9 hair and makeup trends to try from Australian Fashion Week 2026
As Australian Fashion Week 2026 comes to a close, we take a deep dive into the elevated yet effortless hair and makeup looks that graced the runway.
For its 30th anniversary, Australian Fashion Week 2026, presented by Shark Beauty, brought together Australia’s most influential fashion voices, panel discussions and on-site activations.
The runways brought inspiration aplenty, but equally impressive were the hair and makeup looks that celebrated effortless ease – naturally textured tresses paired with luminous, hydrated skin.
From hyper-glowy skin prep and powerful hair with movement to artful, low-touch makeup, discover every hair and makeup trend we loved from Australian Fashion Week 2026, as dreamed up by the country’s expert makeup artists and hairstylists.
Luminous skin & sophisticated strands
As seen at Carla Zampatti
The Park Hyatt boardwalk was awash with sequins on Monday evening, when Carla Zampatti officially opened Australian Fashion Week 2026 in spectacular fashion.
Against the Sydney Opera House backdrop, the team backstage worked to create runway glam befitting the Carla Zampatti woman: polished, powerful and sophisticated.
Shark Beauty skin director Isabelle Schmid, who created the beauty look, described it as “polished and balmy with an elegant, luxurious finish, paired with a softly contoured, sophisticated eye that feels true to the CZ woman”.
“From there, it’s about balance – a defined, matte lip pressed in as if applied by hand, keeping the overall look refined, modern, and effortlessly composed,” she says of the soft berry-hued lips and taupe eyeshadow look.
For hair, Shark Beauty hair director Madison Voloshin says the modus operandi was silky, strong and structured, created using the new Shark Beauty Glam tool. “I use it with the concentrator nozzle to create a smooth, controlled blow-dry, brushing through the hair to build natural volume, high shine and soft, sweeping movement through the front.”
This considered approach saw models step out with styles that suited their natural hair texture, ranging from deep side parts and low-slung half-knots to sleek, twisted up-dos to long and loose styles with plenty of dynamic movement.
“The hair feels powerful yet effortless, capturing a modern sense of luxury, confidence and sophistication,” Voloshin says.
Sunlit radiance
As seen at Beare Park
A masterclass in quiet luxury, Beare Park presented its Pre-Fall 2026 collection at the Sydney Opera House, complete with its signature fluid eveningwear, sheer textures and crisp tailoring.
Makeup director Linda Jefferyes worked with Emma Lewisham’s Sunceutical SPF50 Mineral Glow Serum to inform the beauty look – a bronze-tinted serum that promises instant illumination and hydration.
“My approach for Beare Park is always about skin; finding that glow that feels completely natural, completely individual,“ Jefferyes says of the foundation-free look.
“What I loved was how that bronze tint felt different on every model, enhancing each skin tone in its own way and delivering that incredible lit-from-within glow.”
It’s the second time local skincare maker Emma Lewisham partnered with Beare Park on a skincare-based beauty look for AFW.
Founder Emma Lewisham says of the collaboration: “This year, we put the Sunceutical Mineral Glow Serum centre stage. Worn alone, it gave every model a natural warmth and radiance that could only come from skin that is truly thriving. What the runway proved is what we’ve always known: that when skincare is truly intelligent, it renders makeup optional.”
Post-surf hair
As seen at COMMAS
A moody morning over Tamarama Beach set the scene for the COMMAS Resort 27 presentation, where models’ hair appeared fresh from the ocean.
Voloshin captured the feeling of post-surf calm with a little extra polish to complement the collection’s relaxed tailoring and soft textures.
“Hair that feels sun-dried, natural and quietly elevated. Everything is built around enhancing texture rather than controlling it, so the finish stays soft, breathable and touchable, never over-styled,” Voloshin says.
To create this look, he used a diffuser attachment to refine natural texture with controlled airflow, ensuring hair dried with a lived-in polish that didn’t feel overdone.
Metallic gold brushstrokes
As seen at Bianca Spender
Simple yet impactful, makeup artist Victoria Baron used a single wash of metallic gold over eyelids at Bianca Spender.
The gold eyeshadow was swept across models’ upper eyelids just below the brow bone, while the rest of their skin was left bare but well-hydrated, using Weleda skincare and products from SkinFood, which celebrates its centennial anniversary this year.
Ultra-straight strands
As seen at Mariam Seddiq
The hair brief at Mariam Seddiq was sleek, glossy and sculpted, borrowing inspiration from the turn of the millennium but with a tougher, more directional edge.
Voloshin says the team leaned into Noughties nostalgia, but adopted a more refined approach in keeping with Seddiq’s pret-a-couture designs.
“The hair needed to feel sleek, expensive-looking and slightly rebellious at the same time,” Voloshin says.
“For some models, we added jawline bobs using extensions to create strong linear silhouettes that enhanced the fierceness of the collection. There’s something very confident about this kind of hair, it references early-2000s glamour, but with a darker, more elevated energy.”
Flushed cheeks and lips
As seen at Aje
For Aje’s Resort 27 collection, Siren, the makeup team at Makeup For Ever worked with pinks and reds to lend a natural-looking flush to cheeks and lips.
A variety of blush, mauve, and candy pink shades were used to create a just-kissed effect to lips, each one tailored to suit the skin tone of each model.
The soft, feminine makeup look was complemented by the undulating waves created by O&M hair director, Mary Alamine.
Diffused, ocean-dried texture
As seen at Hansen & Gretel
The ocean luxe theme continued at Hansen & Gretel, for the aptly named Tide collection, where Voloshin transformed wet-look texture into something windswept yet wearable.
Appearing as if naturally dried after a day spent beachside, hair was elevated with soft bends and diffused texture for a look that felt elegant yet effortless.
Voloshin focused on enhancing hair texture rather than controlling it, building movement that felt soft and breathable, not heavily styled.
On models with straight hair, he mimicked a crimped effect by weaving hair into small braids, and clamping with a hot styling tool to set.
“The overall effect is polished, but still very real, like the hair has been sitting in the ocean air all day.”
Modern bouffant hair
As seen at Alix Higgins
Three levels up inside China Heights Gallery in Sydney’s CBD, Kevin Murphy hair director and Shark Beauty ambassador Daniel Jianing was reworking the historic Gibson Girl silhouette through an offbeat lens.
Equal parts whimsical and sculptural, Jianing created a variety of deconstructed styles that felt raw and romantic. Bouffant styles were softened with flyaway texture and ponytails sat off-centre, mirroring the modern punk vibe at Higgins’ show perfectly.
“The hair became about tension, balancing romance and refinement with something slightly disrupted or imperfect underneath. Some looks were fully pinned up, others were left down or styled into irregular ponytails so every model felt individual rather than uniform,” Jianing says.
Such styles paired beautifully with the fresh and hydrated beauty look, created by Sean Brady using local skincare by TWYG to prep models’ skin for the makeup application to follow. Brady worked with three products from the plant-powered brand: the Revive & Brighten Antioxidant Facial Serum, Renewing Antioxidant Facial Oil and Restorative Hydration Cream.
Smoked out shadow
As seen at Courtney Zheng
Sydney-based makeup artist Sean Brady is known for his boundary-pushing beauty looks, and he brought his offbeat approach to designer Courtney Zheng’s standalone debut show at AFW.
His captivating, experimental eye for makeup saw the artist create a rock’n’roll, punkish, smoked-out eyeshadow, created in collaboration with creative director Sharona Harris.
Brady built an opaque black eyeshadow onto the models’ upper eyelids, blending towards the brow bone and outwards to temples, mimicking a bolder take on a cat eye.
Ashleigh Cometti attended Australian Fashion Week as a guest of Shark Beauty.
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