Pigtails, though largely reserved for the 13-and-under crowd, were rife on the Missoni runway on Wednesday during Milan Fashion Week, where creative director Alberto Caliri presented a layer-heavy fall 2026 ready-to-wear collection, with a focus on outerwear.
Missoni Fall 2026 Ready-to-Wear Collection at Milan Fashion Week.
With popped collars and multicolored scarves covering their necks, models were given two options for hair: the “Olsen tuck” or pigtail braids. Those with the tuck appeared with their hair messily spilling outside their cold-weather gear, while the girls with pigtails were styled with one braid in front of their shoulder and the other behind.
The return to playful beauty was crafted by hair artist Damien Boissinot, who’s famously contributed to campaigns for a host of fashion houses, including Sportmax, Isabel Marant and Balmain. In the past, Boissinot has relied on texture and frizz to inject life into a look. At Missoni, the hair may not have been as wild, but it was full of energy nonetheless.
Missoni Fall 2026 Ready-to-Wear Collection at Milan Fashion Week
Boissinot’s pigtails come at an opportune time as beauty insiders beg for the end of the minimalistic “clean girl,” the one goes to sleep and wakes up perfect. Slowly but surely, the pendulum is swinging back and designers are starting to portray the working woman in her true form. At New York Fashion Week, artists celebrated imperfections with messy makeup, bedhead, quiet ponytails and more.
The bedhead trend was prominent at Collina Strada, where lead hairstylist Mustafa Yanaz used his own wigs made from real hair and products by Bumble and bumble to imagine “big, messy, vampy hair.” Speaking with WWD, Yanaz said: “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.”