The Hair Look Even Kate Middleton Couldn't Make Work For Her

While Catherine, Princess of Wales has a number of iconic hair moments that we'll never forget, there was one haircut that she couldn't quite pull off. But that was a long time ago, long before she married Prince William, back around the same time when Catherine was wearing those pre-royal outfits we can't stop thinking about. She definitely had a distinct style before she integrated into the royal family. She favored low-rise jeans, some outrageous fascinators, and bangs, apparently. But to cut her some slack, she was then only known as the girlfriend of William and wasn't expecting to be so heavily photographed. 

Once she officially became a royal, Catherine went through a stunning style transformation that took her from an already beautiful young woman into the realm of a future queen. She really nailed her look, figuring out what looked best on her. Like anyone would, without this royal training, Catherine was more prone to mistakes in her early years, and this included some wild haircut and bang choices. 

Back in June 2006, Middleton attended the grand opening of the luxury retail space The Shop at Bluebird on King's Road in London. She wore a pink blazer with a white, floral dress and a pink handbag. She accessorized with bracelets, a necklace, and earrings. While her outfit looked very nice for the occasion, the one strange choice about Catherine's ensemble was her bangs. The fringe hung far too long in the center of her face, covering her eyes.

Full front bangs are notoriously difficult to pull off, so we can't fault Catherine for struggling to make the look work. A few small changes to her style could helped, though. For traditional bang cuts, the longest they should be is about eyebrow length. This adds drama without impeding vision. If someone is going after something longer, a sideswept fringe is a romantic way to incorporate some face-framing layers, but these should be styled to the side of the face so that one's eyes aren't covered.

During that particular 2006 outing, Catherine didn't do either, so her dangly bangs looked like she had been in the awkward phase of trying to grow them out. Our best guess is that she meant for her bangs to be pulled sideways, but her hair had a mind of its own. Catherine definitely sported bangs again, years later. Around 2015, she got into another bang phase, but these were always carefully styled out of her eyes, and swept away from her face. So we're well aware that she can rock bangs beautifully. We're chalking up the 2006 debacle as a bad hair day.