Meruert Tolegen's Secret Ingredient for Fall 2026 Is Synthetic Hair – Latest Fashion Trends & Style Tips February 13, 2026 at 12:27AM

February 12, 2026

📰 Meruert Tolegen's Secret Ingredient for Fall 2026 Is Synthetic Hair

✨ Fashion Insights & Trends:

After the sun set on the first day of New York Fashion Week, Meruert Tolegen whisked showgoers away from the city's snow-covered sidewalks and welcomed them into a moody, cavernous abyss filled with sculptural styles. Live violinist Taisiya Losmakova flooded the label's SoHo flagship with serene music while statuesque models stood atop wooden platforms before periodically trading places, as if participating in a high-fashion chess match.

Tolegen's design signatures were on full display via exaggerated hip silhouettes, stiff corseted dresses and a subdued color palette. The designer often employs eye-catching fabrics and "quirky" uses of materials, with this season's collection spotlighting synthetic hair as its own fabrication.

One of the Fall 2026 collection's standout garments is a cropped jacket completely made from synthetic hair that is basket woven at the front and hand-stitched down with braided hair lining the arms. The hair detailing also manifests as a statement collar on a structured column coat.

Tolegen's fascination with synthetic hair as a fabric stemmed from a vintage pull: "I actually ran into a vintage piece and I found out it was monkey fur, and I liked the way it laid, but I didn't want to use monkey fur, so I went to synthetic hair and tried to mimic that," Tolegen told Fashionista at her Fall 2026 presentation on Wednesday.

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In the video above, Tolegen expands on her evolving inspiration, placing her logo in the collection and why she was drawn to synthetic hair as a sartorial material.

Ahead, see every look from Meruert Tolegen's Fall 2026 collection.