The best beauty looks from the Venice Film Festival 2026 With geometric bobs, glowing skin, tightly pulled-back buns, red lips, and a new take on natural beauty, the Lido’s beauty scene sets the tone for fall trends

The 2026 Venice Film Festival returned to the Lido from September 2 to 12 for the 83rd edition of the Venice International Film Festival. The red carpet saw films, awards, archival dresses and a considerable number of beauty looks worth observing very closely. The Golden Lion went to Woman Unknown, the film by Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy, which explores the war waged on women’s bodies. Its lead actress Mathilde Arcel won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, while the Best Actor award went to John Malkovich for Wild Horse Nine. But while the jury was handing out its prizes, another competition was taking place on the red carpet, one that was decidedly less official and much more Instagrammable. The competition of the Venice 2026 beauty looks. From Pamela Anderson to Kendall Jenner, from Bianca Balti to Penélope Cruz, alongside Benedetta Porcaroli, Phoebe Bridgers, Kate and Rooney Mara and Sydney Sweeney, this edition alternated glowing skin, bobs, slicked-back hair, smokey eyes and minimal manicures. A beauty that is always carefully constructed, but increasingly less interested in making that effort visible.

Skin is the new status symbol, but nude is never really nude

If there is one aesthetic that dominated the make-up at Venice 2026, it is glowing, healthy and seemingly bare skin. It is no longer simply the old no make-up make-up. It is skin constructed with extreme precision to look as though it has not been constructed at all. Hiromi, Global Makeup Artist for Armani Beauty, explained the festival’s direction well, describing it as a beauty that is “subtle, fresh and radiant”, with particular attention paid to keeping the skin’s natural texture visible rather than covering it with a heavy finish. Benedetta Porcaroli is one of the most successful interpretations of this aesthetic. Her beauty look, created by Nicoletta Pinna, focuses on a luminous, lightweight complexion, while hair by Michele Di Bisceglie moves between loose lengths, natural movement and sleeker styling. The result is deliberately understated. Kendall Jenner, making her Venice debut, follows the same grammar. For the Wild Horse Nine red carpet, she wears a Giorgio Armani archival dress from the Fall 1995 collection, champagne-coloured, embroidered and almost pearlescent, with Briony Raymond diamond earrings and nude shoes. The nude and bronze make-up by Mary Phillips, with hair styling by Tamas Tuzes and skin prep by Ivan Pol, remains deliberately discreet. Loose dark brown hair, glowing skin, barely flushed cheeks, softly blended eyes and nude lips. The dress makes all the noise it needs to. The same principle runs through the beauty looks by Kelly Cornwell for Alicia Vikander, with luminous skin, thin brows, rosy lips and a milky manicure, and for Vittoria Ceretti, whose Armani Beauty make-up creates a barely defined gaze with pencil while leaving the rest of the face almost weightless. If Levante, with Armani Beauty and make-up by Valentina Raimondi, pushed things further with blush (Armani Dolci Makeup Blush in shades #2, #4 and #5) and facial structure, Penélope Cruz, in a total Chanel look, took nude in a more cinematic direction with Chanel Beauty make-up by Ariel Tejada, playing with bronze, taupe and mauve shades (Les 9 Ombres 587 The New Smoky), dramatic lashes and glossy lips (Rouge Allure L’Extrait 818 Rose Indépendant).

The bob and fringe finally have something to say

The undisputed winner in the hairstyle category at Venice 2026 is the bob. Short, long, wet, retro, geometric, wavy, with fringe or without. The bob appeared in so many versions that at a certain point it almost looked like a dress code. Bianca Balti brought the most graphic version. After arriving at the Lido in a white shirt, jeans and baseball hat, she chose a sumptuous pastel pink dress complete with wings and a multicoloured jewellery set for the opening ceremony. The beauty look by Clé de Peau Beauté remains luminous and rosy, while the deep brown micro bob becomes the true counterpoint to the look. Centre parting, ends flipped upwards, hair tucked behind the ears. A princess, yes, but one drawn with a geometry set. Saoirse Ronan pushed the graphic construction even further. For her directorial debut with Paper Plane, she wore a custom Louis Vuitton column-silhouette dress and pulled her hair back into a sleek ponytail, leaving a micro fringe that was extremely short and perfectly straight as the main character. Thin black eyeliner and nude lipstick complete a look in which the face almost seems framed by the haircut. Matilda De Angelis, with the help of Vincenzo Panico, instead turned the micro bob into a 1930s diva. The wet bob features flipped-up ends and a small circular wave drawn across the forehead with millimetre precision. The result is a sort of couture Betty Boop, completed with black eyeliner and very pale pink lips by Armani Beauty. Penélope Cruz chose a softer, more retro version, while Leslie Bibb took the bob into wet and contemporary territory. Maggie Gyllenhaal, meanwhile, shows just how well a wavy bob can work with a delicate smokey eye. And then there is Susan Sarandon, with a messy bob, highlights and a curly fringe in copper red that already looks ready to become one of autumn’s defining cuts. Fringe, in general, is the season’s small act of rebellion. You do not need aggressive make-up to change your face when you can simply cut a strip of hair above your eyebrows.

Wet hair, gel and slicked-back styles

Wet hair has no intention of leaving Venice. But in 2026, it changes meaning. It is no longer simply the “I just got out of the sea” effect. It is a genuine aesthetic of control. Ultra-shiny, slicked, moulded hair, almost glued to the head. The lagoon, after all, is the perfect place to turn humidity into an aesthetic choice. Kasia Smutniak takes this idea to the extreme, with hair practically erased into a perfect wet finish and tightly controlled nude make-up. Greta Scarano, instead, opts for a more dramatic version, with blonde hair combed back, slight volume at the crown and a wet effect through the lengths. Styling by Massimo Serini for Kérastase uses Overnight Serum Chronologiste and Huile de Parfum to achieve silkiness, control and shine. Her beauty look, however, is not limited to aesthetics. On the red carpet for Hombre Al Agua, Greta wore a trace of purple lipstick on her cheek as a symbolic gesture against violence against women. Then came the chignons. Kate and Rooney Mara, at the premiere of Bucking Fastard, demonstrated that even an apparently simple updo can become a small work of architecture. Rooney chose a knotted braid, Kate a more decorative double knot. In both cases, gel turns the hair into glossy sculptures. Kate, wearing a custom Giorgio Armani embellished with micro-crystals and a black sequin mermaid skirt, completed the look with a low, sculptural chignon decorated with a pearl hair clip and a bronze and brown smokey eye. Rooney Mara, in Louis Vuitton, preferred a rigid, glossy chignon with almost invisible make-up, porcelain skin and nude lips. Her hair look was created by Paul Jones, with make-up by Zoe Taylor. The result is very 2026. Pull everything back, eliminate the noise and let the face do the rest.

Red or pink?

If nude dominated the skin, on the lips Venice 83 left room for two seemingly opposite possibilities. On one side, red, classic, theatrical and impossible to ignore; on the other, pale pink, fresher and almost natural, but still present enough to avoid the effect of erased lips. In the first group there is Claire Foy, with the red lipstick chosen for her by make-up artist Kelly Cornwell, perfectly matched to her tomato-red Bottega Veneta dress; Alba Rohrwacher and Jasmine Trinca, who both chose intense lips (by Nicoletta Pinna using Armani Beauty products) alongside a more tousled and personal beauty aesthetic. Susan Sarandon also played with red, this time in a warmer, more textured version, perfect with her messy bob and copper fringe. Four different ways of using the same colour without necessarily turning it into the usual femme-fatale mouth. Pink, instead, became the choice for those who wanted to keep their beauty look luminous and light without giving up lipstick. Benedetta Porcaroli paired it with her Prada looks and a very natural base, while Amanda Seyfried went for a soft pink, almost an extension of the blush and her Miu Miu look. Alicia Vikander and Marion Cotillard followed the same delicate direction and Sydney Sweeney chose Armani Beauty Lip Power in shade 104 for defined lips with a natural effect. The result is that lipstick becomes a protagonist again without necessarily shouting. Red or pink, the important thing is that it looks like a choice rather than an automatic decision.

Manicures should look expensive, but not too expensive

The Venice 2026 beauty manicure follows the same obsession with quiet luxury running through the make-up. Milky nails, sheer pinks, glossy finishes. The hand has to look polished, healthy and, ideally, so expensive that you cannot explain why. Alicia Vikander chooses an almost transparent version, while Vittoria Ceretti sticks to a very natural pink. Suki Waterhouse, at the premiere of Primetime, breaks the neutrality with a red manicure, perfect with her Saint Laurent look in sheer golden lace, completed with sheer tights and pointed-toe pumps. Minimalism, however, is not mandatory. Red, burgundy and dark shades continue to work beautifully, especially when the entire look decides not to be democratically nude.