Backstage beauty: Off-the-cuff cuts was the thing at Caro Editions

Many of the hands backstage at Caroline Bille Brahe's spring/summer '26 show had been canal-side in Copenhagen seven years prior, when the model-turned-designer got married in the very same spot. “It was a reunion,” says hair stylist Cim Mahony, who did Caroline’s wedding hair at his own studio. “The energy was calm, emotional, familiar.”

That familiarity translated to the hair: polished without being pristine. “We didn’t want anything sprayed into place,” notes Mahony. “It had to feel like the girls had just come from somewhere and not like they were going somewhere.”

Related: Caro Editions rings in SS26 with wedding bells, bows and pure joy

A softening base cream was used to detangle and prep the lengths, followed by deliberate double-brushing with a classic boar-bristle brush. “We spent five to ten minutes on each head,” Mahony noted, “just brushing, to bring out the shine.” A controlled blow-dry sealed the cuticle, while a whisper of hairspray kept the shape in place without locking anything down.

With polka-dotted headscarves and signature hats woven through the collection, styles were kept wearable and adaptable, able to sit neatly under fabric without losing volume. Cuts were made on-site to suit the clothes, the face, and the mood. Bobs refined, fringes trimmed – each approach tailored to the individual. “No one-size-fits-all,” says Mahony.

Makeup, by longtime collaborator Trine Skjøth, echoed that sentiment. Dewy skin and softly defined eyes gave each model a diffused luminosity teetering on the brink of bridal. The look was finalised with Bille Brahe under the bridge during rehearsals through subtle adjustments made in real time, keeping everything in step with the clothes.