The Best of Beauty at New York Fashion Week, From Luar to Diotima

It’s the halfway mark of New York Fashion Week and the vibes are high — in more ways than one — backstage at Kim Shui’s spring 2026 show, 102 floors up at the World Trade Center. 

“It feels like you own New York City up here — it’s electric,” said MAC Cosmetics director of makeup artistry, Romero Jennings, who’s at work on a smoky-eyed, glass-skin “renaissance goddess” look for the show. “Everything in the world feels just a little gray, so we’re being as creative as we can.” 

Indeed, the backstage energy at the spring 2026 shows brought a liveliness that went beyond the usual hubbub of getting ready while polishing off Pura Vida takeaway in the wee hours before showtime. 

“Christian [Siriano] is always trying to tease me like, ‘girl, hurry up — I can do that quicker than you,” said hairstylist Lacy Redway, using TRESemmé to craft the “liquid wave” gelled buns at Siriano’s show at Macy’s Herald Square. “But we’re in good shape.” (As if on cue, a playful “are we?” could be heard as Siriano emerged from rehearsal.)

Among the standout beauty themes this season included statement hair — from the unruly to the ulta-ornate — extra-long nails, body paint and beyond. 

“In the state of the world that we’re in right now, subtlety is not necessary. I want to feel something,” said MAC artist Andrew Dahling — a fashion week newcomer known for his statement looks with Chappell Roan — backstage at Luar’s spring 2026 presentation, where he crafted sequin- and aluminum-foil adorned makeup. 

The sentiment was shared, albeit to varying degrees of commitment, across the shows. Here, WWD’s six top beauty trends of the New York Fashion Week spring 2026 ready-to-wear presentations.

Nail Talk 

Intricate nails were a key moment this season, from mismatched, chrome-finished sets at Christian Cowan (“they’re super duper maje,” said Cowan of the looks, crafted in partnership with Sally Beauty and Dashing Diva) to “K”-embossed claws at Kim Shui and quill talons at Luar. 

“Anyone who comes from a Spanish household will understand that nails are a thing and always have been,” said Cowan, adding that the Easter-egg quality of nails on the runway is part of their appeal. “I always like hidden details.”

Backstage at Luar, one model described her blue-feathered talons, then wrapped around a can of Coca-Cola, as markers of a “fantasy world.” The square-shaped tips were done by local artist Naomi Yasuda and also appeared in glossy black, red, nude, yellow and metallic.

Meanwhile at Kim Shui, Butterfly-wing and fishnet-patterned designs, topped with sparkling “K” charms at random, were the M.O., courtesy of Kijibae and nail artist Sojin Oh. 

The Mane Thing

Also at Kim Shui, the 2026 party-girl agenda was in full swing, courtesy of hairstylist Jaylen Seng. 

“Bad choices make good stories, and we want that girl,” said Seng, who used Redken products to achieve a young-wild-and-free curl look inspired by the natural textures of Diana Ross’ and Shui’s own locks.

“You know how you’d use a curling iron if you didn’t know how to use a curling iron? It’s that. We want her to feel real. What would she do if she was sitting in front of the mirror, getting ready to go out and the Uber was here? That’s the look,” he said. 

At Anna Sui, Garren took cues from Sui’s own references of Georgia O’Keeffe and 20th-century artist colonies for a just-done-enough bohemian ‘do. “The point is that those artists looked so easy — they had this angst where they came from when they were all coiffed. The Gibson hairstyle was moving over and they were letting their hair down,” said Garren, who used R+Co Bleu on the models.

“You get the natural qualities of long hair, but roughness from being in the desert,” he said. “They all have a bit of a Gibson on top, but it’s all released on the bottom.”

At Wiederhoeft, Oribe offered 21st-century interpretations of mid-18th-century hair trends — a “Bridgerton” siren, if you will — folding in heads of untamable curls and micro bangs between ringlet bun poufs.

Meanwhile at Collina Strada, stylist Mustafa Yanaz brought new meaning to “helmet hair” with caps and beanies made, literally, of hair. The inspiration came directly from Collina Strada founder and creative director Hillary Taymour, who somewhat jokingly mentioned the idea to Yanaz two months before the show. 

“It’s a personal thing,” Yanaz said. “When I see a New Yorker, I see them with a hat, New Balances and baggy pants.” 

The hats, which were anchored with pins and Bumble & bumble’s Spray de Mode Hairspray, came in neutral tones, as well as a shade of hot pink. 

Hair-like helmets also made an appearance at Luar, where models dressed in golden caps made from spiraling braids courtesy of TRESemmé. 

The manes didn’t stop there. Feathers appeared in two styles, the “Regal Feather” and the “Feathertail,” both of which featured quills protruding the back of buns and behind ears like Peacock trains.

Paint Me Like One of Your Fashion Girls

At Theophilio, models got a full-body treatment, ranging from zebra-printed hair to full-body makeup. Most notably, that included painted-on streaks fanning out from under a model’s bedazzled briefs, and also got iterations on other looks’ backs, legs and torsos.

At Diotima, Oribe hairstylist Joey George and Addiction Tokyo global creative director Kanako Takase tag-teamed a look that involved fresh faces, low buns and a delicate smattering of white paint along the hairline and forehead. 

“The Diotima woman is a very sexy woman. She is absolutely a party girl that also runs a business, and she’s going to work with a little bit of residual from the night before. And that’s OK,” George said. 

A Flash of Lash 

Lashes were on the fringe this season. 

At Eckhaus Latta, makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench teamed up with Lashify on a look featuring sheer white lashes that created a ghost-like effect. 

“From afar, everyone’s eyes are glowing,” Ffrench said, describing the look as “ethereal.” “They’re so sheer, they integrate with the natural lash, so it creates a beautiful ombre lash.” 

At Collina Strada, the lashes, also courtesy of Lashify, were equally unique with vibrant colors, including hot pink and lime green, and a standout shape. 

“The fibers are angled, so rather than all the fibers going straight up, they’re angled to the side,” said Lashify head of education Jillian Medics. “It’s going to elongate and pull in the eye.” 

Ffrench added: “Everybody has a beautiful little piece of colored wing at the end of their lash that [either] looks great with the color combination or is a bit of a contrast [to what they are wearing].”

At Luar, Dahling glued elongated lash extensions to the waterline to look like eccentric eyewear at Luar. Inspiration was taken from the Taíno culture in the Dominican Republic, where the brand’s creative director, Raul Lopez, is from.

“I took a lot of inspiration from the masks and the regalia and the costumes that they have in Carnival, and looked at some motifs, some styles, and just the way they decorate themselves and dress themselves,” Dahling said.

Mannequin Skin 

Hair may have gone big this season, but skin went simple, and purposely so. 

“Because of AI, everyone’s obsessed with skin,” said Jennings at Kim Shui, using MAC’s Lightstruck Liquid Highlighter in shade Double-Gleam to cast an allover facial glow. “It’s about creating this futuristic, filtered-looking complexion,” he continued, adding that the eye makeup, by contrast, featured smokey gray and black hues. “Part of the makeup is destroyed and part of the makeup is clean goddess.”

Clean, pared-back bases were also in full force at Sandy Liang, where Stila Cosmetics makeup artist Charlie Riddle brought the designer’s vision of a downtown Chinese grandmother to life through minimal product use. 

“No foundation, a little bit of concealer, just polished,” Riddle said. “I wanted to really separate it and kind of have a little anime but the ready to wear version of the everyday.” 

Underneath the Stila Cosmetics Pixel Perfect Concealer was Beauty of Joseon’s TikTok-viral sunscreen. Sandy Liang has worked with the brand before, fronting its tinted SPF ahead of Beauty of Joseon’s Sephora foray this summer. Testament to the ongoing K-beauty boom, Riddle also used lash extensions from South Korea in lieu of mascara. 

A glass-skin renaissance also took center stage at Wiederhoeft. Using MAC Studio Fix Foundation Fluid and a new Skinfinish highlighter powder, lead artist Sharryn Hinchliffe let the complexion do the talking. 

“I wanted to keep it kind of perfectly-imperfect. It’s a real skin focus,” said Hinchliffe, crediting Skinfinish as the star product. “You can see the innovation. It’s 85 percent skin care, and it’s got no background. The pigment and pearl is suspended and it reflects and refracts the light so beautifully.” 

To achieve “mannequin skin,” a new iteration of the glass skin aesthetic, Hinchliffe recommended keeping the base matte and adding Skinfinish on the high points of the face.