For its second pre-Met Gala outing in New York, Black Hair Reimagined: The New Era of Beauty not only revived the glamour of legacy Black hair shows, but it showcased fashions, creative vision, makeup and hair art so elevated it verged on eclipsing the city’s main fashion event yet to happen.
The brainchild of Echelon Noir Productions, founded by celebrity hairstylist Jawara Wauchope and creative director/ stylist Jarrod Lacks, the 2026 show expanded on the success of last year’s debut runway event, inviting more innovative beauty artists to participate.
“We’re including new artists this year and we have not seen a lot of their editorial work, so I’m excited to have them show themselves on this platform and amplify their voices,” Wauchope said. “Black expression is not a monolith, and we want to see all different expressions of it.”
Indeed, the creative collections led by editorial and celebrity hairstylists Wauchope, Vernon François, Issac Poleon, Fesa Nu, Malcolm Marquez, and Joshua “Meeks” Meekins awed spectators with artfully crafted, sophisticated, ethereal looks mined from the full spectrum of Black hair and beauty inspiration.
“Not only do I like to represent my culture and traditional Afrocentricity, but Black Hair Reimagined gives you more of the editorial,” Nu said prior to showing her collection, titled Crowned in Ancestral Theory. “You get the culture, you get the textures, you get the wigs, you get the elevated sculptures.
“It’s such a big and broadened expansion of hair in general. It’s not just a medium. It’s great not only for the Black community but for the beauty industry as a whole.”
Looks spanned from intricate styles on models’ natural hair — including ornate braids, perfectly shaped bantu knots, and ultra-precise cuts and fades — to stunning headpieces crafted from hair prosthetics and extensions along with supporting materials.
François, for one, incorporated leaves gathered in Prospect Park near his Brooklyn home to evoke changing seasons in his set, The Fifth Silhouette.
“What you’re going to witness is a transition of life and rehabilitation,” the celebrity stylist said backstage as he secured tree bark made from prosthetic hair to his model’s towering headpiece. “Like when a caterpillar goes into a cocoon and it comes out a butterfly. Metamorphosis.”
Participating artists — many in town to style clients for the upcoming Met Gala — jumped at the chance to flex their unfettered creativity free from client briefs, editorial direction, or project outlines, and also to further the event’s mission of celebrating Black hair.
“Recently a lot of things have been demonizing Black hair. We still have these laws we have to fight,” Wauchope said, referring to CROWN Act laws prohibiting race-based hair discrimination in schools and workplaces. “Black Hair Reimagined is an expression of loving black hair, which is almost like a protest.”
Nu’s collection positioned Black hair as “our crowning glory,” a stance that counters her experience of Black culture and expression being stifled in the greater beauty industry.
“Our hair is not really given the platform it needs in this industry in order to leverage on a level of excellence the way others have,” she said. “So it’s a long time coming and this is a door that’s opening for us all, not just hairstylists. We all deserve this moment.”
Contributing to the hairstylists’ collections were makeup artists Jamal Scott and Raisa Flowers, nail artist Dawn Sterling, and fashion stylists Jan-Michael Quammie, Ronald Burton III, Solange Franklin, Edward Bowleg, Matthew Henson, and Yohana Lebasi.
Sponsors included Square, L’Oréal Professionnel, The Texture of Change, amika, eadem, Fara Homidi Beauty, Danessa Myricks Beauty, Gotham, True Hair Company, True + Pure Texture, Happier Grocery, and headlining sponsor Dove — which encouraged attendees to support its Dove CROWN initiative to end race-based hair discrimination.
“Black Hair Reimagined is highlighting the specificity and the importance of what we contribute to the industry, and will continue and have always done,” François pointed out.
“They haven’t given us the opportunity to show up, so I think Black Hair Reimagined is reminding people that we are here, and that we have always been here.”