The graveyard shift lurks in the shadows. Sitting, stewing, biding its time. And come the witching hour, Halloween will strike, waking all you spook-fest enthusiasts along the way. Lest you go knocking on the door with no prep in sight, we’ve come equipped to go trick-or-treating right along with you. We’re talking transformative hair and make-up details that would really make or break your chosen garb for the morbid affair. A final beauty potion of sorts, to ensure the illusion of whoever you’re meant to be stays intact for all of one gloomy evening.
But for most of us non-seers, such sage advice doesn’t come as immediately as we’d like. Instead, we’ve flipped through the most potent of rulebooks: the everlasting runway, specifically its notes of glamour from the latest spring/summer 2025 season. Where the best wand-wielders have gone and done their magic backstage for the lot of us to simply borrow inspiration from. For where else could we chance upon humans more beautifully (or waywardly) transfigured than at a runway show? From human cyborgs to angellic faces and uncanny clowns, the multitude of visions by brilliant hair and make-up artists only run the gamut.
Many of which will serve as impeccable inspo, especially if you don’t have a specific character that you’re planning to emulate in mind. For what better way to go about it then to simply dress in your most severe black coats, put on your best shot at vampy glamour and carry around a bottle of (fake) blood? Or have your way with a floaty white gown and liberal splotches of soft, powdery-blue shadows—like you were the embodiment of Light itself? So run free, and let these spring/summer 2025 runway beauty looks lead you right to the door of a Halloween transformation you simply can’t ignore.
1 / 7
The devious clown: Luar
No mask in sight? Paint one on, like the minimalist approach to a clown’s caricature adopted at Luar. Of stick-on brows, gravity-defying lashes and a pitch-dark pout.
2 / 7
A paragon of virtue: Gyouree Kim
If you won’t be shedding your goody two shoes bit even during Halloween, then you’re the angel that lies in waiting. If Gyouree Kim’s runway were to put you on the right path, then don your best whites and pack on the powder to create a cloudy veiled mask around your eyes. Don’t miss out on that white underline too.
3 / 7
Newborn's on the hunt: Diesel
Nothing screams freakishly uncanny more than a transformative set of eyes. As with Diesel’s spring/summer 2025, consider adopting a pair of sclera contact lenses, as if you were trying to mimic a vampire’s bloodshot eyes.
4 / 7
The medieval witch: Shuting Qiu
The real ones would know that a pointed hat does not make a witch. Instead, like the women of Midsommar, a pagan-esque aesthetic might be all it takes to properly cast a chill down someone’s spine, and Shuting Qiu’s recent runway does a masterclass in the strange and off-putting. With tubular and button-like embellishments that surround the peepers and a translucent headpiece to convey the lurking siren from within.
5 / 7
Ex machina: Junya Watanabe
If you’re opting for the horrors of the 21st century, then Junya Watanabe’s human cyborg will just about do it. Between flat metal pieces moulded to the scalp, and a pale drawn-on face mired against soulless eyes, all that’s left is to train your face into a perfect visage of cold, faraway blankness.
6 / 7
Shredded to tears: Maison Keti
If depressing and goth is the entire brief, then this Maison Keti delivery gives it an avant-garde twist. Beyond just a deep, black lip, become the very picture of sorrow by attaching shredded embellishments to the bottom of your eye line, to give the illusion of falling tears and mussed-up beauty.
7 / 7
Devil's in the details: Germanier
No time like now to double down on the most deviant of hues: a popping, fearsome red. Whether you’re intending on emulating a monstrous diva or the devil incarnate himself, a hefty smudge of scarlet paired to metallic claws will do no wrong in achieving your desired effect.
