BACKSTAGE WITH SOFIA TILBURY AT HARRIS REED’S AW25 LFW SHOW
We were invited by Charlotte Tilbury to experience the magic unfold as Sofia Tilbury conjured dewy, glass-like skin and theatrical, fluttery lashes for Harris Reed’s London Fashion Week show.
Flamboyance, fluidity and a dash of frivolity – that’s been the potion for designer Harris Reed’s rapid ascent to success since graduating from Central Saint Martins’ prestigious BA fashion design course in 2020. But for his AW25 collection entitled ‘Gilded’– which coincided with his fourth season as Nina Ricci’s Creative Director – a darker, more mysterious shadow stalked Reed's unmistakably romantic, gender-defying attitude to design.
Sheathed in a hooded, floor-pooling gown of dark chiffon and perched on sky-scraping platforms, Oscar-nominated actress Florence Pugh opened the show with a rallying speech that cut through the chandelier-lit halls of Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries. “It is only when we are no longer fearless, that we can begin to create,” she announced with an almost divine-like presence. It was delivered as both a clarion call to individual expression and an ode to the mantra that has long spawned the spine of Reed’s creative North Star: “fighting for the beauty of fluidity.”
And it's Reed’s continued study of resistance – this season, informed by a vision board pinned with images of defiant drag queens, Victorian ladies and punk provocateurs – that sparked the fragile, yet theatrical beauty of the show. Teaming up with long-term, trusted collaborator – and Global Artistry Director of Charlotte Tilbury – Sofia Tilbury, the make up drew from Reed’s more elevated “exploration of rebellion,” she tells us.
To achieve a “soft, fresh and lit-from-within complexion,” Sofia prepped the skin with Charlotte's Magic Cream to plump and brighten, set with a light misting of Charlotte’s Magic Hydrator Mist. Next, a sheer layer of the Hollywood Flawless Filter, blended with Beautiful Skin Radiant Concealer, created the illusion of glass-like, almost iridescent skin that glimmered under the soft glow of chandeliers above. Reflecting on the current political climate, Reed intentionally wove a sense of vulnerability into the collection with swathes of diaphanous, glitter-dusted chiffon that spilled from cinched waists and draped languidly over the body with sinuous grace, revealing subtle glimpses of skin veiled beneath. While Sofia heightened this fragility in the skin's translucency, the cheekbones and jaw were kept sharp and chiselled with a slick of the Hollywood Contour Wand.
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Always one for a spectacle, Reed’s eye for the operatic was on full display in the line up’s architectural, armour-like silhouettes. 18th-century crinolines were engineered into cages that encircled and shielded the body, hand-painted gold-leaf spikes bloomed from the chest, while corsets unravelled into jagged lines that sprouted from the shoulders like wings. Sofia mirrored the mystique of these otherworldly, exaggerated proportions with feathery, faux lashes in shades of inky black, sapphire and metallic gold that stretched high beyond the brow bone. “This look was really about the eyes,” Sofia explains, “so we created definition using Charlotte's Palette of Beautifying Eye Trends in Super Neutral.” With an ultra-thin stroke of the Feline Flick Eyeliner, Sofia then applied long, wispy lashes on both upper and lower lashlines, before following up with lashings of Charlotte’s Exagger-Eyes Volume Mascara “to dial up the drama”. Finally, lips were kept soft and subtle, brushed with just a hint of Kim K.W. Hot Lips Lipstick or K.I.S.S.I.N.G Lipstick in Penelope Pink or Pillow Talk Intense.
Let’s not forget the hair. Led by esteemed session stylist Ali Pirzadeh, it was slicked back into two austere looks: a sleek, liquid-like ponytail or hand-sewn into sculpted twists that recalled the serpentine lines of Reed’s statuesque silhouettes.
Unapologetic, unruly and at times, uncomfortable – at its essence, Reed’s presentation celebrated the beauty of leading a life shamelessly dedicated to the art of self-expression. And, through a flutter of gilded lashes or a glint of shimmering skin, Sofia’s transformative make up was really the alchemy that pushed, played and magicked his spectral, rebellious fantasy to life. After all, what is beauty without a touch of rebellion?
Cult Beauty’s Content Editor and a Cult Beauty OG, Verity loves nothing more than the marriage of language and lip balm. A quintessential Libran, she’s a self-professed magpie for luxury ‘must-haves' and always pursuing the new and the niche — from the boujee-est skin care to cutting-edge tech. Balancing an urge to stop the clock with her desire to embrace the ageing process (and set a positive example for her daughter), Verity's a retinol obsessive and will gladly share her thoughts about the time-defying gadgets, masks and treatments worth the splurge...
