- 10 hours ago
RuPaul's Drag Race alum Jaymes Mansfield helps us countdown the most iconic blonde moments ever! Blonde ambition, bombshell glamour and pop culture power collide in this look at the moments that defined an entire archetype. From movie scenes to music videos and TV icons, these unforgettable flashes helped shape how Hollywood, music and reality television saw platinum hair forever.
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00:00Besides, blondes do have more fun.
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:05And today, we're joined by an extra special guest
00:08who knows a thing or two about the iconic blonde-haired persona.
00:11Did somebody order an iconic blonde?
00:13Hi, Ms. Mojo, it's me again, James Mansfield,
00:16ready to talk all about, well, iconic blonde moments.
00:20We're counting down our picks for the most unforgettable,
00:23sometimes hilarious, sometimes scandalous,
00:26blonde moments that defined an archetype.
00:28Let's get started, shall we?
00:31Number 10.
00:32Elle Woods does the bend and snap in Legally Blonde.
00:35Trust me, Paulette, you have all the equipment.
00:38You just need to read the manual.
00:39When it comes to 21st century movie blondes,
00:42few are as iconic as Elle Woods.
00:44In Legally Blonde, Elle flips the ditzy blonde stereotype on its head,
00:48becoming a successful lawyer,
00:50and showing that femininity and intelligence are not mutually exclusive.
00:54In this unforgettable scene,
00:56Elle shows her lovestruck manicurist Paulette Bonifonte the bend and snap,
01:00a move she claims can instantly grab a man's attention.
01:04Okay, I'm going to show you a little maneuver that my mother taught me in junior high.
01:07When used appropriately, it has an 83% rate of return on a dinner invitation.
01:12Wow.
01:13It's called the bend and snap.
01:16Now, Ms. Mojo begged me to dress up as Jennifer Coolidge for this video,
01:20but sadly, they could not reach my booking fee.
01:24But let's just say this scene reworked all of our brain chemistry, okay?
01:28Teaching it like it's a sacred ritual in the salon,
01:32Elle fully leans into hyper-femininity while still being completely in control of the room.
01:37Bend!
01:38Yes!
01:39And snap!
01:39It's a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, and I must say I've used it in public.
01:42It does work.
01:44I've only broken four noses in my track record.
01:47I got it.
01:48Oh!
01:50Although Paulette's attempt goes hilariously wrong,
01:53the sequence crystallized a new kind of blonde,
01:55one who is sharp and completely unapologetic.
01:59And huge shout-out to Drag Race alum Love Connie as the hairstylist in the end.
02:03Works every time!
02:05Number 9.
02:06Jane Mansfield's infamous photo with Sophia Loren.
02:09James, you might know a thing or two about this one.
02:12Now, Jane Mansfield was a known stunt queen,
02:14and this is no exception.
02:17And honestly, the backstory behind this is much funnier
02:19than the perceived feud that would come from it.
02:21At a dinner party hosted in Italian actress Sophia Loren's honor
02:24at Romanoff's restaurant in Beverly Hills,
02:27Jane Mansfield arrived fashionably late and completely stole the show.
02:30And then the last one to come in was Jane Mansfield.
02:37And when I saw her on the door, I said,
02:42my God, I'm going to have a fit because I don't know what's going to happen.
02:47The now-legendary photo captured by photographer Joe Scheer
02:51shows Loren shooting a deeply skeptical sideways glance at Mansfield,
02:55whose platinum blonde bombshell figure was practically spilling out of her neckline.
02:59Talk about a mammary.
03:01The image became legendary, not just for its glamour,
03:04but for what it represented.
03:05Mansfield's exaggerated blonde bombshell persona.
03:08She wasn't subtle and she wasn't trying to be.
03:11We call it the television rumor.
03:13Of course, we never watch television unless your show is on.
03:17Well, well, well.
03:18I'm inclined to suppose you flatter me there.
03:21The picture immediately became an international sensation,
03:25although it seemed to have been reviled in Loren's native Italy,
03:28where many newspapers refused to print it.
03:31Sophia Loren would later say in interviews that she's not mad.
03:34Like the face she's giving is not arresting you-know-what face.
03:37It's actually a capture of her moral fear for Jane Mansfield and her cleavage.
03:42She was looking over and thinking,
03:43oh my God, they're about to spill out on the table.
03:46But then she was already fine because she was sitting down.
03:50Right.
03:51So I was relaxed.
03:52Number eight, Suzanne Somers as Chrissy Snow in Three's Company.
03:56Now this was a master class in dumb blonding, okay?
04:00Oh, it started out real nice.
04:02And then we had some wine.
04:04Oh boy, does he know his onions.
04:06Oh no, we didn't have any onions.
04:09We had some wine.
04:10She's not.
04:12Television had seen plenty of blonde characters before,
04:15but Chrissy Snow felt genuinely different.
04:18She was the breakout star of the show, and she knew it.
04:21Suzanne Somers brought such warmth and comic instinct to the role
04:24that Chrissy's naive golden-haired sweetness never felt mean-spirited,
04:28just irresistibly endearing.
04:30What are you doing?
04:31I'm reading.
04:33Well, isn't that kind of rude?
04:35You said you liked me to be myself.
04:37Well, yeah, but I didn't mean to pull out a book.
04:40Hey, but I'm at the most exciting part, and I just can't put it down.
04:46Playing the character for five seasons alongside John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt on ABC's Three's Company,
04:51Somers delivered physical comedy and wide-eyed innocence with impeccable timing.
04:56Chrissy wasn't the butt of the joke so much as the heart of it, which is what made her special.
05:00She was one of those first actresses to break out from their show and say,
05:03Hey, what do I need these people for?
05:05I can be a star of my own.
05:07And she was.
05:09However, Hollywood meddling stopped Suzanne Somers from portraying Chrissy Snow any further outside of Three's Company.
05:15So what they did do was force me to finish out the year, but diminish me to a minute at
05:22the end.
05:23They built a little side set.
05:26It was crazy what they did.
05:27Not to be kept down, she became a made-for-TV empire, okay?
05:32From very special creams to the three-way poncho.
05:35Suzanne Somers is definitely an entrepreneur.
05:38And I'm still to this day trying to figure out how that Thighmaster works.
05:41This balance-resistance coil is designed to give you results quickly and comfortably.
05:46Thighmaster, we may not have been born with great legs, but now we can look like we were.
05:49She defined a whole generation's idea of the lovably funny blonde.
05:53The kind you root for and laugh with, not at.
05:56Well, this is typical getting a girl pregnant.
05:59Only a man would do a thing like that.
06:04Number 7. Paris Hilton's reality TV reign.
06:08Before influencer culture had a name, Paris Hilton was already living it.
06:12When The Simple Life premiered on Fox in December 2003, the concept was simple.
06:17Drop heiress Paris Hilton and her best friend Nicole Richie into rural America and watch the culture clash unfold.
06:23Okay, you're going to wash the barn while Nikki drives the Polish pickup.
06:27So I get to wash the barn while she drives a car?
06:29No, the Polish pickup.
06:31What's that?
06:32Well, it's down here.
06:34A wheelbarrow?
06:35Yes.
06:35You thought it was a car.
06:37There are certain things in television history you will never forget.
06:40Ross and Rachel take a break.
06:42Who shot J.R.?
06:44Paris and Nicole stick their hand up a cow's you-know-what.
06:47Oh, you bitch!
06:49The door!
06:51This was peak television for many of us.
06:54And for those of you at that time who didn't quite get it or weren't of the same age bracket,
06:58imagine Green Acres if we had two Gabor sisters and easy access to good hair extensions.
07:04Oh, thank you.
07:05Don't worry about the hair, okay?
07:06The hair is fine.
07:07The car can't tell what you look like.
07:08Believe me.
07:08Hilton's sleek blonde aesthetic, paired with her now-iconic catchphrases like,
07:13That's hot.
07:13made her the defining face of early 2000s celebrity excess.
07:17This era defined the privileged blonde socialite archetype,
07:21popularizing the kind of blonde who was glamorous, detached, and oddly self-aware.
07:25I've come to the decision that you're not meant for the ramp.
07:30Good.
07:31Love her or roll your eyes,
07:33Paris Hilton shaped an entire era of pop culture in a way nobody has quite replicated since.
07:39It's in neutral, Paris.
07:40No reverse.
07:41Drive.
07:42Drive.
07:43It's screaming.
07:45Paris, you have to put them in the right gears.
07:48It makes me wonder if there's some universe out there where these two remain friends,
07:51and we eventually got the simple life in space.
07:55Number 6.
07:56Farrah Fawcett's red swimsuit poster.
07:58Your sex is actually spelled out.
08:00It's kind of right here, see?
08:01It's still there.
08:01Yes.
08:03Some images just become permanent fixtures in cultural memory,
08:06and this is absolutely one of them.
08:09The Farrah Fawcett hairdo was a cultural moment, alright?
08:13From Lori Foreman on that 70s show to its late 2000s revival.
08:18Photographed by Bruce McBroom in 1976,
08:21Farrah Fawcett's poster, which featured her wearing a red swimsuit,
08:24flashing a megawatt smile and showing off those impossibly voluminous feathered blonde waves,
08:29sold over 12 million copies.
08:32Her blonde locks were feathered to the gods.
08:34The hair was the first thing that entered the room.
08:37It was like,
08:39hair.
08:40It remains the best-selling poster in history.
08:43Her hair specifically launched a thousand imitations.
08:47Salons across America were flooded with requests for the Farrah.
08:50Now, believe it or not, this hairstyle still lives unironically in some parts of rural Wisconsin.
08:57Fawcett wasn't even yet a household name when it was shot.
09:00Her breakout project, Charlie's Angels, hadn't aired yet.
09:03Still, the largely unknown woman quickly became the blueprint.
09:07She single-handedly defined what blonde beauty looked like for an entire decade.
09:11She really embodied a look of what the ideal American girl was in the 1970s.
09:20Outdoors, athletic, healthy.
09:23Not to mention the Farrah Fawcett styling head.
09:26That's right, she had her own styling head doll.
09:28I still believe mine is still somewhere locked away in my storage unit
09:31and resembling the bicycle girl from Walking Dead more and more in her old age.
09:39Number 5.
09:40Mamie Van Doren as Penny Lowe in Untamed Youth
09:43In the 1957 exploitation film Untamed Youth,
09:47Mamie Van Doren took the blonde bombshell and gave her a rebellious streak.
09:51You're not going up there to his house.
09:53I certainly am.
09:54But you heard what Lilibet said.
09:56Sour grapes.
09:57Playing a delinquent teen forced into a labor camp,
10:00Van Doren turned the whole thing into a rockabilly spectacle.
10:03Her musical sequences, performed in figure-hugging outfits
10:06with a swagger most actors couldn't fake,
10:08were equal parts defiant and seductive.
10:18With this role,
10:20Van Doren carved out a specific archetype,
10:23the bad girl blonde.
10:24She wasn't playing sweet,
10:26she wasn't playing soft,
10:27and that deliberately defiant energy
10:29is exactly what made her so compelling
10:31and so unforgettable.
10:33Okay, so I'm here to pipe in and say,
10:35do not sleep on this Mamie Van Doren, alright?
10:38She carried her own films in the 1950s,
10:41not to mention when the dumb blonde roles slowed down,
10:43she didn't take a break.
10:44You're not interfering this time.
10:46She became a cabaret star,
10:48toured USO during the wars,
10:50and even was one of the first celebrities
10:52to release kiss-and-tell books,
10:54like My Naughty, Naughty Life,
10:56or Playing the Field.
10:58Not to mention,
10:59Mimi Van Doren is still kicking butt
11:01and wearing plunging necklines
11:02in her 90s to this day.
11:05What an icon.
11:06Number four,
11:07Sharon Stone's interrogation scene
11:09in Basic Instinct.
11:10I liked having sex with him.
11:13He wasn't afraid of experimenting.
11:16Now, Sharon Stone has had many a moment on film,
11:19whether it's being a head of an evil makeup corporation
11:22in Catwoman,
11:23or her glamorous slow walk in the film Casino,
11:25which raised many an eyebrow at my family's barbecue
11:28when I tried to recreate it
11:29on my way to the potato salad.
11:30But Basic Instinct is at a level all its own.
11:33With his 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct,
11:37director Paul Verhoeven created one of cinema's
11:39most electrifying character introductions.
11:41Played to perfection by Sharon Stone,
11:44Catherine Trammell walks into a police interrogation room
11:46with her icy platinum hair and calculated composure.
11:49And immediately owns every person in it.
11:52I'd have to be pretty stupid to write a book about killing
11:54and then kill somebody the way I described it in my book.
11:57I'd be announcing myself as the killer.
12:00I'm not stupid.
12:01The leg-crossing moment,
12:03shot in graphic detail,
12:04shocked audiences and the actress herself.
12:07Stone reportedly was not fully informed
12:09about how the shot would be used in editing,
12:11a detail that sparked considerable controversy at the time.
12:15What emerged on screen, though,
12:16was utterly riveting.
12:17I didn't wear underwear for this shoot
12:20just so I could recreate it for all of you in real time.
12:22Here we go.
12:28Catherine Trammell subverted the blonde archetype entirely.
12:31She possessed neither warmth nor sweetness,
12:34just a razor-sharp intelligence
12:35and complete understanding of the impact of her sexuality.
12:38You didn't feel anything for him,
12:40you just had sex with him for your book.
12:42In the beginning.
12:43That's pretty cold, ain't it, lady?
12:45I'm a writer, I use people for what I write.
12:48Number three.
12:49Pamela Anderson running on the beach in Baywatch.
12:52Slow motion has never done more cultural heavy lifting.
12:56Yeah, this is Tower 18, I need backup right away.
13:06Now, Pamela Anderson is that girl.
13:09Whether she's Barb Wire, Stripperella, Valerie Irons,
13:12or even Roxy Hart on Broadway,
13:14she has been a pop culture staple for a whole generation.
13:18Pamela Anderson joined Baywatch in 1992,
13:21and her slow-motion beach runs in that iconic red swimsuit
13:24became one of the most replicated,
13:26parodied, and globally recognized images of the decade.
13:29I'll be back.
13:35The show itself aired in roughly 142 countries at its peak,
13:39making Anderson's sun-drenched blonde look
13:41one of the most widely distributed images on the planet.
13:44Whether it's that iconic smokey eye brought to us all
13:47by the wonderful Alexis Vogel
13:49or many an influencer's Halloween costume,
13:51one cannot deny the cultural impact
13:53that Pamela Anderson has had on us all.
13:56C.J. Parker quickly became a full-scale phenomenon,
13:59a living embodiment of a very specific,
14:02very 1990s vision of blonde beauty.
14:04I knew you'd come for me.
14:08Prompting a false rescue is a crime.
14:12You can't bust me for that.
14:14I love you.
14:15Decades later,
14:16that image still instantly conjures an entire era.
14:19That is the power of a really good slow-motion run.
14:23And also, credit where credit is due,
14:25running on the beach is actually, like, really hard.
14:27Number two, Madonna's Material Girl music video.
14:31Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me,
14:34I think they're okay.
14:37Few artistic choices hit as precisely as Madonna's decision
14:41to channel perhaps the most recognizable blonde bombshell ever,
14:44Marilyn Monroe, for her 1985 music video.
14:47Now, Madonna being the tastemaker she's always been,
14:50she's always dropping references and factoids for us,
14:53and honestly, this is no different.
14:55Directed by Mary Lambert,
14:57the Material Girl video recreates the aesthetic of
14:59Monroe's Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend number
15:01from 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
15:04Diamonds are a girl's best friend.
15:09In case you don't know,
15:10in the film,
15:11this is where Marilyn is showing her ex-boyfriend
15:13that this whole image she has of her,
15:16she's making fun of it,
15:17and showing what a caddy is for letting her get away, okay?
15:19He fumbled the real bag,
15:21which was her.
15:22Madonna retained the pink satin gown,
15:24dripping jewels and adoring suitors,
15:26but with a knowing wink,
15:28turning it into a commentary on fame and materialism.
15:31Cause we are living in a material world,
15:34and I am a material girl.
15:37The platinum blonde transformation signaled
15:39a deliberate knowing claim on the bombshell throne.
15:42Indeed, Madonna picked up the torch from Monroe
15:44and sprinted with it,
15:46rewriting what a blonde pop icon could be.
15:54Before we unveil our top pick,
15:56here are some honorable mentions.
15:58Cher Horowitz's full-on Monet in Clueless.
16:01Calling someone a walking painting
16:03is genuinely the most Beverly Hills art critique ever.
16:06Do you think she's pretty or she's a full-on Monet?
16:10What's a Monet?
16:11It's like a painting, see?
16:12From far away, it's okay,
16:14but up close, it's a big old mess.
16:15Dolly Parton's,
16:16it takes a lot of money to look this cheap.
16:18Only Dolly could make self-deprecation
16:20sound like a victory lap.
16:22What do you do?
16:22Well, it ain't cheap.
16:24Yeah?
16:26I just look cheap,
16:27but, oh, just a lot of good doctors,
16:30you know, like it.
16:31Jennifer Coolidge in American Pie.
16:33Stifler's mom turned the seductive,
16:35slightly clueless blonde into a cultural phenomenon.
16:38I got some scotch.
16:40Single malt?
16:42Aged 18 years.
16:44The way I like it.
16:46Jessica Simpson in The Dukes of Hazzard.
16:48Her bright blonde Daisy Duke look
16:50reintroduced bombshell energy to the 2000s.
16:53Hey there, Mr. Prickett.
16:56Well, hello, Daisy.
16:59Karen Smith's weather forecast in Mean Girls.
17:02Predicting the weather with her chest?
17:04Absurd, iconic, and weirdly unforgettable.
17:07Hi, this is Karen Smith.
17:09It's 68 degrees,
17:10and there's a 30% chance that it's already raining.
17:14Number one.
17:16Marilyn Monroe's subway great scene
17:17in The Seven Year Itch.
17:19There are memorable scenes,
17:21and then there's this.
17:22Okay, here we are.
17:24Now this is truly everything.
17:26Miss Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch.
17:29Believe it or not,
17:30this character didn't even have a name.
17:31She's known simply as just the girl.
17:33And honestly, it should be that girl, okay?
17:36Filmed partly on location
17:38at Lexington Avenue and 52nd Street
17:40in New York City,
17:41the shot of Marilyn Monroe
17:42standing over a subway grate
17:43as her white halter dress billows upward
17:45has become one of the most reproduced images
17:47in the history of popular culture.
17:49Oh, do you feel the breeze from the subway?
17:52Isn't it delicious?
17:59It sort of cools the ankles, doesn't it?
18:02They went full out with this ad campaign,
18:05a gigantic poster on the side of a building
18:07of this image.
18:08And believe it or not,
18:09this image doesn't even appear in the final film.
18:12Director Billy Wilder designed the moment,
18:14but Monroe's sheer luminosity
18:16transformed it into something timeless.
18:18Her platinum curls and radiant expression
18:20crystallized the entire blonde bombshell mythology
18:23in a single frame.
18:24Oh, here comes another one!
18:31This is the role that pushed Marilyn
18:33into the stratosphere of becoming a megastar.
18:36People were obsessed with her, okay?
18:38They wanted to know what she ate,
18:39how she did her hair,
18:40what five shades of lipstick she used
18:42to achieve that bold red lip.
18:44Women were bleaching their hair by the masses
18:46to get that Marilyn Monroe look.
18:48Icon.
18:49And if that weren't enough,
18:51Monroe later sealed her legendary status
18:53by singing an unforgettable birthday song
18:55to John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden
18:57in May 1962.
18:59Happy birthday,
19:03Mr. President.
19:05Thank you so much, Ms. Mojo,
19:07for having me back.
19:08Now, I can't help but notice
19:09there was a severe lack of me
19:11in this representation
19:12for iconic dumb blonde moments,
19:14but I'm going to take that as you thinking
19:15I'm far too smart to make this last.
19:18I can give you Joan all day long.
19:20I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Charles.
19:22No, that's Gloria Swanson.
19:24Oh, my God!
19:26I'm James Mansfield here on YouTube.
19:28Be sure and check me out.
19:30Now, take it away, Ms. Mojo.
19:31Did your favorite blonde moment make the cut?
19:33Let us know in the comments.
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