The Hair At Collina Strada Was “Horn-y” & “Very Partied”

The “fempire” strikes back. Collina Strada’s Fall/Winter 2025 show imagined a future society ruled by women, where femininity and queerness serve as source of power — and in the chaos of 2025, it was a beautiful thought. Designer Hillary Taymour has always cast her shows like she’s curating a dinner party, and backstage on Feb. 6, the atmosphere was suitably celebratory. Jessica Stam sat in a makeup chair, chatting on her phone, while lead makeup artist Dick Page painted Hari Nef’s eyes with a shimmery gold eye pencil as she tried to stifle her giggles. Aaron Rose Philip was all smiles as she looked for lead hairstylist Mustafa, complimenting a group of journalists on her way.

There’s no set “type” of Collina Strada model, and similarly, the beauty look was a mishmash of aesthetics. “We’ve seen lots of wings and lines [on the runway] — I hate a winged liner,” Page says. Instead, he painted an ocelot print on some models’ faces, peeking out from under their giant bug-like sunglasses, while others got a mix of silver, gold, and muted green paint shades drawn on in an ellipsis shape, courtesy of ILIA’s soon-to-be-release Stylus Shadow Stick. (The creamy, long-wear eye pencil feels like a grown-up Crayola crayon and will be available Feb. 18.)

The one thing all the models did have in common was their skin, which glistened under the overhead lights and looked mostly bare. “As little as possible, and as believable as possible,” Page says.

The hair, according to lead hairstylist Mustafa Yanaz, was “horn-y” — as in, he created mini “horns” on some models’ crowns with a straightener and kept them in place with a spritz of Bumble & bumble’s Flexible Hold Hairspray. “Remember the Instagram filter with the horns with the bleeding nose? It came up, and I'm like, ‘Oh, we should do that,’” he says. For girls with natural hair and cornrows, he added some faux hair in the front and shaped them into circular twists and braids — the “Collina Strada bang,” he says. The overall vibe was undone and real, rather than hyperabstract or polished. “The hair wasn’t about a singular inspiration, but a feeling — something that complements the energy of Collina Strada’s collection,” he says. “I wanted to make the models look very grungy, very slept-in, very ‘partied.’”