On the spring 2025 runways, brand-new hair and makeup trends have already taken hold. Natural, luminous skin was the running throughline for most of the beauty looks that we spotted on the catwalks. Whether that meant shunning cosmetics completely at Collina Strada and Prabal Gurung, or playing off the polish of the base as a striking contrast (as seen at Simone Rocha, Khaite, and Alaïa), investing in good skincare is definitely in. As for hair, glossy coifs are left free-flowing or are manipulated into nouveau waves, twists, and plaits.
Below is a curated selection of the most notable spring 2025 hair, makeup, and nail trends that have caught our eye as they hit the catwalks of New York, London, Milan, and Paris. Check back often, since we’ll be updating our backstage beauty report throughout fashion month.
Swoops and Swirls
The artist Lee Krasner’s painting Night Watch, with its “acid-trip” of a maze, informed the snaking patterns that hairstylist Joey George created for the braided coifs at Ulla Johnson. Whether it was for the paisley-patterned, fish-plaited chignons or the winding map of cornrows, he used Oribe’s Foundation Mist to condition and detangle the hair before braiding.
Oribe Foundation Mist
At Christian Siriano, the hair master Lacy Redway experimented with the darker side of fantasy by sprinkling a smoky quartz fairy dust onto smoldering marcel waves. She guided the chunky crystal gel mixture along the art nouveau shape using hair gel, natch.
Tresemmé Mega Control HairGel
Fringe Elements
Makeup artist Sofia Tilbury—the niece of Charlotte—captivated showgoers with her alien paperdoll creations at Harris Reed, which flaunted wide-set eyes with hazes of powder blue or copper, and Cupid’s bow-shaped lips. She cribbed a pinched eyelash technique from her iconic aunt, and loaded the lashes with waxy coats of coal-black mascara, plus added falsies to the upper and lower lash lines to emphasize the theatrical look.
Charlotte Tilbury Exagger-Eyes Volume Mascara
For Diotima’s NYFW presentation, Addiction Tokyo’s creative director Kanako Takase tapped into designer Rachel Scott’s Caribbean heritage by creating a vivid eye, featuring eyelashes that resembled coral reefs. To achieve the red look, she layered Addiction Tokyo’s The Mascara Color Nuance WP in Pure Scarlet over a black mascara and added a few falsie wisps for a dramatic ombré. For the blanched iteration, she opted for The Mascara Intense Lashed in Honey Brunette and added a few white fake lashes for an equally standout effect.
Addiction Tokyo The Mascara Color Nuance WP in Pure Scarlet
Addiction Tokyo The Mascara Intense Lashed in Honey Brunette
Building Blocks
A neutral palette is never boring when it is in the skillful hands of Dame Pat McGrath. For the house of Alaïa, the mother of all makeup artists used concealer two shades lighter or two shades darker than the model’s complexions to create wide, tonal colorblocks across their peepers.
Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Concealer
Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish: Divine Bronzer
Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish: Divine Bronzer
In Full Bloom
Choreographer Pina Bausch’s Nelken (Carnations) was the inspo behind makeup artist’s Thomas de Kluyver’s blush petal frameworks at Simone Rocha. The pretty floral arrangements made for a striking mask that blossomed across the visages of the models.
At Alice + Olivia, hair key Matthew Curtis for Sola Salons adorned the intricately braided buns with a colorful garden party of flowers and jewels. Briogeo Full Miracle Styling Foam added volume and hold, while the Sleek Stick was used to tame flyaways.
Briogeo Yuzu + Plum Oil Full Miracle Styling Foam
Briogeo Yuzu + Plum Oil Sleek Stick
Bold Brows
At JW Anderson, the makeup artist Lynsey Alexander designed a masculine brow to relay a sense of elegant, handsome beauty. “There is a toughness in the eyebrow, which we’re bushing up,” she tells W. Alexander used a super-thin brow pencil to replicate natural hair strokes, then overlaid it with a swipe of volumizing brow pomade.
Merit Brow 1990 Gel Pencil
Merit Brow 1980 Volumizing Pomade
A Comme des Garçons image from the early ’90s shot by Peter Lindbergh inspired the dramatic dark brows at Khaite, says Diane Kendal, the mastermind behind the makeup look of the show. Using an ebony-colored shadow, she filled in the eyebrows, squaring them off at the inner corners, then extended them outward. Then she defined the arched block frames with an inky line.
Nars High Pigment Longwear Eyeliner in Via Veneto
“Drag, punk, counterculture” is how makeup artist Yadim Carranza described the exaggerated beauty affair he crafted for the Luar runway show. He fashioned the subversive structures from python-print leather he found at the designer’s studio. Spidery lashes and a black glossy lip, made by topping MAC’s Clear Lipgloss over a black gel liner, completed the look.
MAC Pro Longwear Fluidline Gel Liner in Blacktrack
Bare Patrol
Makeup pro Dick Page usually favors a fun, minimal approach when it comes to color. He decided to ditch that ethos altogether at Collina Strada, and played with the texture of the skin instead. He used Dieux’s Deliverance serum as a base to give the face a nice, healthy glow. Then, he contrasted it with a wet slick, using the skincare line’s “fancy grease”—a rich barrier cream—over the lids, across the eyebrows, and on the lips. He touched up their knees and legs with dirt and grass as a finishing touch to the raw, earthy feel.
Dieux Deliverance Trinity Serum
Dieux Instant Angel Lipid Rich Facial Moisturizer
At Prabal Gurung, the lead makeup artist Sil Bruinsma fashioned an ultra-glass skin finish using only skincare, no makeup. The multistep process involved moisture pads, an essence, and a glass skin-refining serum—all by Peach & Lily—for a plump, even base. Two secret products, a lighter and heavier balm from the Korean skincare brand, were buffed into the skin where the light naturally hits. Lastly, a glass skin spray married all the layers, and a peachy-tone lip balm was applied to the lips and cheeks.
Peach & Lily Glass Skin Refining Serum
Peach & Lily Glass Skin Veil Mist
Pumping Ponies
Drawing on the theme of global tribalism at Off-White, the brilliant coiffeur Jawara expanded the idea by transforming wrapped braids of Indigenous peoples into a coiled structure at the back of the head. He parted the hair into two large sections, then slicked each back with Bumble and bumble gel into a double ponytail. Next, he snatched the top pony and wrapped it with a tonal cord along its lengths until he reached the intersection at which the two meet, leaving the ends free.
Bumble and bumble Bb Gel
Flights of Fancy
At Simone Rocha, de Kluyver topped off the raven-hue, winged eyes with a bit of dark, sparkly shadow for a twinkly air. A swipe of glittery silver-black shadow from Byredo’s Sciomancer eyeshadow palette over black liner will give a similar, non-sinister gaze.
Byredo Sciomancer Eyeshadow 5 Colors Palette
Truman Capote would definitely cosign the modern Holly Golightly maquillage at Carolina Herrera. Makeup pro Sam Visser elongated each model’s eye shape with a softly feminine flick that lent an elegant yet playful, swan-like air. He boosted the lips with a light plum gloss but kept the rest of the skin understated.
Carolina Herrera Fabulous Eyeliner
Source: W Magazine
