A/W 2025 Hair Colour and Styling Trends Predicted by Experts

Autumn winter 2025 is shaping up to be sleek, archive inspired and wonderfully wearable. Josh Wood Atelier’s Creative Master Colourist Jason Hogan and Principal Stylist Mike Mahoney set the tone with a season brief that prizes polish, nuance and cut discipline. As they put it, this is a moment for “effortless polish, heritage inspired hues, and timeless cuts reimagined for today.”

Colour: vintage influence, modern technique

For blondes, the mood is seventies soft focus rather than icy platinum. Hogan’s “Heritage Homage” casts blondes in Titian and rich golden tones that are “very shade on shade and wearable,” with references to classic television and cinema. We’ll also see a shift to warmer, grown in blondes for autumn, often described as a relaxed, low maintenance take that pairs well with structured cuts.

Redheads remain central to the palette, but with nuance. Hogan points to palest copper and strawberry with “tone on tone elements for added drama,” and recommends a “Copper Gold Gloss” to amplify natural red or copper bases while keeping the finish luminous. We can expect the copper story to evolve into softer, wearable variants that can be tuned to skin tone and lighting through subtle glazing and lowlighting.

Brunettes are moving decisively into gloss territory. Hogan calls out “glossy deep brunettes with reflects of gold,” and suggests targeted topcoats to personalise finish, from a “Champagne Blonde Gloss” to warm up highlighted hair to a “Chocolate Gloss” to intensify non highlighted bases without flattening tone. Espresso, cinnamon and other dimensional browns are among the season’s most asked for shades, underlining the value of gloss services to maintain reflect between appointments.

Crucially, colour is integrated, not isolated. Hogan stresses he is “not looking at colour as the singular hair accessory” but tailoring shade and placement to the client’s wardrobe, make up and overall palette so the whole image reads “cohesive, polished and put together yet at the same time… effortless and deliciously London.”

Styling: polish without rigidity

As temperatures drop, hair comes down and finish matters. Mahoney names the “Polished Natural Look” as the season’s anchor, achieved by “applying products through the hair to define natural curls and texture,” then “combing through the roots so that the roots are a little straighter,” leaving movement through the ends. This sits neatly alongside the broader tilt to wearable texture that looks groomed rather than set.

Fringes are back on cue. “Fringes always generally come back in the winter seasons,” says Mahoney, citing everything from a Jane Birkin whisper to a Brigitte Bardot fuller bang. We’ve been seeing fringes as a clear 2025 storyline, both as a soft face frame for longer cuts and as a way to sharpen up shorter shapes.

Then there is the bob. It never really leaves, but winter brings it into sharp relief. “Like with the fringe, the bob always comes back around during the winter season,” Mahoney notes, and it arrives in all its iterations, from lob to French to Italian. “A bob is a bob, whether it’s shoulder length or just below the jawline,” and coupling it with a fringe reads instantly chic. The bob is the defining cut of 2025, with variants that range from sleek and strong to shaggy and flicked out, which makes it a flexible canvas for the season’s colour work.

How to wear it now

If you are blonde, ask for multi tonal warmth with strategic lowlights half a shade deeper than your base to prevent wash out under grey light, then commit to glossing between full services. Brunettes benefit from a clear or tinted gloss every four to six weeks to maintain reflect and control porosity through the mid lengths. Redheads should protect vibrancy with cooler water, minimal heat and a pigment depositing conditioner that mirrors the copper or strawberry family your colourist has created. Those maintenance choices align with current salon practice and the season’s broader emphasis on shine and manageability.

Cut wise, decide how your outerwear and routine interact with your hair. If you live in high collars, a fringe and collarbone bob will hold its line on heavy coat days. If you prefer length, borrow from the Polished Natural Look and keep the root area groomed with a lightweight cream while scrunching a gel cream through the ends to preserve natural curl or wave. That top to tail contrast is the season’s quiet luxury, and it is also the easiest way to keep everyday hair looking deliberate without rigid styling.