Attract declared 2023 the 12 months of the “everybun” referring to the tight, slicked-back bun that took over our social feeds. We now have the “clean-girl” aesthetic to thank for its rise in recognition (and, in fact, its unofficial spokespeople Hailey Bieber, Sophia Richie Grainge, and Kendall Jenner). Whereas the coiffure blends seamlessly into a number of settings—from a T.J. Maxx run, to date-night at a Michelin-star restaurant—the web appears to be divided on whether or not or not it’s acceptable to put on as a wedding ceremony coiffure.
The talk seems to have began when Eli Rallo—a content material creator, creator, and 2026 bride—posted a TikTok explaining why she was not permitting her bridesmaids to put on the coiffure at her wedding ceremony. “There’s a time and a spot for a slicked-back bun at a marriage, however mine shouldn’t be that wedding ceremony,” she mentioned.
The video now has 2.1 million views, over 176,000 likes, and 742 feedback. “Praying I’m by no means in a SBB wedding ceremony bc I seem like an alien,” one particular person commented, whereas one other mentioned, “A bridesmaid look could be very totally different than company. SBB can nearly all the time work for only a common visitor, however you’re proper. Bridesmaids must match the general vibe higher. ” Yet one more commenter questioned the rationale the coiffure would even be at a elaborate affair within the first place: “Slick backs (a minimum of for ppl with straight hair like me) are for when ur hair is just too greasy to do anything with it,” they wrote. “No purpose to be sporting one at a proper event.”
Rallo says that it’s not that slicked-back buns don’t ever belong at weddings, however somewhat particular weddings—you shouldn’t put on one to a country barn wedding ceremony, for instance, however an elegant betrothal within the metropolis is A-OK.
For what it’s value Katie Kelly, a hairstylist based mostly in Hudson Valley, New York, agrees with the bride-to-be’s logic. She tells me that slicked-back buns are acceptable for a black-tie occasion in New York Metropolis, a vacation spot or seaside wedding ceremony, or a marriage in the midst of the summer season, amongst different circumstances. “These are all conditions the place I might advocate that model if the shopper was already contemplating it,” she says. And, since Rallo is protecting the price of hair and make-up for her bridesmaids, she feels that she will voice her opinion on their aesthetic decisions for the day.
So, how did the slicked-back bun weasel its approach into wedding ceremony tradition discourse? Based on my Instagram sleuthing, the slicked-back bun seduced a wholly new viewers with its siren name when Grainge, the patron saint of the “clean-girl” aesthetic, wore the model with a center half for her nuptials in Antibes, France in 2023. After movies from the occasion went viral (with Stephen Sanchez singing her down the aisle and the explosion of florals, how may it not?) Grainge was catapulted into a wholly new stage of affect. In truth, she landed so many model partnerships that it was laborious to flee her slicked-down model for a minimum of a 12 months after she mentioned “I do.”
Kelly, who has been working weddings for 11 years, agrees that Grainge had one thing to do with the uptick in bridal buns. “That is actually when it took off as a search for us,” she says. “I can not keep in mind ever doing it earlier than her wedding ceremony.” Kelly does the hair for round 60 brides a 12 months, and says anyplace from 5 to 10 of them request a slicked-back bun for his or her massive day. Bridesmaids, then again, usually tend to ask for the model. (She says 20% of the bridal events she works with find yourself with a minimum of one SBB.)
