Erdem AW26: Textured Individuality with KEVIN.MURPHY
Twenty years after founding his London house, Erdem Moralıoğlu marked a significant milestone with AW26, titled The Imaginary Conversation. Rather than indulging nostalgia, the collection reflected on continuity, memory, and the women who have shaped the brand’s visual language over two decades.
Backstage, hair became an essential extension of that narrative.
Directed by Eugene Souleiman, Pro Ambassador for KEVIN.MURPHY, the hair direction rejected uniformity in favour of individuality. Each model was styled to feel entirely like herself. Texture replaced polish. Movement replaced rigidity. The result was romantic yet grounded, wispy yet deliberate, creating what can only be described as textured realism.
Individuality Over Imposition
Erdem described the process as an exploration of muse’s past and present, cutting elements from the archive and reworking them into something newly resonant. Souleiman mirrored that philosophy in hair.
Rather than imposing a singular look, he enhanced what already existed. Models of varying ages, textures, and backgrounds were treated not as blank canvases but as distinct personalities. “It wasn’t about imposing a look,” Souleiman explained. “It was about taking her natural texture and pushing it forward”.
Freshly washed, air-dried hair was lightly misted before KEVIN.MURPHY ANTI.GRAVITY was sprayed from a distance, allowing the product to settle softly on the surface. The technique encouraged expansion in curls, definition in straight textures, and ease in pulled-back styles without visible styling marks. For select looks, POWDER.PUFF was diffused sparingly at the root to introduce a subtle haze and dimension without weight.
The finish felt personal rather than polished.
Romantic Realism
Souleiman emphasized that the hair needed to feel real, almost as though it had not been constructed in front of a mirror. The clothes carried a heightened, archival sensibility. The hair responded with restraint. It introduced an otherworldly softness through texture and lightness while maintaining authenticity.
There was no rigidity. No lacquered perfection. Instead, there was intentional imperfection, a whisper of irregularity that made each look believable. A wisp out of place. A curl allowed to expand. A silhouette that felt inhabited rather than styled.
This tension between realism and romance created the defining mood of the show.
Hair as Living Dialogue
AW26 was framed as a conversation between past and present. Through hair, that dialogue became tactile. Souleiman translated Erdem’s archival reconstruction into strands and surface, cutting, reshaping, and reinterpreting without erasing identity.
At Beauty Hub Magazine, we see Erdem AW26 as a reminder that the future of runway hair lies not in spectacle, but in sensitivity. The strongest statement backstage this season was not a dramatic silhouette or exaggerated structure. It was individuality.
In an era saturated with replication, Eugene Souleiman and KEVIN.MURPHY offered something far more compelling. Hair that feels lived in. Hair that feels human. Hair that belongs to the woman wearing it.
