The braid may be gone, but Padme and Anakin’s romance lives on forever.
“He had that little braid hanging down.”
“Then I lost it,” she explained.

Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman in ‘Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones’.Lucasfilm/Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock
“So that’s not very helpful.”
Portman, presumably, kept the braid as a way to rememberPadme and Anakin’s romancethroughout the sequel.
“This one is pretty incredible,” she said.
“It’s got such, kind of, Japanese elements.”