Kristi Noem's Face And Style Have Changed A Lot Over The Years

Kristi Noem's transformation from a farmer's daughter in rural South Dakota into a major political power player in Washington, D.C., has often been eclipsed by her seeming desperation to look good on camera. Her career in politics began when she was elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives in 2006, and she won her U.S. Congressional race four years later. One of her 2012 reelection campaign ads ended with the slogan, "Kristi Noem: Here at home she's one of us. Out in Washington, she fights for us." However, when the Donald Trump era hit D.C., Noem appeared far more interested in looking like she fit in with the guests at the president's Mar-a-Lago beach club than the farmers and ranchers of her home state.

By the time Trump tasked her with heading the Department of Homeland Security, Noem's obvious hair extensions, truckloads of makeup, and rumored cosmetic procedures were begging for beauty experts to weigh in on why she and other women on the Trump train had become so vain. "I read it as a sign of physical submission to Donald Trump, a statement of fealty to him," Barnard College art history professor Anne Higonnet told Mother Jones of the prevalence of plastic surgery among the MAGA set. As the owner of the Miss Universe organization, it was once Trump's job to get television viewers to tune in and watch women get judged for their appearances. Looks clearly matter to him, so Noem's outfits that seem like desperate cries for attention and her borderline theatrical makeup could be mostly for his benefit. Perhaps he was even impressed when he learned that her beauty journey began in the pageant world.

Kristi Noem was a fan of playing dress up long before her ICE Barbie days. However, she wasn't always passionate about her appearance. "My mom said I was quite a tomboy when I was growing up. She had to tie me up to comb my hair," she said in a 2017 political ad. But by 1990, Kristi was willingly doing far worse to her mane by teasing it within an inch of its life. That year, she won the South Dakota Snow Queen pageant with a look that was very much of the time: a hairspray-laden halo of frizzy blond curls, generously applied bright blush, red lipstick, and dark eye makeup. Her outfit was a white sequined dress structured with one of Donald Trump's most outdated style sins: bulky shoulder pads.

Kristi was still blond when she married her husband, Bryon Noem, in 1992. However, her curls were softer and so was her makeup; on her wedding day, she was almost unrecognizable with minimal mascara. Her toned-down look had her totally twinning with a young Laura Dern, and her skin had that glossy glow that so many starlets chase these days. Noem probably didn't get a ton of excuses to get all dolled up as a newlywed. She spent much of the '90s working on her family's farm, and the cowboy hat she added to her wedding ensemble was a nod to her cowgirl lifestyle. It also signified that she likes to stand out.

Kristi Noem gave herself quite the image overhaul when she started spending a lot of time at the South Dakota State Capitol as a legislator in the late 2000s. However, her style wasn't exactly what you'd call polished; her idea of a professional look was a boxy tweed blazer and slouchy trousers held up with a belt. She was also clinging to a bunch of Y2K trends during that time period, such as the functionless long scarf, denim flares, and gauzy floral-print shirt she's pictured wearing above while addressing a Cracker Barrel crowd in 2010. The outfit could have been lifted from Hannah Montana's closet. Other pieces she owned that were very turn-of-the-millennium included baby polos, camisoles trimmed with lace, sweater ponchos, and cowl-neck tops.

One of the hairstyles Noem experimented with in 2011 was a shaggier version of Jennifer Aniston's iconic cut, The Rachel, and she had camera-ready makeup to match her movie star hair: a smoky eye and dark bronzer that highlighted her high cheekbones. She was still plucking her brows thin back then, and the clumped mascara on her lower lashes wasn't the best look. However, her skin looked dewy and youthful.

Kristi Noem stamped her ticket to Washington, D.C., in 2010 when she was elected to Congress. The freshman representative soon captured the media's attention and was likened to another former pageant queen who decided to pursue a career in politics: Sarah Palin. But instead of channeling a glamorous hockey mom, Noem found beauty inspo in a divisive reality TV figure — another sure sign she was thirsty for the spotlight. In 2013, she committed to a pixie cut similar to the one popularized by "Jon & Kate Plus 8" star Kate Gosselin. Years later, it would also be associated with the Karen archetype. Meanwhile, Noem's idea of dressing professionally was apparently to channel a high school geometry teacher.

She later grew her hair out into a lob that was voluminous up top and thin on the bottom, a la "Long Island Medium" star Theresa Caputo. As for her face, it was still looking pretty natural and untouched when she flashed a big smile for the 2015 photo above. The proportions of her upper and lower lips didn't seem off, and her laugh lines were visible. However, she was clearly trying to brighten the skin around her eyes with a little too much setting powder.

As Kristi Noem settled into her role as a D.C. fixture during the Donald Trump era, she started to look a little more like the Melania Trump look-alikes he surrounds himself with. She traded her dark brunette color and flipped-under hairstyle for soft, ombre waves. She also began wearing heavier makeup that could look a bit clownish, such as the fuchsia lipstick and equally bright blush sandblasted on her cheeks in the 2017 image above. Her maximalist MAGA makeup also includes dark, dimensionless brows and black eyeliner on both lashlines, flicked into a stubby wing. The overall effect is harsh and ages her significantly. She seemingly also traded her crow's feet for fox eyes; the corners of her peepers are lifted upward slightly.

As for her style, Noem gave the classic monochrome D.C. sheath dress her own spin by opting for a fit-and-flare silhouette instead for a 2017 meeting on Capitol Hill. To avoid looking like she was taking too many style notes from the likes of Lauren Boebert, Lara Trump, and the women of Fox News, she also accessorized her coral dress with leopard-print cowboy boots, turquoise statement earrings, and a long beaded necklace. The look was very "Real Housewives" at the rodeo. Not only was she wearing a more flattering shade of Donald's favorite bronzer color, but she was demanding to be noticed by rejecting D.C.'s sartorial status quo.

While attending some outdoor events for Independence Day 2021, Kristi Noem's go-to look consisted of a baseball cap, blue star-spangled sneakers, and denim cutoffs. The then-governor would have had no trouble blending in with Fourth of July parade attendees in the casual ensemble above, if it weren't for the custom shirt that has her cosplaying as Uncle Sam.

Speaking of cosplaying, Noem attended the 2021 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, where she demonstrated her pick-me urge to prove that she's not like the other girls by throwing on a black motorcycle jacket and aviators and hopping on a hog. The close-up shot above was taken at the event and shows how heavy-handed she was getting with her foundation brush; her makeup looks like wet clay. Her black, blocky brows are also doing her no favors, nor is her bronzer, which is venturing into Donald Trump territory. It's doing nothing to define her cheekbones, which have lost their former sculpted appearance and now look suspiciously puffy.

While promoting her memoir "Not My First Rodeo" at a gun store in 2022, Kristi Noem dressed like she was trying to live up to its title in a leather cowboy hat and matching tan sleeveless top that showed off her toned arms. By then, she had completed her metamorphosis into a card-carrying member of the "Mar-a-Lago face" club, a group of women with poofy pouts, smooth foreheads, and chipmunk cheeks.

Noem's cheeks somehow looked both pillowy and chiseled when she spoke at the 2022 NRA convention, and her berry-colored lips appeared fuller than they had years prior. After Donald Trump entered the political arena, plastic surgery experts started to notice a trend of conservative women undergoing various cosmetic procedures to achieve a cookie-cutter look. It was seemingly inspired by the beauty obsessives in Palm Beach, where Trump's Mar-a-Lago club is located. At the time of this writing, Noem hasn't spoken about the rumored work that she's had done, but experts told HuffPost there's a long list of procedures women use to achieve the unnatural, sculpted look associated with Mar-a-Lago face, including fat transfers, fillers, Botox, facial implants, rhinoplasties, various skin treatments, and face, neck, and eyelid lifts. 

In addition to using some possible cosmetic enhancements to look more like the Palm Beach elite, Noem's bouncy blowout was starting to get a lot longer and bulkier, thanks to the likely addition of hair extensions. She also added fluttery false lashes to her beauty look.

By introducing some denim with extra room for her boots into her wardrobe rotation, Kristi Noem avoided one of Lauren Boebert's worst fashion offenses: wearing outdated skinny jeans. In the 2022 image above, she's also trying hard to look trendy with her French tuck and center part. While it didn't seem like there was much more Noem could do to boost her beauty look by then, she turned it up to 11 when she introduced Donald Trump at the Monumental Leaders Rally in September 2023. It's a miracle she could keep her eyes open to see him lumbering toward her for a hug, as her strip lashes were so long and thick that they looked like black woolly bear caterpillars clinging to her eyelids.

It was also becoming clear that Noem couldn't shake one makeup mistake: She kept slathering on too much foundation. This caused the excess to settle into her fine lines and pores, giving her skin a textured appearance. She was possibly playing with fire by doing this before meeting Trump. HuffPost obtained a 2010 transcript of an episode of "The Apprentice" that included some unaired remarks Trump made about a woman's appearance. "Her skin sucks, okay? ... She needs some serious f***in' dermatology," he reportedly said. Singer Cyndi Lauper was on the show at the time, and she explained that what Trump saw that he didn't like was likely makeup. So, who knows how harshly he's secretly been judging Noem and the other female Republicans who flutter around him, believing that he finds their MAGA makeup aesthetically pleasing?

Some of the suits Kristi Noem wore early in her career were dumpy and unfashionable — she even stepped out in billowy pants that were as ill-fitting as those that are a part of Donald Trump's standard MAGA uniform. But by 2024, she could rock a white pantsuit just as well as Kamala Harris, as she proved with her crisp, impeccably tailored RNC ensemble. Unfortunately, someone needed to take the reins from her when it came to her Western wear, as it just kept getting weirder.

For the 2023 Buffalo Roundup, Noem hopped on horseback and weighed down her unfortunate mount by throwing on what appeared to be a bulky buffalo hide coat. The rest of her cowgirl ensemble naturally included leather chaps embellished with fringe and a big, shiny belt buckle. She attended Rodeo Rapid City the following year in a MAGA-red cowboy hat, and when posing for a photo with her former lieutenant governor, Larry Rhoden, she rustled up a little attention by pairing her knee-high Stetson boots with a thigh-skimming denim shirt dress. Then there's the disastrous ensemble above, which looks like the results of a twister tearing through the discount rack at a Nashville thrift shop. The coat of many colors was not giving Dolly Parton, and if Noem hoped that her ruffled denim skirt was making her look younger, well, it had the opposite effect; it was very "What Ever Happened to Baby Calamity Jane?"

In the 2024 images above, Kristi Noem's lips are gleaming like the lacquered wood paneling in Mar-a-Lago where a portrait of an eternally young Donald Trump greets guests from its gilded frame. Her plump, shiny pout is serving as a frame of its own for a different kind of artwork: that of the orthodontic variety. That March, Noem filmed an Instagram video thanking Smile Texas for giving her a mouth makeover. She felt the need to explain that she only wanted a set of new pearly whites because she had knocked out some of her old ones in a biking accident. However, political strategist Ron Bonjean believed she had an ulterior motive for getting the dental work. "The whole teeth thing almost looks like it was done for Trump to see," he told the New York Times. "She is showing him she works well in front of the camera, that she has that star power he wants onstage with him, while fitting into the mode of women in the Trump universe."

Trump hadn't yet announced that JD Vance would be his running mate for the 2024 election at the time. Noem was reportedly in the running for the role, but apparently her flashy new gnashers just couldn't compete with Vance's rumored eyeliner. She did, however, earn a compliment from Trump when he called her "beautiful" at a campaign rally.

No longer content to herd cattle like she did during her ranching days, Kristi Noem turned her attention to rounding up human beings after being confirmed as Department of Homeland Security secretary in January 2025. She debuted a new look with her new gig, but it didn't go over so well with a lot of people; even conservative media personality Megyn Kelly unloaded on Noem for her "ICE Barbie" photo ops. Noem's main goal when she joined ICE agents on raids seemed to be to look as glamorous as possible. The curled extensions spilling out from her ICE hat were artfully arranged on her shoulders, and her makeup was done up like she was the guest of honor at a Mar-a-Lago soiree. "Just stop trying to glamorize the mission and put yourself in the middle of it as you cosplay an ICE agent, which you're not," Kelly griped on her SiriusXM series, "The Megyn Kelly Show."

But Noem just doubled down on the cosplay. Like a Barbie, her hair and makeup remained high-glam, but her outfits occasionally changed. When she stepped out in an ICE ensemble again in April 2025, it was a more premium version of the original, complete with a gun and pants with ammo pouches. The bulletproof vest that really sold the look wasn't the only accessory that she could no longer leave home without. Whether she was being a third wheel on ICE raids, piloting a small U.S. Coast Guard vessel, or touring a maximum security prison in El Salvador, a flashy gold Rolex watch was dangling from her wrist. The $50,000 timepiece wasn't exactly the accessory you'd expect to see paired with army green T-shirts and ball caps.

In June 2025, Kristi Noem showed up to the Oval Office in a blue dress that looked like a loan from Kimberly Guilfoyle with its tacky rosettes and unflattering pastel hue. But most eyes were likely drawn to her face first; her upper lip had grown to the same size as her lower lip, and her pout was abnormally smooth — possible signs of filler usage. Her face seemed more swollen than ever, and her nose also appeared smaller, although it could have been the result of contouring.

In August 2025, "South Park" brutally lampooned Kristi Noem by imagining what she would look like if her puffy face deflated and began oozing off her skull. Taking inspiration from a disturbing story in one of her books, the show also had her go on a canine killing rampage (RIP, Cricket). Inadvertently revealing that having her vanity bruised rankled her more than being portrayed as inhumane and bloodthirsty, she moaned, "It's so lazy to constantly make fun of women for how they look," on "The Glenn Beck Program."

The tide seemed to be turning against Noem's overdone aesthetic. The growing popularity of the trad wife movement had many conservative women embracing a softer, more toned-down appearance in 2025. Meanwhile, Noem's repeated deployment of an outdated accessory, huge hoop earrings, signaled that she was at risk of being left behind by younger conservative trendsetters. All the Democratic blue she began wearing in 2025 also possibly hinted that she was experiencing some buyer's remorse over joining a club with such high membership fees; plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Niccole told The List's sister site Nicki Swift that the hefty price tag of Noem's physical transformation is likely around $25,000.