Nicole Richie was sartorially mortified as a youth.

The fashion designer's adopted mother and former wife of Lionel Richie, Brenda Harvey, had singular tastes in fashion.

Nicole did too, but she wasn't allowed to express her style fully until she got older.

"Two things about my mum," Nicole said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show as family photos of her and Brenda wearing the same dress were shown to the audience.

"My mum did not let me wax my eyebrows so in every picture I have the worst eyebrows ever. And she always wanted me to dress like her."

Nicole didn't look too happy in the photographs.

"So as you can see in these pictures, every picture that she has, she looks ecstatic and I look mortified," she giggled as the audience laughed.

Nicole just recently informed her mother that she no longer wants to dress like her.

"[I told her] like two weeks ago," she joked.

Nicole is currently serving as a mentor on TV programme Fashion Star.