Beauty: LFW SS26: The New Duality in Beauty—From Barely-There Skin to Maximalist Self-Expression

InsightTrendsWorld
Sep 26
10 min read

The Rise of the Maximalist Mouth: Statement Lips

What is the Bold Lip Canvas Trend?

The Trend: Lips are treated as a primary canvas for artistic expression, moving beyond traditional red or nude to encompass dark, metallic, embellished, and graphic styles.
Description: This season showcased a spectrum from sophisticated ombré (Roksanda's black-to-red) and classic glamour (Richard Quinn's red lip) to futuristic metallics (Connor Ives' almost-grey to metallic orange), deep moody shades (Edeline Lee's deep purple), and outright artistry (Chopova Lowena's gem-encrusted, cool-toned grey lips). Simone Rocha even incorporated high-gloss finishes with words and floral transfers, or lacquered black.
Barely-There Backdrop: The bold lip statements were often contrasted with a very refined and skin-focused makeup base, featuring luminous complexions to create a soft backdrop, ensuring the maximalist lip remained the single, impactful focal point.

Why the Lips are Having a Moment: The New Focus Point

Post-Mask Focus: After years where the eyes were the main focus due to mask-wearing, the re-emergence of the full face allows for a confident return to bold lip statements as a sign of uninhibited self-expression.
Contrast and Narrative: Statement lips offer a powerful and instantaneous way to shift the mood of a look, creating drama against a clean complexion (Roksanda) or contrasting with other elements for a punk edge.
Textural and Material Innovation: The trend is driven by an experimental approach that incorporates not just color but also texture (high-gloss, matte, metallic) and three-dimensional elements (gems, transfers), pushing the boundaries of traditional lipstick application into wearable art.
Connecting to Collection Narrative: The dramatic lip shades and embellishments were explicitly used to echo or complement the collection's themes, such as Simone Rocha's lacquered black lips mirroring crystal-studded embellishments, or Roksanda's ombré providing impact without disturbing the overall narrative.

Overview: Lip Artistry as the Ultimate Accessory The SS26 runways established the lip as the season’s most dynamic accessory, demonstrating that it can be both a timeless symbol of glamour and a radical site for avant-garde experimentation. This duality—classic elegance versus maximalist art—offers brands and consumers endless creative possibilities.

Detailed Findings: Runway Lip Playbook

Ombré and Gradients: Roksanda's black-to-red ombré showed how a gradual color shift can add drama and depth without overwhelming a refined look.
Metallic and Futuristic Finishes: Connor Ives experimented with an 'almost-grey' that transformed into metallic orange, signaling a shift toward non-traditional, high-impact lip finishes.
Embellishment and Textural Art: The most radical expression came from Chopova Lowena, where silver gems outlined grey-toned lips, turning the mouth into a piece of jewelry and highlighting the potential for cosmetic products to be mixed with craft elements.
Lacquered and Lyrical: Simone Rocha's use of high-gloss, shimmering black, or delicate transfers with words like "sweet dream" connects the lips to narrative and the collection's overall textural theme of crystal and adornment.

Key Success Factors of the Statement Lip Trend: Impact and Versatility

High Impact, Low Effort: A bold lip is one of the quickest ways to transform an entire look with a single product, offering maximal visual return for minimal application time.
Versatile Expression: The trend supports multiple aesthetics, from glamorous (classic red) and moody (deep purple) to rebellious (graphic/dark) and avant-garde (embellished/metallic), making it adaptable to diverse consumer styles.
Product Innovation Platform: It necessitates and drives innovation in long-wear formulas, unique textures (metallics, high-gloss lacquers), and tools for precision application and blending (ombré).

Key Takeaway: The lip is no longer just about color; it's about texture, dimension, and storytelling.

Core Trend: Lip-Centric Maximalism

Description of the Trend: The Sculptural Lip Statement This trend is characterized by the deliberate use of lips as the focal point of the face, employing intense color, unusual tones (greys, deep purples), high-shine finishes, and even three-dimensional elements like gems to create a look that is unapologetically bold and artistic.

Key Characteristics of the Core Trend: Unconventional Color and Texture

Experimental Color Palette: Moving beyond reds and nudes to include cool-toned grey, metallic orange, and deep, commanding purple.
Dimensional Finishes: The embrace of high-gloss, lacquer, and metallic textures over simple matte or satin finishes.
Artistic Application: Techniques like ombré, precise graphic outlines, and the application of non-traditional elements (gems, transfers) directly to the lip surface.

Market and Cultural Signals Supporting the Trend: Post-Pandemic Confidence

The 'Revenge Beauty' Effect: A cultural impulse to return to maximalist and high-glamour looks after a period of restraint, with a bold lip being the ultimate sign of freedom and confidence.
Influence of Hyper-Personalization: Consumers are increasingly looking to customize their makeup, and the lip provides a visible, high-impact area for unique personal expression, such as Chopova Lowena's jewel application or Simone Rocha's lyrical transfers.
Beauty as Wearable Art: An aligning movement where makeup is seen less as correction and more as a temporary, artistic extension of one's outfit and personality, seen in the runway looks at Chopova Lowena and Edeline Lee.

What is Consumer Motivation: Desire for Bold Visibility

Impact and Attention: Consumers want a beauty look that instantly commands attention and is visible, both in person and on social media, where a statement lip is highly "scroll-stopping."
Mood Elevation: Applying a bold, artistic lip color is a quick, mood-boosting ritual that injects glamour or drama into their day.
Creative Play: The desire to experiment with color and application techniques (ombré, layering) that feel more like painting or crafting than everyday makeup.

What is Motivation Beyond the Trend: Sculpting Identity

Confidence Statement: The bold lip serves as a physical declaration of self-assuredness and a refusal to fade into the background.
Narrative Building: The specific choice of color (e.g., moody deep purple vs. confident classic red) helps consumers tell a story about their attitude or character on a given day.
Breaking Conventions: The use of unconventional colors (grey, metallic) and embellishments is motivated by a desire to challenge traditional beauty standards and embrace an avant-garde aesthetic.

The New Beauty Duality: Trends Overview

Statement Eyes: The Punk-Maximalist Gaze

What is the Bold Eye Trend?

The Trend: Eyes become the vehicle for character and attitude, characterized by vivid, maximalist color, glitter, and graphic liner used with a punk-inspired edge.
Description: Ashish created a joyful maximalism with vivid shadow, glitter, and radiant blush. Marques’Almeida focused on a punk-inspired edge using red and black graphic liner, contrasting it with clean skin and soft lips.
The Joyful Rebellion: The beauty looks, particularly at Ashish, reflected the designer's overall exuberance, turning makeup into a visible expression of joyful, uninhibited celebration with bright colors and glitter.

The Hair's New Architecture: The Bob Revival

What is the Sculptural Bob Trend?

The Trend: A distinct move toward defined, architectural, and short hairstyles, with the bob (French or Hollywood) being the dominant, precision-styled silhouette.
Description: Toni & Guy’s Global Creative Director, Cos Sakkas, noted the "noise" around bobs, styled with "intention and precision." Roksanda featured high-shine, almost liquid bobs that framed the face like sculpture, perfectly complementing the designer’s architectural clothing. Paul Costelloe incorporated sleek bobs, styled into exaggerated retro updos and bouffants, blending '60s glamour with a modern, polished finish.
Liquid Finish Focus: Stylists specifically used products with high heat protection to achieve the high-shine, 'liquid' look of the bobs, emphasizing the importance of sophisticated styling products for this architectural finish.

Porcelain and Pastel: Doll-Like Surrealism

What is the Doll-Like Aesthetic Trend?

The Trend: A surreal, doll-inspired aesthetic that ranges from whimsical and wide-eyed to melancholic and gothic.
Description: Bora Aksu presented models as 'cracked porcelain dolls' with lace bonnets, harlequin tights, and a beauty look of rosy cheeks and defined red lips, creating an unsettling, gothic fairytale sweetness. RIXO opted for a whimsical approach with pastel blue lids and fluttery, doll-like lashes. Harris Reed paired bold designs with wide-eyed makeup and lacquered lips.

The Invisible Layer: Fragrance as Immersive Storytelling

What is the Multi-Sensory Scent Trend?

The Trend: Fragrance is deliberately integrated into the runway experience, scenting both models and the venue to add an olfactory dimension to the collection’s narrative and create an immersive, multi-sensory world.
Description: Roksanda's collaboration with Stories Parfums (No.02) scented the entire SS26 show space. The woodland-rooted notes complemented the collection's inspiration from Barbara Hepworth's sculptural dialogue with organic form, making the scent an emotional, lingering part of the storytelling.

Descriptions of Consumers: The Confident Creative

Consumer Summary: The Aesthetic Explorer The consumer embracing these trends is the Aesthetic Explorer. They view beauty not as a routine, but as a dynamic tool for self-curation and mood-setting. They are confident in their choices, willing to mix high-glamour (statement lip) with minimal perfection (luminous skin), and see luxury in artistic detail (embellishment, high-shine finish). They are actively engaged in social media aesthetics but prioritize unique, high-impact looks that communicate their current state of mind. They are seeking product differentiation and application education to master the complex, artistic looks like ombré or gem application. Their desire is to own the attention-commanding narrative of their personal style.

Detailed Summary (based on experience and article):

Who are them?: The Creative Self-Curator. They are experimental, confident, and detail-oriented. They appreciate high-craft and view their face as a canvas.
What is their age?: Primarily 18-35, spanning Gen Z and younger Millennials, who are most active in utilizing beauty for social expression and adopting trends quickly. However, the sophisticated bob and classic red lip appeal to older, style-conscious Millennials and Gen X.
What is their gender?: Gender-neutral and female-identifying. The emphasis on artistic expression (like Chopova Lowena's look) appeals across gender lines for those who embrace high-fashion or avant-garde makeup.
What is their income?: Mid-to-High disposable income. They are willing to invest in premium products that offer unique textures (high-shine lacquer), intense pigment, and high performance (long-wear graphic liner).
What is their lifestyle?: Socially Active and Aesthetically Conscious. They attend events, are highly engaged with fashion and art content, and their style is often a blend of high-fashion references and personal subcultural influences.

How the Trends Are Changing Consumer Behavior: The Quest for Duality

Selective Maximalism: Consumers are moving away from all-over maximalism toward a "duality" approach—pairing one intensely focused, bold feature (eyes or lips, or an architectural hairstyle) with an otherwise refined, 'barely-there' luminous complexion. This requires more strategic product application.
Adoption of Specialized Tools: The rise of complex trends like ombré lips, liquid bobs, and graphic liner necessitates new consumer behaviors, such as investing in precision brushes, high-gloss topcoats, and specialized heat-protection products for structured hair.
Sensory Consumption: The inclusion of fragrance as a narrative tool at Roksanda elevates the consumer experience, pushing them to think about how their personal scent complements their aesthetic and investing in niche, story-driven fragrances.

Implications of Trends Across the Ecosystem

The New Beauty Blueprint: Strategic Focus Areas

For Consumers The trend encourages strategic focus and investment in high-impact products. They must learn techniques for high-precision application (graphic lines, perfect bob styling) and seek products that offer intense pigment, unique texture (metallics, gloss), or sculptural hold.

For Brands and CPGs Brands must lean into product innovation in texture and tools. This means developing:

"Statement" Lip Kits: Specialized products for ombré or metallic finishes.
High-Precision Eyeliners: Extremely pigmented, ultra-fine tips for graphic looks.
Architectural Hair Products: High-shine serums and strong-hold, heat-protectant styling creams necessary for the liquid bob and defined updos.
Narrative Fragrance: CPGs should explore multi-sensory marketing, pairing makeup and hair campaigns with a signature, story-telling fragrance.

For Retailers Retailers need to curate and educate. This involves:

Thematic Merchandising: Grouping "Bold Lip" or "Sculptural Hair" looks, rather than just product type.
Experiential Zones: Creating in-store or online tutorials and consultation services focused on advanced application techniques like graphic liner or the perfect bob styling.
Fragrance Integration: Integrating fragrance testers into the beauty shopping experience to encourage multi-sensory discovery, as seen at Roksanda.

Strategic Forecast: The Art of Focus

The Pivot to Precision: Beauty application will increasingly move from broad blending (contouring, smoke eyes) to pinpoint, high-precision artistry (sharp graphic lines, perfect lip outlines).
Textural Battleground: The next wave of product launches will focus heavily on unique textures—liquid-metal finishes, ultra-high-lacquer glosses, and powder-to-cream transformations, particularly in the lip and eye categories.
Hair as Sculpture: Hairstyling will be defined by architectural intention, demanding innovative products that offer shine, hold, and protection without stiffness. The bob will be the dominant haircut for the next 1-2 seasons.
Olfactory Marketing: More brands will invest in signature scents for their campaigns and events, making fragrance an intrinsic, emotional layer of the brand story rather than a separate product line.
The Surreal Filter: The 'Doll-Like' aesthetic will continue to be translated into retail-friendly products like pastel pigments, hyper-defined lashes, and rosy blush, tapping into the whimsical escapism of surreal beauty.

Areas of Innovation: Driving the Dual Aesthetic

The Ultimate Lip Art Kit Developing all-in-one kits for consumers to easily achieve complex lip looks like ombré or two-tone metallics, complete with specialized brushes and setting formulas for embellishments.
Liquid-Sculpture Hair Technology Creating styling products (serums, sprays) that deliver the high-shine, liquid look of the Roksanda bob while providing flexible, architectural hold and thermal protection for modern styling tools.
Hyper-Graphic Eye Tools Launching highly pigmented, non-smudging liquid liners with micro-precision tips (0.1mm or smaller) to enable the fine, graphic, and punk-inspired eye looks seen at Marques’Almeida.
Narrative Niche Fragrance Duos Brands introducing "collection-inspired" or "mood-setting" small-batch fragrances that are explicitly marketed as the final, emotional layer of a beauty look, capitalizing on the Roksanda/Stories Parfums model.
Enhanced Sensory Skincare Base Formulating base products (primers, light foundations) that deliver the high-luminous, "barely-there" yet perfected skin required to allow the bold lip or eye to truly stand out, enhancing the skin's natural "liquid" texture.

Summary of Trends: The Dual Aesthetic Code

Core Consumer Trend: The Selective Statement Consumers are embracing strategic focus, choosing one feature—lips, eyes, or hair—for maximalist, artistic expression while keeping the rest of the look luminous and minimal. This is a move from all-over perfection to intentional, high-impact contrast.

Core Social Trend: Aesthetic Rebellion The runway showcased a desire for aesthetic freedom through punk-inspired graphic lines, unconventional colors (grey, deep purple), and textural play. This reflects a social trend of rejecting muted conformity in favor of unapologetic, confident self-curation.

Core Strategy: Precision & Pigment For brands, the core strategy must be a twin focus on precision tools and intense product pigment/texture. The execution of the bob, graphic liner, and ombré lip all rely on products that are both high-quality and easy to manipulate with high accuracy.

Core Industry Trend: Multi-Sensory Immersion The inclusion of fragrance at Roksanda points to an industry shift toward immersive, multi-sensory brand experiences. Beauty is moving beyond the visual to include the olfactory, seeking to create a deeper, more emotional memory of the aesthetic.

Core Consumer Motivation: Artistic Escapism Whether it's the whimsical 'Doll-Like' aesthetic or the radical art of the gem-encrusted lip, consumer motivation is rooted in artistic escapism. They seek beauty that is transformative, fun, and allows them to adopt a temporary, heightened persona.

Final Thought: The Architecture of Intention

London Fashion Week SS26 has codified a clear blueprint for the future of beauty: a sophisticated understanding of duality. This is not a choice between minimalism and maximalism, but a directive to leverage both—using barely-there skin as a luminous pedestal for a single, architectural statement. Whether achieved through a high-shine, liquid-sculpture bob, a punk-graphic eye, or a jewel-encrusted lip, the overarching message is one of intention and precision. The most successful brands will be those that empower the consumer to execute these focused, high-craft looks with expert-level ease.