Stylist Tells The Fascinating Story Behind Brandy’s Iconic Braids

Celebrity hairstylist Chuckie Amos has styled “It Girls” like Beyoncé, Tracee Ellis Ross and Oprah Winfrey.

But you may not know Amos was also the man behind Brandy’s iconic ’90s braid stylings. In a recent interview with Complex, he revealed that his career began with styling R&B sweetheart Brandy while he was still a student at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. Their partnership lasted throughout the decade, turning a Black-girl staple into a high-fashion, cultural statement.

Here are the standout moments from his interview, with a close-up on Brandy’s most unforgettable looks.

The Start of a Legendary Partnership

In 1994, Amos was charging classmates $10 for hairstyles when a friend invited him to help with a magazine shoot for a short-lived publication. He was asked to style a teenage girl with box braids. That girl was Brandy, but Amos told Complex, “I didn’t know who she was.”

For the holiday issue, he put Brandy’s braids in Princess Leia buns and decorated them with Christmas tree branches and small red boxes with gold ribbons bought at Michaels. The look was a hit with Brandy and her team.

Compromises Between Hair and Image

Amos had to balance Brandy’s strict mother, nicknamed “Mama No,” with the label’s desire to make Brandy look more mature. “We want you to make her hair look like hair, and do what hair would do, not braids,” they told him.

Braid Bangs and Bold Experiments

“No one was really doing braid bangs back then,” Amos said, pointing to ponytails and buns as staples. He added, “Brandy had hairstyles, and we did a lot of innovation with that,” in the interview with Complex.

Breaking Ground on Stage

Amos recalled styling the Sittin’ Up In My Room” singer’s braids for the 1996 American Music Awards. He mimicked the streaked-hair trend by mixing multiple shades of braiding hair and weaving them into Brandy’s braids. “Nobody mixed it to look like some of them were getting darker, and some of them are getting lighter,” noting that he made it look like highlights in her braids.

Balancing Creativity and Boundaries

Complex reported that Brandy embraced experimentation, using her braids as self-expression. She loved her bangs, but also gave Amos creative freedom.

At the same time, her mother, Sonya Norwood, set boundaries to protect Brandy from pressures of early fame. The Mississippi native relied on her spiritual grounding. She didn’t play when it came to ensuring that oversexualization and imposed adulthood did not encroach on Brandy’s image.

Hiding Brandy’s Damaged Hair

Amos revealed his technique for camouflaging Brandy’s breakage, caused by the continued wear of microbraids. “I would take one braid, wrap the string around, and then bring it closer so it would fill in, where she was losing her hair.”

He credited Kim Kimble, who started braiding Brandy’s hair during the Moesha years, with inventing a technique that hid damage and saved her hair. He told Complex that Kimble’s trick “was micro braids on wefts sewn into her hair.” He added, “Later, I used those micro braid wefts to make Brandy a bang.”

The 1998 MTV Awards Look That Brandy Envisioned, Sparking a Trend

According to Amos, he was preparing to do fingerwave braids for Brandy for her performance of “The Boy is Mine” at the 1998 VMAs, but she objected. “’…I’ve been doing what my mom wants, what you want, what everybody wants. And today I want to do what I want.’”

She asked him to twist and spike her hair. The look launched a 2000s trend. “I realized that Brandy was onto something and that she was another generation with a new idea,” Amos told Complex.