Published On : December 01, 2018

Girls get ready: it’s time to analyse the winter 2018-2019 hair color and hairstyle trends that rocked the runways. When we think of Fashion Weeks, we often direct our minds to images of fabulous accessories and statement-making new looks. But the fashion shows also speak to the role of the catwalk in constructing innovative and lust-worthy hairstyle trends for the upcoming seasons. This truly demonstrates how hair itself is a canvas for creativity, imagination, and experimentation.

For the fall 2018 hair trends, there was a plethora of original hairstyles and dazzling hair colors. Fall is a season for enigmatic, dynamic renewal, and designers took this truism to heart when creating their collections.We are privileged as women to live in a time when experimentation and deviation from tradition is the norm. We are encouraged to embrace vivid hair colors, brazen hair tattoos, and unconventional silhouettes.

This season, the sign of the times was all breezy effortlessness and a move towards embracing natural texture and even the acceptance of tangles, knots, and hair oils. This meta-trend throws the tradition of luxurious curls and immaculate coiffing to the wayside. Follow along as we explore the most intriguing fall/ winter 2018-2019 hairstyles and intoxicating hair colors.

Now for the fun stuff! Pastel neon is having a moment as one of the most intriguing fall/ winter 2018-2019 hair colour trends. The look is hard to wear, maybe so, but it’s also hard to hate, and we can see fashion followers everywhere adopting this scintillating trend come September 1st.

Pastels have a kitschy, neo-futuristic appeal that is perfect for the back-to-the-Eighties arcade energy of the season. A neon-pastel bob has a girlish, underground feel that infuses any look with a girl in the know energy. The neon bob is a departure from the traditional, tasteful hair that has been prescribed to women over the centuries. It announces that you, a modern gal, will not be restricted by norms on what is and isn’t appropriate. You’ve blurred the lines and colored outside them in shades of pink, or purple, or, you get it…

The spirit of Cheryl Blossom was alive and well for the fall 2018 hair color trends! This season, women were encouraged to embrace their natural hair color. Instead of trying to modify what nature gave you, strive to work with it and incorporate it into your existing aesthetic.

Maybe this fall 2018 hair colour wasn’t such a surprise but it bears mention, nonetheless. Chestnut brown was huge on the runways. Models strutted down the catwalks with multidimensional, shimmering shades of chocolatey dark brown manes.

While dark brown is a traditional look for the colder months, it is popular for a reason. With a warm base it appeals to most skin tones and looks luscious and prismatic when coloured properly. It also offers a beautiful canvas with which to explore more unconventional silhouettes. Plus, it pairs perfectly with the dark clothing and urbane mood of the colder months.

Dirty blonde, with shadowed roots and all, was having a big moment on the runways. The color meshed perfectly with the general mood of the season, which embraced effortlessness and natural beauty.

Dirty blonde is a perfect transition colour from the sun-bleached days of summer to the cooler, dryer days of winter. Dirty blonde has an appealingly relaxed vibe that offers the perfect background to the moody apparel of the fall and winter months.

If deep and alluring dark brown isn’t your cup of tea, then take a page out of the designer’s book and rock an understated light brown. Light brown is dynamic in its simplicity. It is soft and unassuming and it doesn’t demand attention. This modest cool girl appeal is a perfect complement to a dark and muted fall wardrobe.

Alternately, because this fall 2018 hair colour trend is so downtempo it pairs seductively with bold colours and a futuristic, minimalist aesthetic. Light brown hair is part of the movement to a more natural, and less contrived beauty silhouette.

Bleach blonde hair will never go away. That’s a truism like the rising of the sun and the changing of the seasons. The fall/ winter 2018-2019 hair color trends embraced the enduring charm of this hair color with unique iterations and stylings. Bleach blonde need not be Malibu Barbie-esque and it pays to keep that in mind. The hair colour is more dynamic and versatile than many give it credit for. It can at once have a rock and roll bad girl appeal and a sun-bleached surfer girl verve. No need to confine your look to any one silhouette – the designers certainly didn’t.

In contrast to the conventional fall look of sleekly straightened or daintily curled locks, this season, flowy, loose waves were the name of the game. Flowing, beachy waves retain the breezy charm of the summer and infuse an outfit with a kind of serene self-possession. Not to mention that they contrast intriguingly with the fall uniform of dark shades and simple lines.

Flowing waves are also a practical consideration for the fall/ winter 2018-2019 hairstyle trends. As the temperatures drop you want to protect your hair from breakage and dullness. Put your damp hair in braids and give your hair a break from the heat products to create this laissez-faire, It Girl look. We loved the jet-set, gorgeous bounce of the hair at Balmain. The barely-there waves endowed the models with a healthy hair look that would make Serena Van Der Woodsen proud. Jill Stuart’s Woodstock look was covetably bohemian.

This Sixties Andy Warhol mod gal meets grunge pixie look is super exciting. It has a kind of bohemian festival girl feel with just the right streak of edgy London underground.

The look is deceptively simple to create, which we always love. Part the hair in the center and create two bang-esque parts that frame the forehead. The result is hipster without the navel-gazing aspect. Pair with a choker or simple earrings for a thoughtful, studious, gig-going feel.

An elegantly carefree center part swept the fall/ winter 2018-2019 hairstyle trends. Center parts have an elusive quality. They are one of the simplest, most down-to-earth hairstyles but they also betray a quiet self confidence that other looks struggle to achieve. We like to consider them effortless luxury.

They are just as at home on a Hamptons patio as they are on the opulent streets of downtown Paris. The season saw the center part styled with relaxed and tousled long hair for a laid-back glam feel.

Braids have a romantic, ethereal, storybook appeal. There is something timelessly feminine and alluring about them. Though they range in complexity from the super simple to the calculus-esque challenging, braids have a bohemian edge that is in high demand come September.

Braids were not restricted to one silhouette this season. We saw edgy, rock and roll re-imaginings and dainty, ballerina braid crowns as top fall/ winter 2018-2019 hairstyle trends. They add texture to the hair without overwhelming it and they infuse any look with sartorial depth. Braids are never confined to any one region of the scalp and they play well on all hair – from the nape of the neck to the crown of the head.

For women who want it both ways, the fall 2018 hairstyle trends bring good news: side-swept bangs are in. There’s a lot to love about this face-framing favourite: it is versatile, urbane, and contemporary. Side-swept bangs allow you to play with proportions to create facial contours, symmetry, and angles.

Side-swept bangs are privy to endless variations and can be pinned back for a romantic pouf or braided to the side for a winter gypsy feel. Shaggy side-swept bangs exude a laid-back, Sunday morning feel, while sleekly straightened ones are professional world ready.

For the experimental among us, the teased pouf of the fall 2018 hairstyle trends was one of the most fresh and exciting revelations of the season. The teased pouf has a rockabilly feel: perfect for a down and dirty rock and roll motorcycle queen who hangs out at roadside bars late into the night.

Another key fall 2018 hairstyle trend in the effortless beauty movement that swept the runway was the unstyled, free falling midi bob look. The look, which is not quite a bob and not quite a shoulder-length hairstyle, is down to earth, playful and intriguingly irreverent. It has uncontrived uptown girl energy to it.

The slightly mussed up midi bob is easy to wear and even easier to style, making it an attractively practical option for back to school and back to the office. It also looks unstudied and hip when paired with evening wear and bold shades.

This is yet another look that echoes the effortless and breezy mood of the fall/ winter 2018-2019 hairstyle trends. Designers tossed their brushes aside and embraced a messy and couldn’t-be-bothered attitude for the colder months. As lazy gals ourselves, we must admit that one less step in our morning routine is always a welcome change.

Mussed up, tangled hair was popular on runways on both sides of the Atlantic because it evokes a mood of carefree playfulness. Only the truly confident would pair their thoughtful fall outfits with a knotty hair look. The result is appealingly fun and rebellious.

Chignons are classy, timeless, elegant. But fun? Not generally. For the fall/ winter 2018-2019 hairstyle trends, that tradition was blurred with designers offering up an array of creative and artistic chignon looks. The chignon is perfect for all occasions, from a morning meeting to an upscale dinner date. But why not invite some innovation into your hair look with a simple yet effective twist?

The messy bun is timeless. It is like the red lipstick of the hair world: reliable, appealing, and ubiquitous! The messy bun is more fun than its straight-laced cousins for a couple of reasons. First, its appeal lies in its utility: just grab a hair tie, sans mirror, and let the magic happen. Secondly, it helps foster an aura of studied and thoughtful effortlessness.

Even if it did in fact take you twenty minutes in front of a mirror, its appeal lies in its imperfect perfection. Pair with sunglasses and pearl earrings for a prep-school perfect silhouette.

So this fall 2018 hairstyle trend was unexpected. This season, designers threw caution to the wind and took a dive into the ocean. Or at least, that’s what it looked like with models strutting down the runways donning sleek, wet-looking locks. Whether it was excessive hair gel or H2O, the best hair of the runway looked slick; like it had just gone through the washer.

The damp hair look is one of those ‘why didn’t anyone think of that earlier’ hair trends. We are always so committed to blow-drying, straightening, curling, and primping our hair that the very act seems like a ritual-one that must be maintained. But the fall/ winter 2018-2019 hairstyle trends beg the question: what if fresh outta the shower hair is… cool, neigh, desirable?

The mood of the fall/ winter 2018-2019 hairstyle trends can be encompassed in a feel-good message: your natural hair is perfect; your natural hair is beautiful. Designers from Paris to New York embraced the natural texture of the models’ hair: be it thin and straight or kinda frizzy.

This texture appreciation day was appreciated. It seems to suggest that the fashion world is accepting the appeal of the everywoman. We need not all have flowing Gisele locks to be beautiful. This season demonstrated that the ability to own your natural hair belies an appealing self-possession that is indeed much sexier than eternally curating your real look.

Like its cousin ‘wet hair’ trend, the slicked back look was unexpectedly lust-worthy. While we admit, the hyper-sleek style doesn’t flatter all face shapes or aesthetics, when it does work, it works well.
It lends your look decisiveness, full-frontal confidence bordering on vampy aggression. It announces to the world that you are here – don’t be surprised if people move out of your way as you walk.

The super slick ponytail or bun complements an urbane-industrial wardrobe of leather, blacks, and minimalist fare. That being said, the look is an unexpected chameleon and also does some of its best work when paired with opulent chandelier earrings and a vampy evening dress.

Ponytails are timeless. They offer us a bit of everything: sass, glamour, sophistication, athleticism, and playfulness. Ponytails are like the upscale running shoe of the fashion world: comfortable, familiar, and endlessly trendy.

We love how ponytails pair with couture and evening wear. Topping off a glamorous silhouette with a ponytail is the ultimate in cool girl confidence. Ponytails pair elegantly with sweater-weather clothing and look urbane with a leather jacket look. Ponytails also offer us variation in style. You can go for a low pony for a feminine and bohemian look, or a high pony for a striking and romantic feel.

Related to the tousled wave trend, the voluminous hair trend for fall 2018 serves as a good alternative to the hyper-slicked back hair that rocked the runway. ‘The more body the better’ was the motto of this trend.

Voluminous, flowing hair is both beyond feminine and seductively suggestive. We love how hair with extra body creates a bombshell, Victoria’s Angel feel. It looks preternaturally polished with cosy fall clothing and flirtatiously alluring when paired with a tight dress for the evening.

About the Author

Yen Khalifa

Co-Founder and Beauty Artist