4 min read
Growing up, Lindsay Lohan’s 2004 cult classic Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen presented me with one of my biggest beauty inspirations. Colorful, glittery eye shadow and glosses, smudged eyeliner, and teased, curled hair were what I saw as the beauty pillars of the young, ambitious, and fabulous. Fast-forward to my twenties, and things look a bit different. Sparkly lids have been traded in for muted tones, punky, smudged eye looks were completely wiped away, and teased strands are now brushed back into tight, slicked-back buns in the name of the “clean girl,” a beauty trend defined by TikTok as no-makeup makeup, clear lip gloss, a general blank canvas, and a “pulled-together” idea of beauty. But not anymore. As of this fall/winter 2026 runway season, the clean girl has essentially been pronounced dead—to be succeeded by a look that I’m calling the “drama queen.” With all due respect to the clean girl, it’s time for a change.
Matteo Scarpellini
Gabe Gordon fall/winter 2026.
This shift is evident on the models that walked in recent fashion shows. Starting in spring/summer 2023, we saw the clean-girl look begin to fade and morph from an undone aesthetic into a “too cool to care” vibe, like the greasy hair at Miu Miu’s spring/summer 2024 show, for example. But this season’s looks take it a step further. New York-based knitwear designer Gabe Gordon, whose eponymous label is known for drawing inspiration from personal stories of love, grief, and intimacy, says, “Beauty today feels less about perfection and more about point of view; smudges, color, texture.” At his fall/winter 2026 show, he was inspired by the controversial figure skater Tonya Harding. Elsewhere, this season’s beauty looks felt much like a reclamation of power, sensuality, and all-around fun, from the extremely long nails at Kim Shui to the metallic eyeshadow at Cult Gaia. Proenza Schouler’s smeared lips made models look like they’d just left a steamy make-out session, exaggerated winged eyeliner was painted on to last through a night on the dance floor at LaQuan Smith, and Sandy Liang’s tousled hair was styled to look as if you just rolled out of bed after a night of not sleeping.
“There will always be a time and a place for a clean-girl aesthetic, but it doesn’t have to be the only trend,” says hairstylist Davey Matthew, who agrees that the era is moving out of the spotlight. Romero Jennings, the global director of makeup at M.A.C, agrees. “People are ready to have fun again and are leaning toward richer color, glossy textures, graphic liner, and looks that feel more individual than uniform,” he says. “There’s a noticeable play on color and texture this Fashion Month, and I believe it’s going to continue.” The drama queen encompasses an excitement and a lust for life that shows itself through her beauty choices, and is almost like a blend of the Gossip Girl icons Jenny Humphrey, a gritty punk princess, and Serena van der Woodsen, a boho-chic Upper East Sider. She is adventurous, messy, sensual, daring, and creative, with a reckless abandon that she’s not afraid to show. Her dramatic nature and look are the result of a life lived fully.
Matteo Valle
Proenza Schouler fall/winter 2026.
We’ve seen this creep up in pop culture too, particularly in the rise of the brat aesthetic. The trend, started by singer Charli XCX in 2024 as part of her album of the same name, was marked by smoky black eyeshadow and indie-sleaze style all set in front of a slimy neon green backdrop. Other public figures, like musician and model Gabbriette and Uncut Gems actress Julia Fox, exemplify the lime-green look and lifestyle. While brat leaned heavily into a more grunge energy, the drama queen encompasses everything dramatic—not afraid of dipping into gritty, edgy styles but not confined by them either. More recent examples of the look includes the glam for Margot Robbie’s Cathy in Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. The approach to beauty in the movie, created by makeup and hair artist Siân Miller, was whimsical and dreamlike, with steamy red blushed cheeks, crystalline face appliqués, and windswept hair held together with bright red ribbon. There is no designated aesthetic for the drama queen. The only rule she follows is that more is more.
Matteo Valle
Boy London fall/winter 2026.
But why now? Culturally, adopting an analog lifestyle, living your life offline, is trending—finding beauty, escape, and even glamour in the messy and mundane along with a desire for human connection. It makes sense that with this in mind, the clean girl is on the chopping block, since its current iteration is a thoroughly online aesthetic. Heavily inspired by the classic beauty stylings of Black and brown women of the ’90s like Aaliyah and Janet Jackson, the clean-girl trend was later repackaged and popularized on social media by celebrities like Hailey Bieber, Sofia Richie Grainge, and Kendall Jenner. Like every other trend, the drama queen beauty look is a raw and authentic response to—and a reflection of—the world around us. “Beauty and fashion have always been a safe place for expression,” Matthew shares. “You can say so much without uttering a word.”
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Collina Strada fall/winter 2026.
It’s the smeared makeup that you slept in after a night at the club à la Boy London, or the huge hair that you couldn’t bother to brush that models donned at Collina Strada. It’s the flush of color that rushes to your cheeks when butterflies rise in your stomach, the sunken eyes after a night of no sleep, or the mustache of foam on your upper lip after taking a sip of coffee. Things that once felt so small are now the most aspirational. “Creativity feeds off of inspiration, and so does the reverse,” Matthew adds. “I’m just excited for the world to be a more adventurous place.”
