If you thought it was just a fleeting TikTok trend, we can assure you: mermaidcore is here to stay. ‘Wet’ looks are nothing new on the catwalks, but this season felt a little more playful and imaginative than usual, drawing inspiration from sea sirens that went beyond just wet-looking hair.
This was perhaps most striking at Sandy Liang, where Hans Christian Andersen’s quote “But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore suffers so much more” was on the designer’s mood board. The models wore crystal “barnacles” on their skin, wore sleek side parts that emerged from the ocean, and tucked flowers behind their ears (something we imagine Ariel might do).
At Luar and Jason Wu, stylists played with hair. Luar opted for sculptural, wet-looking updos, while Jason Wu went for swirled, damp-looking locks. “I wanted to create a look that felt like the models just stepped out of a shipwreck,” says Celebrity Hair Artist, Jimmy Paul with Tresemmé for Jason Wu.