A New Hairstyle Has Swept Venice Film Festival

The 2026 Venice Film Festival is underway, which means A-listers are making their way around Italy by private boats and water taxis. That salty sea air has done wonders for some of the men in attendance, many of whom are coming ashore with some roughly tousled hair that we’re calling the heartthrob fringe.Jonathan Bailey, Nicholas Galitzine, and Patrick Schwarzenegger have all showed up on the archipelago with this specific look. Their hair has been haphazardly parted, either pushed back or to the side, with a few choice locks brushing over their forehead. It’s not exactly a forehead curl—a Superman-esque look that features a purposeful, singular strand of (usually wavy) hair that falls smack dab in the middle of the face—but rather uncentered piecey strands that add a dash of scruff to an otherwise tidy look.The heartthrob fringe is in line with a larger men’s grooming trend: longer hair styled to look intentionally unfussy. Beyond the heartthrob fringe, it’s shown up in the form of mullets, boy bangs, and even the ‘90s-era “warrior cut.”“We’ve had years of really clean fades, sharp lines, and very controlled barbering, and now there’s a shift toward hair that feels more lived-in and individual,” Christine Nellie, a celebrity hairstylist, says. “The piecey fringe fits perfectly into that because it has shape and intention, but it doesn’t look overly styled.”Jonathan Bailey's piecey bangs fall just above his eyebrow as not to obscure his eyesight. Andreas Rentz/Getty ImagesEthan Juan's off-center bangs have movement and separation while not fully covering his forehead. Alessandro Levati/Getty ImagesWhere other styles of fringes completely cover the forehead, the heartthrob fringe looks as if you went to bed with a perfectly done side part, woke up, and went about your day with just a few stray strands mussed up all over. “It creates a little mystery,” Nellie says. Because those bangs obscure part of the face, “there’s something inherently sensual about that.”Some of her clients, like Lewis Pullman, Bill Skarsgård, and Chace Crawford, have also rocked this specific style. Those few loose hairs add a “tiny bit of imperfection.”She compares it to certain aspects of dressing: leaving a top slightly unbuttoned or intentionally omitting a specific element of an outfit (or letting a shirt collar poke out of a jacket).The key for replicating this hairstyle on yourself is to avoid making the fringe look too intentional. “It’s about separation and movement with the piecey bangs,” celebrity hairstylist Sarah Singh says. She recommends putting gel in the hair while it’s about 50% wet and lifting from the root to create the separation she mentioned.The heartthrob fringe shows that a few rogue hairs can do more for a look than spending hours meticulously styling it. If it just so happens to make you appear as if you stepped off a boat in Venice? Even better.