Celebrity

Bo Derek's cornrows in '10' sparked a trend, but not without controversy, and in the years since Derek has defended the style, saying many African American women were thanking her for wearing the hairstyle.

Published on March 12, 2023

It was back in 1979 when actor Bo Derek appeared on the scene in the movie 10, and it was a huge hit, to say the least. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film is a romantic comedy in which George, a middle-aged Hollywood songwriter portrayed by Dudley Moore, is infatuated with the beautiful Jenny (Derek) and decides to follow her and her new husband David on their honeymoon.

While there, he realizes that things aren’t necessarily what they seem. It was in the movie that Derek wore her hair in cornrows, and it turns out that the hairstyle is still talked about to this day. In fact, Derek said that her controversial cornrows in 10 had African American women thanking her. 

Derek’s cornrows in ’10’ were controversial

More than four decades have passed since the movie premiered, and Derek hasn’t been afraid to wear the style since. Some may have viewed the cornrows as cultural appropriation, and Us Weekly can report that the style was controversial from the start. Derek, who was working on 10 with her then-husband, director John Derek, said that no one working on the movie even considered another hairstyle for her.

According to Yahoo!, she said that “It was my husband’s idea. So I had it done and went into Blake’s office, and he wasn’t too sure. He wasn’t on board right away. I’m sure he had to run it by other people first.” The actor describes the moment as “life-changing,” and it definitely was. When asked about the style and the effects of cultural appropriation back in 2015, Derek replied by saying that “It’s a hairdo! That’s all it is”.

Derek said that the style she wore for the film had African American women thanking her

At the time that 10 was filmed, Derek admitted that she didn’t expect anything to come of her wearing her hair in a style that was typically worn by African American women. However, according to Variety, the reaction was one that she didn’t expect. It was in an interview that the actor said of the hairstyle, “I get in trouble for it now. I get a lot of criticism for being a culture vulture, that I’m being insulting and even worse, hurtful to African American women that I copied their hairstyle.” She added:

“At the time, the reaction was very different. I can’t tell you how many African American women came up to me and said things like, ‘Thank you so much. I work at a bank and my boss would never let me have that hairstyle at work but now I can.'”

While Derek didn’t have that much to say about the cornrows that are still remembered all these years later, she did say, “Seriously, of all the important racial and cultural issues we have right now, people are going to focus on a hairstyle? No, no. I’ll save my efforts toward important racial and cultural issues.”

Derek’s ’10’ look became a trend

It turns out that back in 1980, Derek was known as a catalyst for wearing her hair in cornrows for the film. According to The Cut, the blonde beauty made the hairstyle a “cross-cultural craze” and a “beauty store bonanza.”

The result was that the origins of cornrows have often been overlooked in African American culture. Derek made sure to say regarding the origins of the scene-stealing style that she “Knew where it came from, but that had nothing to do with doing it.”

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