Turning Point.(women hairstyles)

Byline: Danielle Pergament PHOTOGRAPHED BY CARTER SMITH

Six actresses on the cusp of stardom avoid Hollywood clichA[c]swhen given a chance to try styles that reflect who they truly are.

Carol Channing went to the Academy Awards in 1968 in a gown so thoroughly encrusted with rhinestones that it weighed 50 pounds. Two years later, Liz Taylor stepped out with Richard Burton in a periwinkle dress that was supposedly designed to complement her eyes. Such originality and spirit is rare among actresses these days. In fact, Hollywood is so crowded with styled-to-the-teeth starlets wearing loaner gowns and borrowed jewels that everyone is beginning to look the same. No wonder gossip magazines devote entire pages to celebrities in identical dresses.

We asked six Hollywood actressesranging in age and rolesto embrace looks that have nothing to do with been-there dresses or done-that jewelry. We tapped into each woman's true sense of style and pushed it beyond the same old staples. In other words, the red carpet has a dress codebut definitely not a uniform.

Jena Malone

Last July, Malone shaved her hair into a Mohawk for a role. "Then I found out the financing for the movie fell through," she says. The 24-year-old, of Into the Wild and the upcoming The Messenger , is a self-described tomboy. "I don't want to be identified by the clothes I wear," she says. "They should just be a framework for the person." To add glamour to her tough-girl style, Malone combines a killer strapless gown with long gloves and peep-toe shoes. The tomboy is represented by small electric blue hair extensions. "I love the hair, of course," says Malone, who also sings in an indie-rock band. "And I like the silhouette of the dress. Sometimes it's nice to step into the shoes of a woman."

Taraji P. Henson