There are two types of women at Fashion Weeks across the world. The impossibly polished creatures gliding between runway shows looking as though they have floated straight out of a campaign shoot, and the rest of us, dishevelled and power-walking between venues while clutching an overpriced venti. And I am the first to admit, I fall firmly into the latter category.
This year, however, between the torrential downpours, sky-high stilettos and the people-watching spectacle that is Australian Fashion Week, I have uncovered what might just be the biggest celebrity beauty secret of the moment. Fake fringes! Not the obvious, costume-shop kind that sit awkwardly on the forehead like a forgotten school play prop, but expertly crafted faux bangs so convincing they are genuinely fooling people both online and in real life, including me.
The entire thing first caught my attention earlier this week after UK presenter and podcaster Vogue Williams went viral following her appearance at the BAFTA TV Awards. The Irish-born beauty debuted what appeared to be a dramatically different hairstyle complete with a chic, full fringe that instantly had the internet speculating whether she had finally committed to the chop. As someone who has flirted with the idea of bangs approximately every six months for the past decade before immediately talking myself out of it due to sheer fear and an unfortunate cowlick situation, I was transfixed.
Then, as though the beauty gods themselves were determined to hammer the trend home, I found myself seated opposite Jules Robinson at the spectacularly glamorous Carla Zampatti runway show. Dressed head-to-toe in Zampatti's creations, her look immediately commanded attention from across the iconic Park Hyatt boardwalk. Robinson wore fitted red trousers paired with a beautifully draped pink head scarf attached to her top, but it was her striking copper fringe gleaming under the lights and framing her face perfectly that completely stole the show for me. I was quite literally staring at her thinking, 'My God, I wish I could pull off a fringe like that,' before immediately dismissing the fantasy entirely because the reality is I already spend far too much of my life trying to manage my current mane situation. Having recently had a full head of hair extensions fitted, my mornings already feel like a part-time administrative role involving endless brushing, styling, sectioning and negotiating with tangled lengths that seem to develop sentience overnight. The idea of voluntarily adding fringe maintenance into the equation feels deeply irresponsible.
What made the entire situation even more suspiciously impressive, however, was the weather. Fashion Week attendees had been caught in an absolutely torrential downpour that evening and while most of us, myself included, slowly deteriorated into damp, frazzled versions of ourselves as the night progressed, Robinson somehow continued looking immaculate. Her fringe had not shifted a millimetre. There was no humidity puff, no forehead separation, no limp strands clinging desperately to her skin. It looked unnervingly perfect. Naturally, I became deeply suspicious. As it turns out, my instincts were correct, because later that evening Robinson revealed to her 742,000 Instagram followers that the entire look was, in her words, 'smoke and mirrors', explaining that the fringe was actually a faux hairpiece she had purchased from Amazon for less than $50.
Honestly, I laughed. Not because it looked ridiculous, quite the opposite, but because it looked so believable that I immediately began reflecting on my own deeply traumatic experience with fake bangs back in 2024. I too dabbled years ago with a clip-on fringe hairpiece, but my impulsive Instagram purchase was a spectacular fail. Instead of resembling the chic French It-girl I had envisioned, I looked more like someone who had attached several strands of wet spaghetti to their forehead. The situation was so catastrophically bad that I deleted every photograph of the experience from my phone immediately, although after reaching out to former colleagues to see whether anyone had retained evidence of the disaster, they enthusiastically delivered the goods. Truly, there is nothing more humbling than a work wife preserving your beauty failures for archival purposes.
Yet despite my own failed fringe era, it has become increasingly clear that faux bangs have undergone a significant glow-up, because Robinson was far from the only celebrity quietly embracing the trend that evening. Presenter Francesca Hung was also spotted working the red carpet at the same show while sporting a remarkably convincing fringe of her own. And, after conducting what I will professionally describe as investigative journalism via Instagram Stories, I discovered her hair was also temporary. Of course, Hung had been styled by Natalie Anne Ayoub, one of Australia's most respected hair artists and founder of Natalie Anne Haircare, who is openly a huge fan of extensions and hairpieces. At that point, I realised this was no longer an isolated celebrity experiment but a fully-fledged beauty movement I could get on board with.
For most women, the hesitation surrounding bangs has never been about whether they look good, because they undeniably can, but rather the horrifying commitment involved in actually cutting them. Thankfully, the evolution of hair technology appears to be making the entire process significantly less intimidating. According to celebrity hairstylist and Shark Beauty ambassador Christopher Hunter, modern styling tools are now capable of creating sleek, salon-quality finishes at home with far less effort than ever before, particularly with the launch of the brand's new Glam Ceramic Air Styler & Dryer, priced at $699. The multi-functional tool features six different styling attachments designed to create everything from glossy blow-dries and smooth straight styles to voluminous curls, while also helping minimise heat damage through technology that measures temperature 1,000 times per second and regulates heat so it never exceeds 150 degrees Celsius.
I actually trialled the smoothing attachment myself at the Australian Fashion Week pop-up in Sydney and was genuinely surprised by both the power and finish. My hair looked noticeably sleeker in seconds, but without that stiff, overdone effect that some hot tools can create, and I particularly loved the subtle lift it gave at the roots which made everything appear more natural. Whether or not any styling tool on earth could salvage my own tragic faux-fringe attempt remains questionable, but Fashion Week has undeniably convinced me that I really should try again with a slightly better quality piece. After witnessing how flawless these new-generation fringes can look in real life, immediately adding both the bangs and the styler to cart suddenly feels far less like reckless spending and more like a great investment into my future, very cool, beauty identity.
