Mariska Hargitay Emmy hosting duties at the 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards came with a hair transformation few saw coming: a bombshell blowout shaped as a direct tribute to her late mother, Jayne Mansfield. The ceremony took place on 14 September 2026 at Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with Hargitay becoming the first woman to host the Emmys in over a decade, according to TIME.
The first woman to host the Emmys since 2011
The last woman to occupy the hosting role before Hargitay was Jane Lynch, who hosted in 2011, according to the Miami Herald. That is a gap of fifteen years, which made the occasion something worth dressing, and dressing well, for. Hargitay has portrayed Olivia Benson in NBC’s Law & Order: SVU since the show’s inception, a role that has made her one of the most recognised faces on American television. She is herself a multiple-time Emmy nominee and winner, so stepping out as host rather than nominee was a shift in the evening’s dynamic from the start.
For a role that usually demands close-cropped, no-nonsense hair suited to a working detective, the Emmys gave her stylist room to move in a very different direction entirely.
Mariska Hargitay Emmy hosting look: the red carpet waves
Hargitay’s hair for the night was handled by hairstylist Adir Abergel, who added length and body using clip-in and tape-in extensions, taking her brunette bob well past its usual length. For the red carpet and the opening portion of the show, the hair was parted in the centre, styled in easy, open waves, and finished with caramel-blonde highlights that caught the Los Angeles light.
‘For the red carpet, I wanted the hair to feel glamorous without feeling too “done,”‘ Abergel said. ‘We were looking at that early-2000s undone texture, lots of shine, soft cascading waves, and this really natural volume. I added length and body with extensions, then broke everything up so it felt loose, sexy, and effortless. The dress is so sculpted and saturated, so I loved the idea of the hair being this softer, more fluid counterpoint.’
The dress in question was a bright red sequined gown, and the loose, beachy waves against that saturated colour made a deliberate contrast. Abergel used Virtue products throughout: Style-Setting Volumizing Primer at the roots for lift, Flourish Thickening Styling Treatment through the mid-lengths for density, and Healing Hair Oil for shine.
The Jayne Mansfield tribute that closed the night
As the evening progressed, the hair changed shape. What started as collarbone-grazing waves grew into a full, cascading silhouette drawn directly from the 1950s and 1960s glamour of Mansfield’s signature styles. Abergel described it plainly: ‘The look was a little love letter to Jayne Mansfield, Mariska’s glamorous mother with that 1950s, 1960s va-va-voom fullness, hair that feels full, loose, and luxurious with brushed-out softness.’
The transformation was deliberate and paced through the show rather than arriving all at once. ‘As the show progressed, I wanted the hair to transform along with Mariska, taking it from a collarbone-grazing length to this super-long, cascading silhouette,’ Abergel said. ‘The key was keeping all that volume loose and luxurious, with fullness through the ends and a soft, brushed-out roundness rather than anything overly curled or set.’
The result was a look that moved through two distinct registers across one evening: the undone, sun-warmed ease of the red carpet, and the va-va-voom, brushed-out fullness of a Hollywood golden age. For a host stepping into a role vacant of a woman for fifteen years, the choice to honour her mother’s aesthetic at the close of the night landed as something more than a styling decision. It was a considered, personal gesture, shaped in hair rather than words, on one of television’s biggest stages.
