So I think we were kind of leaning into the makeup and hair kind of doing a bit more of
11:52the heavy lifting.
11:52I had these, like, you can't really see, but I, Ash, put these, like, weird metal pieces
11:58in my hair that felt very architectural as well.
12:01Gosh, I'm trying to think of how I met them.
12:03I think we were introduced by friends.
12:05And, like, back in the day, the three sisters had a salon here in Los Angeles.
12:11One does eyebrows, one does makeup, and one does hair.
12:13So it was, like, sort of one-stop shopping.
12:15And this is, like, my team.
12:16These were my ladies, my girls.
12:18I worked with them, like, multiple times a week.
12:21This was, like, the heyday of This Is Us.
12:23And there was so much going on.
12:25So I felt so comfortable to experiment with them.
12:29I definitely prefer, like, a bit more of a, you know, subtler red carpet look.
12:35So this was something I'd never done before.
12:37But, again, if, like, you're not going to go big at the Met, then when are you going to
12:40do something like this?
12:41So this was, like, my first time attending where it felt, like, really intimidating and
12:45scary.
12:46You can kind of tell by my face.
12:47I'm like, what the F am I doing here?
12:50Emmy Awards 2019.
12:53Ah, Jen and Ash back again for hair and makeup.
12:56Brandon Maxwell made me this outfit, which I love.
12:59I think that's my favorite color combo, the pink and the red.
13:03I was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama.
13:06It was really fun.
13:08We kind of leaned into, like, more of a, like, a 90s moment here.
13:12Looking back at, like, our Pinterest board, it was, like, a lot of, like, Cindy Crawford.
13:16Like, the sort of, like, really done kind of hair of the 90s.
13:21And I think the makeup, too, is, I think it's complimentary.
13:24It's a lot because, you know, it's a big red carpet event.
13:28Brandon made this sort of custom look for the awards for me with the top and the skirt
13:33and the cummerbund.
13:33But, like, there's still a subtlety to it.
13:35I think you can still see my skin and, like, my brows.
13:39And, like, it feels bold without being, like, overpowering.
13:42Because the dress is, like, that's a lot of color and it's off the shoulder.
13:46And, you know, there was a lot going on.
13:48I'd never really done that before.
13:49And I was like, this is my big night.
13:51I want to, like, you know, really do it up if we're going to do it properly.
13:54So I'm glad I had that chance.
13:58The Breadwinner, 2026.
14:01Yeah, Alexis and Bex and Lindsay, hair and makeup and our costume designer.
14:07Katie Wilcox, my character in the film, is, like, she's a busy mom.
14:11When this, like, extraordinary opportunity sort of lands in their lap
14:15and Katie invents something that takes her to Shark Tank,
14:19she ends up getting a deal with Lori, one of the sharks,
14:21and her business sort of, like, takes off and she has to kind of follow the chaos.
14:26And she leaves her husband, Nate, home to take care of their three daughters.
14:31And, you know, real chaos ensues.
14:34So I didn't wear a ton of makeup and my hair was sort of, like, you know, just my hair.
14:39I kind of just want to look like myself.
14:41It was done every day and, like, a little bit of bend added to it.
14:45But I've since had to change my hair for work, so it looks wildly different.
14:48But that was my hair a year ago.
14:50That's what it looked like.
14:52Nate is so wonderful.
14:54He's such a hustler, too.
14:55Like, this was his first film and we were working every day, or he was working every day.
15:01And then, like, in between on the weekends, he was, like, flying and doing stand-up.
15:05Like, it was truly wild how hard he works.
15:08I feel like this film really harkens back to, like, a lot of the family films I grew up loving.
15:13So I'm super grateful to be a part of it and grateful that, like, I get to show it to
15:17my kids one day
15:18and say, like, remember that summer that, like, I was popping around and in and out of town
15:22and, like, this is what I was doing.
15:24Thank you so much for going down memory lane with me.
15:27It really means a lot to be able to share some of those memories with you guys.
15:31Bye, Lore.
15:35Bye, Lore.
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