CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN’S CLEVEREST CAREER MOVE? FINDING HER SIGNATURE LOOK AND STICKING TO IT
“I’m a tiny orange lady, and my fringe is too long,” is how Claudia Winkleman described herself when I interviewed her at the beginning of the year. In an industry full of rampant egos, this self-deprecation is one of the reasons Winkleman, 53, is so well-loved. But if viewers love her modesty, they equally love her style. Nor is this idle speculation: Marks & Spencer, Rixo and Dents are but three of the many brands who have reported rapid sales surges after she wore their items on The Traitors, the psychological game show she’s presented since 2023.
But it’s not just the components of Winkleman’s style that fans love: it’s the fact that it hasn’t changed. Wedded to black long before she became a primetime TV star, she’s shown admirable chutzpah in refusing to soften its edges. Her beauty look has remained equally immutable: poker-straight black hair, nude lips and lashings of eyeliner.
Heavily kohl-rimmed eyes aren’t often seen outside a sixth form common room – and certainly not on Strictly, other than during Halloween Week – yet Winkleman’s work perfectly with her look. Her trusty favourite is Lord and Berry’s highly pigmented black Kajal Stick (£20). “It goes on and it never comes off,” she says. Which is just as well, given that her eyeliner goal is to look like she’s “slept in a skip”.
“She is a million per cent wedded to her eyeliner,” confirms her longtime stylist, Sinead McKeefry, pointing out that even Winkleman’s Instagram profile picture shows her with heavily smudged eyes. “I actually love Claud with a clean eye, but most people probably haven’t seen that. Her face can totally take it, and it gives her that cool Patti Smith edge. It’s also a joy for me, because if I bring anything which is a bit feminine to the table, which admittedly is not very often, that heavy eyeliner instantly makes it cool. I’m so behind her on the eyeliner – she will never give it up.”
Nor will she give up her distinctive matte nude lip, a subtle shade that allows her eyes to remain the focus. A longtime fan of MAC, her favourite shade is “Fleshpot”, a warm, light beige with a satin finish that she once described as the “love of her life”. When, to her consternation, it was discontinued, she switched to “Bosom Friend”, a slightly pinker shade. Which isn’t to say she’s afraid of stronger colours: to ramp up the drama, she switches to MAC’s Lady Danger, a perennially bestselling red with orange undertones.
“What’s great is that she’s figured out what works and sticks to it unwaveringly, regardless of the opinion of others,” notes MAC’s director of makeup artistry, Terry Barber. “It’s fabulously knowing and referenced – a mix of mod, goth and classic YSL. There’s a joy in getting older and finding your style uniform, especially when it ignores all the cliches of age appropriateness which veer more towards Stepford Wife than chic.”
And then there is her fringe, so famous (or infamous) that it once had its own Twitter account. On Reddit, whole forums are dedicated to the topic. “Her fringe directly terminates in her corneas and she doesn’t feel anything,” one user marvelled. “She was born with a wider field of vision than most humans and can change her visual spectrum at will,” joked another. Certainly, her severe hairstyle flies in the face of primetime TV convention, given that most female presenters favour lighter, softer styles. But that’s precisely what makes Winkleman the legend she is. “It shows she’s someone who favours style over conventional ‘prettiness’, and while she’s young in spirit, she’s not contriving to look younger,” says Barber.
Finding her signature style
It was at Cambridge University, where she studied History of Art, that Winkleman’s sense of style appears to have been formed, a signature uniform of black trousers or leggings, an oversized black jumper and heavy black boots, worn with equally heavy black eyeliner and a heavy fringe (“when I was 21 and a virgin, I got my fringe and everything started happening,” she once said). In many ways, her look has its genesis in “goth”, bar one significant deviation. Goths love black, but they also strive to be pale. Winkleman, on the other hand, once confessed that she slept on her bedroom floor for months because the sunbed she’d rented took up all the space in her room.
Winkleman certainly isn’t alone in having found her signature style during her uni days. What’s rarer is that she’s barely changed it since. So what does it say about someone if they stick to their look regardless of the vagaries of fashion? According to fashion psychologist Dr Dion Terrelonge, quite a lot. “The type of person who might do this is someone who has found a style at a point in their life that got positive feedback from others, and made them feel comfortable and seen as they wanted to be seen,” she explains. “Wearing the same style repeatedly might also help to stave off anxiety and decision fatigue. We have more choice than ever, and for some, making the ‘wrong’ fashion choice might feel very risky.”
Will Winkleman emerge, Sphinx like, to present the new season of Celebrity Traitors clad in modish caramel and burgundy tones? That’s likely to be a hard no. “We’re continuing with the heritage base of knits and tweeds, and very much still working with new independent talent, but there will definitely be more of a gothic twist for Celebrity Traitors,” McKeefry reveals. “We’re making things a little bit slicker, a little bit darker but we’re still fusing the country chic elements with the more punky goth vibes. We’ve also brought in a few new big designers this year. There’s some Comme Des Garcons in there, and a real knock-out moment from Prada. We’re really looking forward to seeing the response on that.”
Never mind who’s a Faithful and who’s a Traitor: it’s Claudia’s wardrobe that’s set to be the biggest reveal.
Three more women who have nailed their signature style
Anna Wintour
The former editor in chief of American Vogue, 75, may recently have abdicated her position at the glossy magazine, but she’s unlikely to abdicate her signature look. Wintour’s glossy jaw-length bob may have changed colour over the years (it’s currently a light ash blonde) but its style is a constant. So, too, is her love of a peachy, natural lip, a mid-calf skirt, a kitten heel and oversized black Chanel shades.
Julianne Moore
When your hair is such a distinctive auburn, you’d be mad to change it, which is likely why Moore, 64, never has. She’s also kept it in the same simple mid-length style, parted off-centre. Beauty-wise, she favours a dramatic matte red or fuchsia lip for evening and a pinker hue for day, both of which compliment her pale skin.
Geri Horner
The last time Horner, 53, wore any colour other than white or cream was in 1997, when she famously wore a Union Jack dress at the Brit Awards. We exaggerate – but only slightly. Horner is wedded to pale hues, keeps her makeup minimal and is the embodiment of “very demure, very mindful”.
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2026-01-08T19:01:00Z