The Rih-Up - Red Hair Returned To The Runway For AW23

Across New York, London, Milan and Paris, one colour reigned supreme for AW23: red. Dominating both fashion and beauty, red has officially overtaken last season’s fuchsia pink obsession to become the new shade du jour.

A considered and polished approach to day-to-day wear was the prevailing mood of the AW23 collections, celebrating luxurious simplicity and chic investment pieces. In total contrast, beauty jumped to the other end of the scale, ditching quiet luxury for unapologetic colours and futuristic shapes showcased in make-up and hair. The loud and proud colour coming out on top? Red, of course.

This season's red revival follows 2022's copper hair trend that flooded Instagram feeds and adorned street style stars and celebrities alike, proving that this fiery palette is going nowhere fast.

For better or worse, this year's aesthetic is shifting away from Barbiecore as fashion and beauty are painting the town red. At the recently reinvigorated Ferragamo, a fiery tomato shade has become the brand's statement-making new trademark, whilst the likes of Burberry, ROTATE and MOWALOLA cast ruby-haired models in their AW23 shows.

Elsewhere Puppets and Puppets coordinated a sequin scarlet dress with deep berry-red lengths, and David Koma where the bright red floor-to-ceiling show venue was mirrored in his designs and model Madelyn Whitley’s cherry-hued hair.

But, the poster girl for all things red isn’t from a season so recent. Despite donning a bright red monochromatic look by Jonathan Anderson for her recent Superbowl performance, Rihanna's most notable red moment harks back to her iconic LOUD era, that had legions of fans reaching for Schwarzkopf Live’s Pillar box red at-home box dye.

We're calling it, it's a Rih-surgence.

Inevitably, it all comes down to our current love of all things 2000s. Think somewhere between indie sleaze and Y2K - a true mash-up of trends currently being recycled by Gen Z across both fashion and beauty.

And it seems the A-list are already on red alert: Dove Cameron embarked on a short but sweet fling with smooth, cherry lengths this spring and Jessie Buckley’s textured, choppy bob brought some rock ‘n’ roll attitude to the Oscars. However, whether we’ll be taking the leap and dyeing our eyebrows bright red a la risk-taker Julia Fox is a question for another day.