Gabe Gordon SS26 — When Beauty Meets Ruin
Welcome to Fashion Week Diaries, our behind-the-scenes look at New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2026. From iconic Manhattan venues to the chaos of backstage styling, we’re giving you an insider’s view of the artistry, the energy, and the hair that makes fashion magic happen. Led by our own Trey Bower alongside some of the industry’s most talented hair directors, Boulder Hair Collective is proud to bring the creativity of NYFW back home to Boulder.
They say beauty often comes after the crash. In the case of Gabe Gordon’s Spring/Summer 2026 “Autoerotic” show, beauty didn’t just come after it — it rose through it.
We showed up in Tribeca, to a former firehouse turned show-ground. Red garage doors, smoke billowing like memories of fires past, a wrecked car parked muddy and steaming in the doorway, waiting as the gates opened. The stage was set for drama; collection by Gabe Gordon & Timothy Gibbons pulled inspiration from demolition derbies, Madonna’s Erotica, Cronenberg’s collision of bodies and metal — the juxtaposition of ruin and seduction.
Backstage, the energy was electric — shaped by the debris, by the rawness. The directive: perfected blowouts; dramatic wave patterns; hair that falls in all the right places; with just a hint of deconstruction — a whisper of madness around the edges. Imagine polished glam meets fractured beauty.
Trey Bower took the helm, with hair lead Dylan Chavles for Cutler Salons, orchestrating looks that were both statuesque and wounded. One model’s hair was slicked into precise volume, sculpted waves rolling like shocks of movement. Another let the hair fall, nearly undone, edges soft, texture teased, letting frizz and imperfection show as part of the beauty.
The team behind the scenes was fierce — stylists, assistants, wo/manpower in high gear. With smoke spilling in, lights flickering, the wrecked car’s silhouette a backdrop, every brush stroke, every spray, every curl had to be exact. We balanced hardness and softness: gloss and grit, structure and collapse.
When the show lit up — doors lifting, car revealed, models stepping through smoke — the hair became part of the narrative. Waves glided, blowouts glowed, hair caught in motion and then paused, falling like it had survived something. The disheveled wasn’t careless. It was intentional, resurrected, beautiful in ruin.
The clothes did the storytelling too: latex, vegan leather, metallics, sheer transparencies, knit patchwork, structure ripped by cutouts, hardwear hardware. But even the sleekest, sharpest pieces needed hair that spoke loudly: because when fashion flirts with theatricality, hair has to answer back.
By the end, it wasn’t just a show. It was a resurrection — of glam, of messy beauty, of edges. Trey Bower and the whole hair team didn’t just style; they translated trauma into allure. And if beauty is what lingers after the smoke clears, this was a look that will haunt in the best way.
For us at Boulder Hair Collective, Fashion Week is more than a moment — it’s a mindset. The same techniques and artistry Trey and the team perfected backstage in New York are what we bring to every guest in our chairs. Whether it’s a perfectly polished blowout, effortless waves, or texture that feels alive, our work is about translating runway-level beauty into everyday confidence. Follow along as we continue our Fashion Week Diaries — because beauty doesn’t just live in New York; it lives wherever we create it.
