The Best Beauty Trends at Fall 2026 New York Fashion Week

Backstage Erewhon smoothies weren’t the only uniting theme across the Fall 2026 shows at New York Fashion Week. 

Designers and artists alike channelled womanhood as a source of inspiration, representing the power, whimsy, and complexities of being a woman across shows. There were working women, ultra-feminine women, sexual, messy and empowered women at Rachel Scott’s Proenza Schouler, Christian Cowan, Carolina Herrera and more. 

There was, of course, the odd “Wuthering Heights” reference, too. 

“I’m obviously obsessed with what’s happening with the ‘Wuthering Heights’ moment right now, which is why we’re making the hair kind of part of the clothes,” said designer Christian Siriano, who tapped hairstylist Lacy Redway for Tresemmé to fashion a signature hair scarf look for his namesake show. 

The pop culture nods didn’t stop there. Carolyn Bessette Kennedy-core, too, was alive and well on the Proenza Schouler runway.

“New York just knows how to make the lady that we are in particular, and long hair, looks so simple and effortless. Even like the Carolyn Bessette Kennedy era, that vibe is still sort of happening,” said hairstylist Holly Smith, who used Oribe and T3 to style the show’s signature “quiet ponytail.” 

Here, the five biggest beauty trends at New York Fashion Week. 

1. Side Parts

Side parts, a longtime Millennial style signature, rose once again.

At Diotima, hairstylist Joey George for Oribe channeled the eroticism of the prints in Rachel Scott’s collection in a side-parted updo. “Immediately I was thinking about a Helmut Newton woman,” said George. “This bedroom twist kind of came as something where it’s after Valentine’s Day, and after this woman has maybe had a roll in the bed. Which is very on brand for Diotima — its women are usually very sexy.” 

At Khaite and Sergio Hudson’s 10th anniversary show, the side parts were inspired by powerful women ranging from Aretha Franklin to Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil and beyond. Fitted in high-powered suits, models strutted down the runway with sleek, side-parted low buns. 

2. Eyeshadow’s Comeback

The clean girl was retired at Marc Jacobs, Kim Shui and Carolina Herrera.

At Marc Jacobs, makeup artist Thomas de Kluyver marked the return of the designer’s namesake beauty brand with bold, deep-set eyes and a kaleidoscope of blue à la 1960s icons Diana Ross, Twiggy and Nancy Kwan. 

Backstage at Kim Shui, makeup artist Romero Jennings brought bronze and blue hues into the limelight using MAC Cosmetics eyeshadows in shades Fuchsia Future and Flamboyant. Heavy eyes were juxtaposed with rosy blush that bled from the waterline-down. 

MAC artist Thibaut Marieke took a similar approach at Private Policy, undercutting pencil-thin brows with a stark coral-pink hue, which melted over the lid and under the eye. The aesthetic settled somewhere between porcelain doll and ‘90s club rat. 

Meanwhile, smoky shadow rattled the delicate allure of Carolina Herrera, thanks to lead makeup artist James Kaliardos. In pairing statement eyes with hyper-feminine evening wear, both Kaliardos and creative director Wes Gordon aimed to celebrate a diverse community of women.

3. Back to the ‘90s 

Call it the reign of greige. 

Cool-toned makeup looks reminiscent of those which ruled the ‘90s were alive once again at fashion week, namely at Christian Cowan and Boy London. At Christian Cowan, dark, smoky eyes and gray-brown lips were topped off with a complementary splash of pale pink blush. At Boy London, MAC makeup artist Marieke Thibaut tapped into the show’s medieval-grungy themes with smudged liners; MAC’s Greige lip pencil and black lipstick. 

4. Messy, Tousled Hair 

Bridgette Bardot with a textured twist, anyone?

Such was the M.O. at Anna Sui, where inspiration for the collection spanned decades and so did that of hairstylist and R+Co Bleu founder, Garren.

“We’re back in the ‘60s again, but it’s a ‘20s feeling,” said the hairstylist backstage as he back-combed models’ strands with a hair brush. “We’re creating this little Bridgette Bardot top knot on the crown, with natural texture on the bottom. The ends have fluidity — I don’t want it sticky, I just want touchable, feminine hair. Like she just rumbled out of bed and decided to put it up.” 

The bedhead trend was at Collina Strada, too, where lead hairstylist Mustafa Yanaz used his own wigs made from real hair and products by Bumble and bumble to imagine three main looks: Big Wig, The Swirl and Square. 

“The hair is big, big hair, big, messy, vampy hair,” said Yanaz. “The season is cold and dark. People aren’t going out of the house. So, you sleep and tease and wake up, and the hair is in the face.”

5. Slept-in Makeup

Also at Collina Strada, models walked with eyebags as emphasized as their hair thanks to makeup artist Dick Page, who similarly fashioned dark, partied-in eye makeup at Area later in the week. 

Meanwhile at Proenza Schouler, makeup artist Thomas de Kluyver painted the full picture of a working woman by day and party woman by night with slept-in-looking eye makeup and a side of smeared lipstick — Byredo Red Coma, to be specific. 

“A lot of the clothes in the collection have these little sort of structures in them and things that distort them, so we wanted to do the same thing for the makeup,” said de Kluyver. 

Asymmetrical eyeliner and clumpy lashes courtesy of Ardell completed the look.