Sam McKnight on creating the wet look locks backstage at Ashish

Ashish took us to a late-night, grim-but-great house party for his spring/ summer 2019 show during London Fashion Week.

Dotted around a runway constructed from mismatched bits of old carpet, were podiums on which jittery, wide-eyed boys bopped and flailed as though in a techno den.

From atop a mound of mismatched speakers, a DJ pumped out techno, while two PVC-clad girls canoodled and caressed each other nearby.

All the raver garb was reimagined entirely in Ashish’s favourite sequins, giving glamour to the griminess.

Boys and girls walked in ruffled sequinned midi skirts paired with oversized hoodies embellished with phrases ‘sex and magic’ and ‘send nudes.’

Elsewhere a sequinned silver bikini was worn under a salmon pink sequinned trench and a glorious lime green billowing sequinned jumpsuit gathered at wrist, ankle and neck.

For the hair, super hairstylist Sam McKnight created a super slicked 'Sunday raver' look, with strands of hair stuck to models' faces. “I’m using a lot of glycerine mixed with water, because the glycerine stays wet looking," said McKnight backstage.

At times the ‘sweat look’ look was so authentic models were literally drenched with water.

He used a combination of glycerin and other oils to stick strands of hair to the models faces to create a dishevelled, clubbed-out effect.

Makeup artist Isamaya French continued the raver theme with glistening neon-flecked faces. Using all MAC products she ensured skin was hydrated to the max with MAC mineralise moisture gel (£30), then perfected where needed with Studio Waterweight Concealer (£18.50). She then used MAC’s strobe cream (£25) to give luminosity before pressing clear lip gloss onto cheekbones, the bridge of the nose and cupids bow for a super sweaty effect.

Brows were groomed and then French daubed organic, abstract smudges of MAC’s Chromacake (£22.50) in Genuine Orange or True Chartreuse (neon orange and neon lime) across the eyes, close to the inner corners and wrapped low below tear duct.

Watch the backstage video above.

Photography: Will Sanders (wills.world)