It all started at Monday night's gala, where the theme was "Manus x Machina" a.k.a. "man and machine" a.k.a. "robot stuff," and Nyong'o walked the carpet looking fantastic:
She looked so fantastic, in fact, that Vogue ran a post the next day with the headline "Is Lupita Nyong'o the next Audrey Hepburn?" While, sure, Hepburn made a certain kind of updo very popular in the 20th century, Nyong'o felt there were some more direct inspirations for her look that evening.
Namely, black women.
In reply the actress posted an Instagram video featuring a few of the women who did actually inspire her hairstyle:
What an elegant own.
Vogue contributing editor André Leon Talley had spoken to Nyong'o on the red carpet that evening and said her hair reminded him of a throwback Nina Simone, but unfortunately his commentary ended up being an aside in the Hepburn-centric blog post instead of a focal point.
H/T Jezebel