At Tom Ford, Lacquered Finishes Rule

If last season at Tom Ford was about seduction, spring-summer 2026 is about desire. “That’s one of the key phrases that [Tom Ford creative director Haider Ackermann] said again this season,” makeup artist Lucy Bridge tells me backstage at the show. “Kissable, desirable lips. If he doesn’t want to kiss it, the color’s out.”

So what colors does Ackermann declare kissable? Bridge color-matched from the collection, custom-mixing shades of neon red, peach, golden mustard, brown, and baby pink. The vibrant shades were then taken up a notch with a high-octane finish that mimicked the show’s navy lacquered floor, which served as the main inspiration for the look.

Creating a lip that boasts both powerful pigment and shine is certainly an art. “Lips are my favorite thing to do,” she says while working her magic on a model. “It’s all about the layers. The thinner the layers you apply and the more of them is how you get these really dramatic pouts for the runway.” Case in point: For a warm brown lip, she alternated between layers of Tom Ford’s Runway Lip Color in Velvet Cherry and Unzip (a dark plum berry). Once the pigment was to her liking, Bridge finished off with one layer of Slim Lip in Atelier Red (to enhance the warmth), followed by Gloss Luxe in shade Disclosure as the final, lacquer-like touch.

Lips were the focal point. Because of that skin was kept “pure”—i.e., luminous and enhanced, with defined cheekbones but absolutely no blush. Bridge used individual lash extensions to give a little bit of drama, calling them “broken lashes.” “Just as they are drying, use the fingers to stick together to create a bit of a point.”