From "Morning After" Makeup to Millennial Side Parts—Fashion Month Set These 7 Big Beauty Trends in Motion

We’ve officially wrapped fall/winter 2025’s fashion month. (It started with New York Fashion Week followed by events in London, Milan, and Paris.) Over its four weeks, we covered hundreds of shows, delved into new and old designer collections, boldly stationed ourselves amid backstage beauty chaos, and frantically ran from one show to the next. It’s always hectic, but as fashion- and beauty-obsessed editors, we wouldn’t change a thing. It’s four weeks full of inspiration, expression, and creativity, although it has a practical component too. It clues us into the year’s biggest beauty trends.

This year, the fashion crowd was focused on what we’re coining “nostalgic imperfection.” Instead of the glossy, precise, and hard-to-achieve beauty looks that we so often see come down the runways, this year was all about raw, real, and experimental aesthetics. Think tousled hair and messy, slept-in makeup. Instead of sleek, ultra-modern looks, we saw a return to nostalgic ones, such as millennial side parts and matte complexions. There was also no shortage of bold lips and lashes. Ahead, see the seven biggest beauty trends that fashion month set in motion. Prepare yourself because there’s major beauty inspo ahead.

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The fashion crowd isn’t over Charli XCX’s Brat aesthetic. At least, that’s what it seems like considering the messy party-girl makeup looks at Blumarine, Ashish, Véronique Leroy, and Cecilie Bahnsen, among others. Think glitter fallout, feathered lipstick, and dark circles on full display. It’s almost as if the models were walking the runway after sleeping in their makeup from the night before or coming to the show straight from a New York City nightclub. It couldn’t be easier to replicate this look. Apply black eyeliner, chunky glitter, and matte lip liner without precision. That’s the key to achieving a cool-girl aura of effortlessness.

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This is similar to the slept-in makeup vibe. Designers like Giorgio Armani, Ganni, Elie Saab, Chanel, Coperni, and Jil Sander sent their models down the runway with edgy, imperfect eye makeup looks. Armani’s featured double-winged eyeliner, a beauty trend we saw take over NYFW specifically. Meanwhile, Chanel’s featured thick black eyeliner blended and blurred at the edges for a smudged, smoky effect. The addition of drawn-on lashes created the appearance of intense, feathery wings.

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The internet has strong opinions about this one, as do beauty editors. Whether you staunchly stick to a Gen Z–approved center part or don’t mind a millennial side part, fashion month featured a lot of the latter. Cool designers like ACNE Studios, Filipinxt, Burc Akyol, Ermanno Scervino, Véronique Leroy, and Giorgio Armani took sides (literally) by styling their models with side parts.

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Here’s yet another beauty trend that millennials will be intimately familiar with—especially if you voraciously consumed beauty content during the golden age of Instagram makeup tutorials like us. (Remember when matte foundations, liquid lipsticks, and Kylie Jenner brows had a choke hold on social media?) Unlike the matte complexions of yesteryear—which often looked cakey, dry, and one-dimensional—2025’s matte complexions are more akin to TikTok’s “cloud skin” trend. It’s all about velvety complexions that have a soft luminosity.

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Versace’s and Francesco Murano’s runway shows featured dark, vinyl, and altogether venomous lips. Hui’s, Lacoste’s, and Stella McCartney’s runway shows featured loud, ’80s-inspired pink, red, and fuchsia. Then there were the striking, silver-coated lips at Marco Rambaldi. All throughout fashion month, designers embraced loud lip colors, and we enjoyed every single iteration. Take this as your sign to branch out from basic lip colors and bravely experiment with bold, out-of-the-box shades. All the fashion people are doing it.