There was one guiding reference for the hair at Richard Quinn’s autumn/winter 2025 show: Catherine Deneuve in the 1983 film The Hunger, in which she stars opposite Susan Sarandon and David Bowie. “Her hairstyle was very coiffed but small,” says Sam McKnight, deep in the underbelly of London’s Horticultural Hall. He holds up a reference photograph of Deneuve, her hair teased and “done” but without the over-the-top volume typical of the ’80s. “It’s almost masculine in a way because it’s much more simple,” McKnight says, adding that while the look of the show is glamorous, there’s still a modern slant. “Richard’s shows demand a certain sort of restrained elegance, and I think if you can’t do it here, where else are you going to do it?”
A somewhat departure from the slicked, gelled styles seen in past Quinn shows, McKnight collaborated with Freda Rossidis of Australian haircare brand Mr Smith, using pre-styling product The Foundation to prep the models’ hair. “After that, we blow-dried with Super Lift (his own volume-giving spray) to get the volume in the roots, but only in the front because the back is very small. And then for the volume in the hair, we backcombed with Easy Up-Do, brushing and pinning it into place with a soft brush.” It was finished with a blast of Modern Hairspray. “It’s not wash-and-wear boho hair, it’s a whole different thing,” McKnight concludes, preparing to re-enter the fray of hairstylists and make-up artists. “But it is nice to see a little bit of glamour in these gloomy times.”
Elsewhere in the backstage crowd, makeup artist Terry Barber oversaw the 1960s-inspired look inspired by Jean Shrimpton and Julie Christie. “There’s a slightly off-white, pearly, bone-coloured eyelid with a whisper of contour,” he says, referencing the snow and ice theme that would manifest on the runway. “And then lots of mascara, top and bottom in a ’60s flower child kind of way.” (I later see Barber explain in detail to an artist that he likes the mascara dramatic and defined, but not clumped.)
Diana Ross in Mahogany was another of Barber’s key inspirations, as well as iconic model Penelope Tree, who actually walked the show. “With Richard’s shows, it’s always based on glamour rather than rawness,” Barber says. “It’s pure beauty.”
This article was first published on Vogue.com.
