Iconoclastic hair pieces, makeup as clothes, ‘90s glamor, and luminous skin were amongst some of fashion month SS25’s standout beauty trends.
And, while last season’s fall/winter 2024 trends are at the top of our holiday wishlist, September’s looks are giving us a sneak peek into what we’ll be rocking come summer 2025.
Below, ESSENCE breaks down the biggest beauty trends spotted across runways in New York, London, Milan, and Paris.
Iconoclastic Wigs
At Mugler, avant-garde coiffeur Zhou Xue Ming set the tone for this season’s iconoclastic wigs, using sliced hair pieces fixed in front of ballerina buns. The look, seen on the front row’s Cardi B, reminded us of Luar’s chopped and screwed hair in New York weeks before (both living in the unusual).
“[It’s this] glassy, sleek-finished look and we’re pairing these crazy sculptures with pieces we handmade at my studio,” hair stylist Evanie Frausto told ESSENCE exclusively before the show. Back in Paris, Junya Watanabe’s wigmaker Eugeine Souleiman referenced Ex Machina with asymmetrical bald caps, while Milan’s Bottega Veneta ditched sleek hairdos with shredded afro-like wigs.
Makeup As Clothes (And Clothes As Makeup)
Makeup artist Yadim’s thumbprint makeup at Area’s 10th anniversary show tattooed the collection’s prints onto the face and body. In Milan, fabric was a non-factor at Avavav with Adidas tracksuits painted-on, meanwhile polka-dotted skin at Moschino and imitation stockings at Iceberg turned illusory beauty into a leading trend.
Grandeux Eye Makeup
At Loewe, legendary makeup artist Pat McGrath metallized the eyes of models using the shades Golden Muse or Lunar Luxury from her new Legends: Mega Eye Shadow Palette. A near identical winged eyeshadow shape extended from Loewe to Rick Owens, but instead of molten silver, makeup maven Daniel Sallstrom tapped Mac’s Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Tailor Grey with burnished red eye liner.
While lines at Marni created a pencil-thin bunny-hop-arched brows, eyeliner returned at Alexander McQueen. Think: double-winged with an outer line reaching straight into the hairline. Meanwhile, at Harris Reed, makeup heir Sofia Tilbury used pinched lashes and aureate shadow to turn models into Victorian Dolls.
Natural, Luminous Skin
Natural skin remained the throughline between most shows. Makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench used the clear MACximal Sleek Satin Lipstick over bronzed cheeks at Vivienne Westwood. At Miu Miu, Pat McGrath primed, perfected, and prepped the skin with her Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection System. Meanwhile, ‘50s tradwife skin at Acne Studios was worn bare (with nothing but a pastel yellow cream shadow).
‘90s Glamor
The ‘90s never left—thin brows, grey-ige makeup, spit curls—finding cool-toned neutral glamor at Dolce & Gabanna, Casablanca, and KNWLS. At Dolce, models shapeshifted into Madonna sans the red lip, instead, opted for a soft matte nude. Grey-eige eyeshadow on the brow bone quietly reflected on the under eye at Casablanca, while makeup artist Thomas de Kluyver smudged overlined ‘90s nude lipstick at KNWLS.
Black, white, and colored contacts were the most skin-crawling trend we spotted at a number of shows. At Diesel and Rick Owens, alien-esque pupils and amphibian white contacts were worn with both quiet and exaggerated eyeliner respectively, while Avavav’s bruised eye makeup doubled down on the unsettling nature of the trend.
