After years of “clean girl” slick backs and sleek, stringent bobs, is big hair finally back?
If Diane von Furstenberg’s spring 2027 ready-to-wear presentation is any indication, the answer is yes.
Imagined by creative director Henry Zankov, the runway show, held on Thursday morning in Manhattan, was decorated with pattern-clashing personalities and punctuating hair — frizzy texture, fluffy bangs and all.
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One model, clad in a half-cheetah, half-zebra print, rounded the catwalk with wind-swept fringe à la ’80s film legends. Another woman, dressed in a deep-V satin minidress with dainty straps, appeared with kinked ends and a flipped part.
In the official show breakdown, lead stylist Mustafa Yanaz described the inspiration behind the hair, writing, “We were inspired by the character of this sexy, glamorous New York party girl from the ‘70s and ‘80s with an uptown meets downtown feeling.”
Yanaz continued: “Each of the looks is mixing two textures — beautiful and structured on top and then kind of messy, with more movement on the bottom to capture the feel of a glamorous party girl who’s been out dancing. That’s the whole idea. And of course I am inspired by Diane herself as a reference, because she was that person.”
The reference isn’t all that surprising, considering the recent uptick in calls for the return of ’80s hair within the beauty lexicon. On the red carpet, stars such as Vanessa Hudgens have styled their own versions of the beloved bouffant blowout and fluffy bangs, originally popularized by the likes of Justine Bateman, Lea Thompson and Lori Singer.
On the main stage, Grammy-winning breakout artist Olivia Dean has boasted a similar hair aesthetic, featuring wide barrel curls that’ve been combed and teased to max volume. There’s also a growing cohort of creators online who are pioneering the resurgence.
Scrolling through model and creator Keaton Gray’s Instagram feels like flipping through an ’80s time capsule, replete with images of her chocolate brown bouffant hair. Gray’s look resembles that of the trending aesthetic of that time — styled to spotlight its organic texture. On her page, Gray has credited her mom and the hair she had in the ’80s as her main reference. Other posts cosplaying a character in an ’80s romcom read, “Take me back to the summer of ’82.”
WWD has reached out to Gray for a comment on her aesthetic.
At the same time ’80s hair and fluffy bangs are on the rise, stylists are predicting feathered fringe to dominate the fall season. According to Matthew Collins, Dyson Beauty global ambassador, feathered fringe will replace standard full fringe cuts to add texture and dimension. “[Feathered fringe] will generally sit with their longest piece touching the bottom of your eyebrow, and is often styled with a micro part in the middle and a slight swoop to both outsides of the eye, often with slightly longer pieces hitting the tops of your cheekbones to accentuate them,” he previously told WWD.
Irinel de León — hair artist to Kamala Harris, Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber and more — agreed. “For fall, I think we’re going to see bangs become softer and a little less perfect. The key is movement and keeping the finish airy,” she told WWD. “For styling, I love using the Dyson Airwrap Multi-Styler with the round volumizing brush at the root to give bangs a little lift and direction. Then, I’ll use the Coanda Smoothing Dryer to soften everything and make the fringe fall naturally.”