Why the most important ideas in fashion now happen through hairstyling
From Rick Owens to Dior, hairstyling is setting FW26 menswear trends, turning hair into fashion’s most expressive and strategic language
Hairstyling has become one of the most decisive forces on the runway. It is now as critical as the clothes themselves—arguably more so at times. It provides the layer of character and spectacle the industry depends on, particularly as ready-to-wear often errs on the side of commercial caution to stabilise fragile balance sheets. In other words, the most compelling ideas are no longer confined to the garment: they sit, quite literally, on the head.
What emerges across the recent Autumn/Winter 2026 menswear shows—from Milan and Paris to London and New York—is a new visual strategy. Through gravity-defying constructions, wigs and extensions, sculptural forms and manipulated textures, hairstyling is redefining runway trends, extending the language of fashion houses, sharpening the narrative of a collection and, at its best, prompting a moment of reflection.
Why Hair Is Redefining Fashion’s Visual Language
This shift arrives as consumers gravitate once again towards polish and control—the so-called “clean aesthetic” reasserting itself as a dominant mode of dress. For some designers, however, this signals nothing but constraint: a performative neatness that complies with prevailing standards while leaving little room for ambiguity or friction. Hair, then, offers a way out. It introduces irregularity, tension, and even humour. It allows the body to resist being fully resolved.
To treat hairstyling as secondary, in this context, would be to miss where much of the thinking now resides. What was once a finishing touch has become a primary site of construction, built on a close exchange between designers and a highly specialised group of sought-after hairstylists operating at the highest level of the industry. Today, their influence is increasingly visible—and, more than ever, explicitly credited.
Visualizza questo post su Instagram
When Hairstyling Became a Form of Authorship in Fashion
Across the Autumn/Winter 2026–27 shows in Milan, Paris, London and New York—though most decisively in Milan and Paris, where the conversation feels most concentrated—designers have treated hair as an integral narrative device. It extends the logic of a collection, sometimes clarifying it, sometimes complicating it, and occasionally contradicting it altogether. In doing so, it makes ideas legible in ways garments alone cannot achieve.
What is perhaps more telling is where this evolution is taking place. Not in womenswear, where such gestures might once have felt expected, but in menswear, where the space for visible experimentation has historically been narrower. Since the January FW26 shows, certain images have lodged themselves in the collective memory—not because of a silhouette or a fabric, but because of a head: exaggerated, distorted, or simply otherworldly. Behind them are collaborations that cut across geographies—Italian, French, American, and Japanese—and disciplines, bringing hairstylists closer alignment to the conceptual core of a collection.
Rick Owens and the Discipline of the Unconventional: How Hair Constructs Identity
Let’s begin with a designer who has long made a language out of the unconventional: Rick Owens. It is precisely this commitment to what sits outside the norm that has secured his place in the industry and at Paris Fashion Week. Even his models, whom he refers to as “weirdos,” carry an inherently unconventional look, particularly in their hair, which tends towards long, dramatic forms.
His FW26 collection, titled “Tower” and described as “a prayer for love, hope, strength and protection,” once again held the audience’s attention. The grooming—developed in collaboration with digital artist Bernardo Martins—introduced vibrant touches of pink, blue and green, echoed in the eccentric hairstyles overseen by hair guru Duffy. The skullet, a more radical, rock-inflected evolution of the mullet, stood out sharply against the brand’s signature grey and black tones.
Visualizza questo post su Instagram
Comme des Garçons and the Disturbing Power of Hair as Narrative Structure
Few pushed the idea of hairstyling further than Comme des Garçons Homme Plus. Rei Kawakubo’s Autumn/Winter 2026 runway, titled “Black Hole”, was dark and unsettling in tone, perfectly matched by the models’ disturbing looks, their terrifying wigs and masks instantly evoking Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th films. Unusual, yes, but also strangely fascinating, and even faintly playful.
Hairstylist Takeo Arai deliberately roughed up the wigs, while artist Shin Murayama worked with sharp, almost aggressive bowl cuts and mask-like elements that echoed the energy of characters like Hannibal Lecter. Once again, Kawakubo pushed her aesthetic universe into new territory, drawing on the astrophysical idea that the universe did not begin from nothing, but from the dense core of a massive collapse: a continuous cycle of rebirth.
Dior and the Reworking of Codes: How Hair Reframes Heritage and Masculinity
Dior’s new menswear collection feels worlds away from the aesthetic of the first two, yet even here, hairstyling took an unexpected turn. On the catwalk, Jonathan Anderson’s aristo-youth appeared with spiky electric-yellow hair, embroidered shoulders, rocker boots, slim trousers and sequinned tank tops, with explicit references to the legendary designer Paul Poiret. Industry observers also noted echoes of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era—hairstyling playing a central role in shaping that impression.
Here, the line between masculine and feminine became less defined, and the looks felt spontaneous and energetic. Bombers turned into brocade capes, shirts came with lavallière bows, and waistcoats were paired with tights worn as trousers. Fashion entered into dialogue with hairstyling, directed by industry mainstay Guido Palau, to create a play of contrasts, a space where unexpected elements collided and tradition met the contemporary.
Visualizza questo post su Instagram
Kiko Kostadinov and the Material Transformation of Hair
But it doesn’t stop there. Another brand that stood out for its use of hairstyling was Kiko Kostadinov. The Bulgarian designer, based in London and widely recognised for his structural innovation and long-standing collaborations with brands such as ASICS, presented his Autumn/Winter 2026 collection in Paris.
Elastic bands formed the base onto which bleached extensions and fabric elements were attached, evoking feathers and blurring the line between human and animal. Under Tomihiro Kono’s direction, the hairstyles took on an almost avian quality, strange yet compelling, as if the hair itself were shifting into plumage.
The palette recalled urban birds, while oily textures mimicked the subtle iridescence of pigeon feathers. Fabrics changed with the light, depending on the angle. The result was a show that played with the relationship between observer and observed, posing a simple but pointed question: what does it mean to see, or to be seen?
From Detail to Signal: How Hairstyling Determines What Endures
And these are just a few examples. Beyond the most covered shows, many other brands—including emerging ones—are beginning to recognise that a model’s look can feel incomplete when nothing is happening with the hair.
Sometimes, what’s on the head is exactly what turns a look from good into unforgettable, and it is here that hairstyling professionals become essential—on the runway and well beyond it.
Lucrezia Spina
Editor, Milano