Modern Family Star Sarah Hyland's Style Transformation Is A Sight To See

Sarah Hyland's style journey is truly a sight to behold. The former "Modern Family" star put her best foot forward (in heels, of course) at a young age, telling British Vogue, "I always loved fashion — who doesn't love dressing up in their mother's clothes? And I was in New York and my name was Sarah so I just wanted to be [Sarah Jessica Parker]." 

Growing up in the Big Apple had a big influence on Hyland's clothing, too. "I guess you could consider it 'East-Village-chic,'" she said about her look to Seventeen. "The East Village in New York City is where I was born and raised, so growing up with such eclectic people around me, I found my style by picking and choosing certain things," she added.

Still, Hyland left New York City for a new life in Los Angeles at age 18. Swapping skyscrapers for beaches while becoming one of the most famous sitcom actors in the world meant her wardrobe majorly evolved. Hyland's stunning transformation has seen her experiment with colors and trends, and take some big red carpet risks.

In 2008, Sarah Hyland was an up-and-coming star with a lot of style potential. The teenager embraced youthful and feminine looks on the red carpet, often sporting cute dresses and metallics. She wore a red shift dress with gold heels and a matching boxy clutch for the premiere of "Lipstick Jungle" that January. 

The following September, she showed us her take on red carpet glam again in a gunmetal bubble dress with a circular pattern and spaghetti straps, for the "Sex and the City: The Movie" DVD launch. She strutted in chunky black heels and stacked several bangles on both wrists.

Hyland was well-prepared to dress up for the cameras, as she told British Vogue. She'd often put fashion before function at school. "I wore heels most days to school, despite there being four flights of stairs to the classrooms," she said. 

And she wasn't afraid to try out-of-the-box looks from a young age, either. "On my first day of sixth grade, I wore a three-quarter-length top that had baby blue, white, and silvery-gold stripes. I wore it with bell-bottoms and New Balance sneakers," she told PopSugar. Clearly, this star was destined to be a fashionista.

"Modern Family" debuted in 2009 and made Sarah Hyland an instant star. Her outfits at the time were more casual and muted compared to the bold, glitzy gowns she'd go on to wear. During a press tour in August, Hyland wore a cute yet understated black-and-nude dress with a cinched waist. She accessorized with brown embellished heels and a brown clutch.

The following month, the actor proved she was paying attention to trends at Teen Vogue's Young Hollywood party. She wore a simple, strapless black mini dress with long layered necklaces, a nod to the statement jewelry that was hot at the time. Clearly, she hadn't given up on her love for dark monochrome outfits that developed in the Big Apple. "I wear black a lot," she told Seventeen. 

Though Hyland's style started off similar to her character Haley Dunphy's, she wasn't looking to raid the "Modern Family" wardrobe department. In 2013, Hyland shared she'd outgrown Haley's uber-feminine pieces. "I would throw out some dresses that Haley wears, because they're too girly and just not my style. But there's a bunch of sweaters that I'm obsessed with. I love a chunky sweater!" she told Elle. She also noted during a PopSugar interview, "Haley and I are both into fashion, but in very different ways, I believe. She wears a lot more floral patterns than I do."

As Sarah Hyland left her teens behind, she brought more color into her wardrobe and gravitated toward elegant cuts. She attended the 2010 Golden Globes in a stunning and sophisticated gown. The red BCBG dress demonstrated her move toward big brands, as her newfound stardom put her in front of some of the world's most famous designers. The plunging number gave us Hollywood bombshell vibes and the cinched waist and flowy skirt were super flattering. 

Hyland showed us another side to her evolving style later that month in a strapless muted purple number at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The Alberto Makali gown featured embellishments over the bodice, including eye-catching jewels and three large rosettes. But despite looking so glam on the red carpet, Hyland had moved on from high-fashion looks in her day-to-day life. "I'm very lazy when it comes to fashion," she told Seventeen, admitting her passion for high-heels was fizzling fast. "I usually just wear jeans, a T-shirt and my Nike hightops."

Hyland later revealed she sometimes had to opt for comfortable footwear due to serious foot pain. Appearing on "Dinner's on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson" in 2023, she opened up about an episode of "Modern Family" where she had to wear heels, despite being on crutches due to gout. "They had not established my outfit yet, and they insisted that I was wearing heels," she said. "It was the most excruciating pain."

In 2013, Sarah Hyland found dressing a little tougher. Speaking to Elle about the difficulties of red carpet dressing, she said, "I think the hardest thing is to be appropriate and dress age-appropriate. But for me, it's harder because I feel like I'm 22, but I look like I'm 15 or 16. So I have to watch that line, while not looking older than I actually am. For the most part, I just pick out what I like!" 

Hyland's likes changed a lot since she shot to fame in 2009. The star proved she'd transformed into a clothing chameleon as she dressed in a more sophisticated, sauve way for the Golden Globes in January. She wowed in a stunning black strapless dress by Max Azria with a sweetheart neckline and embellished belt around her waist. 

She kept the vampy, goth-esque vibe for the Primetime Emmy Awards in September in another look unlike anything we'd seen on her before. She wore a plunging green Carolina Herrera dress featuring ornate black lace, which was sultry yet classy. Her Lorraine Schwartz drop earrings, deep red lipstick, and slicked back hair added to the grown-up aesthetic and demonstrated what a gorgeous young woman she'd become.

Off the red carpet though, Hyland was more interested in trendy comfort. Namely wedge sneakers. "I'm obsessed with them — I have four pairs so far, but I want more," she told Cosmopolitan. She also shared she loved maxi skirts and dresses, as well as tank tops. "They're just comfortable, and I'm all for comfort."

Sarah Hyland was in her mid-20s in 2016 and ready to take more risks with her ensembles. That included swapping dresses for pants for big events, despite dresses becoming her signature. For the 2016 Emmys, she wowed in an edgy, strapless, floral top with a peplum and two long trains either side of her legs. She wore the Monique Lhuillier number with cropped black pants and barely-there heels. 

A month later, she took another risk at the ASPCA Benefit in a deep mustard, velvet mini dress, which she made more interesting with turquoise, pointed-toe heels (which made a trendy comeback in 2023). To keep the look edgy, Hyland put her brunette locks in a bold topknot and wore a stunning red lip.

Though both fashion gambles worked, the actor wouldn't have been bothered if they didn't. She doesn't put too much stock in negative attention about her ensembles, she told Racked. "Screw them! I'm happy with how I look," she said. "Everyone has their own opinion, and everyone has their own style. And if someone feels comfortable and confident in what they're wearing, you shouldn't try to tear them down."

Sarah Hyland teamed up with clothing brand Candie's in 2017 to create her own collections, which put her years of enviable style to good use. "I like to put a lot of my personal style into the design," she told People. She also explained to WWD, "It is special that the new collection for spring has a little bit of me in everything."

Though the "Geek Charming" star had previously been all about black, she embraced a lot more color in 2017. For the Emmys, she looked gorgeous in an orange leaf-print dress from Zac Posen with a torso cut-out. At the KIIS FM Jingle Ball in December, she wowed again in a fire-engine red two-piece, made up of a strappy, plunging crop top and high-waisted maxi skirt with a thigh-high slit. The native New Yorker's outfit gave us fun summer vibes despite it being December, proving her time on the West Coast had definitely influenced her wardrobe. She highlighted her waist with a bright pink sash and added barely there red open-toe heels. 

Clearly, Hyland had become more daring, but embracing bold shades and styles was about more than just how she looked. "Fashion for me is one of the ways that I show off my confidence. I like to play with fashion and it puts me in the mindset," she told People. "As soon as I get dressed for the day I feel like I can do anything."

"Modern Family" announced its last season in 2019, and the impending change in Sarah Hyland's career appeared to have an impact on her wardrobe. That August, she hit the Teen Choice Awards in a cute two-piece with a white lace crop top and matching high-waisted, frilly mini skirt. The star let the delicate number have its moment by pulling her red hair back into a ponytail and matching her open-toed shoes to the bold orange straps.

Proving how versatile she'd become, she later wore a more avant-garde look to the E! People's Choice Awards. Her double-thigh slit, square-neck, orange Fausto Puglisi dress featured palm tree embellishments on her hips and rows of gold hardware across her chest. Hyland matched her lipstick and eyeshadow to the gown for a great beauty look, even though she looks just as gorgeous going makeup free. She'd come a long way from her super girlie dresses and beaded necklaces to truly embrace high-fashion.

Sarah Hyland's clothing confidence was at an all-time high in 2020 — even if her body confidence wasn't. She told Cosmopolitan she sometimes struggled showing more skin, saying, "There have been days when I'm either like, 'I'm gonna wear my tightest jeans and a f***ing bra — I don't care if I get papped because I look f***ing good,' or, 'Is there anything I own that's looser? Because even these sweatpants are making me look fat right now.'" But we never would have guessed it based on the daring looks she wore as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

Hyland kicked off 2020 in one of her best red carpet looks of all time. The plunging, pastel, floral Philosophy Di Lorenzo Serafini dress she sported on the SAG Awards red carpet was feminine and flattering. The beauty gave Carrie Underwood's killer legs a run for their money when she showed her pins in the long train number, which could easily have swamped her small frame — but worked thanks to the super short skirt and tailored waist.

In October, she slipped into a gorgeous purple, one-shoulder mini dress with a single poofy sleeve and another long train. The satin Greta Constantine number made sure all eyes were on her as she hosted the socially distanced CMT Awards, and she added edge via her spiked Christian Louboutin heels with a metallic gold ankle strap.

"Love Island USA" landed a new host in 2022 with Sarah Hyland, and she instantly began serving bombshell. Her style got a sexy glow up as she sported more glitter, sequins, and iridescent embellishments than ever before. While giving fans a sneak peek at the contestants' villa, Hyland wowed in a shiny gold mini dress with feathers. Her move from heels to sneakers went out the window for the glam gig, as she paired the sparkly number with metallic strappy high-heels.

When she returned for her second season in 2023 (after tying the knot with Wells Adams), she turned up the sparkle dial even more. In an Instagram snap, the talented actor stunned in a strappy, green sequin mini dress that was whimsical and youthful. It worked with the show's glitzy aesthetic and tropical location, proving the star still knew how to have fun with fashion. Hyland joked about her style change in another Instagram post, quipping in the caption of a 2023 upload, "Been at the Villa so long we started dressing alike."

But the outfits totally worked for the "Vampire Academy" star, as minis can make petite people appear taller. Perfect for Hyland, who stands at 5 feet, 1 inch. "I fortunately have very long legs for my height; I swear, my torso is about six inches long. I'm all legs!" she told Racked. "So although I'm very petite, I love to show them off."

Sarah Hyland parted ways with "Love Island USA" in 2024, and we saw a less sparkly version of her wardrobe return in favor of more Old Hollywood-esque vibes. In October, she walked the red carpet at a Variety event in a sultry column dress with black satin over her chest. 

She didn't ditch sparkle completely: the bottom of the gown was grey and featured patterns made of silver glitter. Coupled with her new, shorter 'do, the actor adopted a vintage flair, which was something she'd had an interest in for a while. "I love to draw inspiration from the past and mix-and-match decades," she told Refinery29.

Hyland put a daring twist on the vintage glam aesthetic in November at the Baby2Baby Gala, where she fearlessly aced the sheer clothing trend. Hyland looked polished in a plunging white gown with two belt embellishments and a sheer skirt. She wore silver heels and long, deep red nails to complement her classy take on the see-through movement, which can easily look cheap if not done right. This look was sophisticated and gorgeous, demonstrating how Sarah Hyland has transformed from a cute teen dream to a confident superstar.