We Are Your Friends: Backstage LFW by Rebecca Zephyr Thomas10 Images
This article was originally published on February 16, 2024
Back in the late 2000s, a magazine you might’ve heard of had occupied the frontlines of British fashion for almost two decades. At that time, being in Dazed was a bona fide marker of indie cool, and all the faces of the era were bagging covers and editorials. There was Luke Worrall in 2007, hair on end like he’d been fiddling with a plug socket; Alice Dellal gracing the cover of a 2008 issue that also included Worrall and Agyness Deyn in its pages; male model of the moment Ash Stymest scoring a cover for March ‘09, and fellow clothes horse Isaac Carew bagging a spot in our Future Faces series the same year.
While all of this was happening, photographer Rebecca Zephyr Thomas was faithfully documenting those same faces behind-the-scenes at London Fashion Week. In Thomas’ photographs, a fresh-faced Deyn stands in the wings of a House of Holland show venue, staring into the camera with violet lips and a biker jacket that could’ve been Philip Green’s Topshop as easily as Ghesquière’s Balenciaga (it was very hard to tell back then).
Elsewhere, Dellal was getting beautified before the same House of Holland show, Worrall was on standby in a cute little pork pie hat, while supers like Raquel Zimmerman and Mariacarla Boscono also prepped before hitting the London catwalks. The archive images all form part of Thomas’ 2024 exhibition exploring the hidden corridors and clandestine moments of London Fashion Weeks gone by, back when it was much easier to sneak your way into a show or blag your way into an afterparty.
Below, we catch up with Thomas about how she landed the backstage gig, the raucous atmosphere of the 00s scene, and whether it was really as sleazy as they say.
Hi Rebecca! First of all, when were all these photographs taken?
Rebecca Zephyr Thomas: The images taken at House of Holland’s Fashion East show were shot in September 2007, as were the ones shot backstage at Giles, and the MAN show was in February 2009. I had to do a deep dive to figure out where the MAN images were shot, as I wasn’t that great at labelling all my work back then. I figured out it was the MAN show by finding this old Dazed story on the presentation. These were my early experiences shooting backstage and I know I would’ve been wowed to see the big name models at all three shows. I went on to shoot LFW for the next eight years, but moved to digital in 2010 which gives a different look to the images.
Did you have a favourite person or show to photograph?
Rebecca Zephyr Thomas: From this series I would probably say the image of Raquel Zimmerman backstage at Giles, smoking a cigarette indoors around the time of the smoking ban. Very old-school rebellious and naughty. I like the little details in the photo, like the styrofoam cup next to her, and also the contrast between her ‘model off duty’ glamour and the ‘real people’ working on a catwalk show, like the security guards, photographers, hair and make-up team.
Later on, when I was shooting London Fashion Week my favourite shows were the Meadham Kirchoff ones. I still feel that their SS12 show A Wolf in Lamb’s Clothing was so incredible, ahead of its time and such an expression of everything fashion can be. The actual clothes were beautifully created plays on the Kinderwhore theme which I am a sucker for, but they also included non-models in really amazing ways. The troop of Courtney Love-style girls wearing pastel baby dolls dresses and the child ballerinas who took to the catwalk in red ballet shoes were both so cool and reflected the spirit of the collection so well. I have packaging from that show framed on my wall now.
“I do think the times were quite sleazy… as a young woman in the 2000s, I accepted a certain amount of sleaze as something I had to live with” – Rebecca Zephyr Thomas
Nowadays, people can’t help but label that period “indie sleaze” – would you describe it like that? Did it really feel that sleazy?
Rebecca Zephyr Thomas: ‘Indie Sleaze’ has just become an easy way to refer to the fashion and music of the late 2000s, and we’re stuck with it now. I do think the times were quite sleazy though! Navigating through those sorts of experiences as a young woman in the 2000s, I accepted a certain amount of sleaze as something I had to live with. I’ve always been pretty good at standing up for myself, but that’s not to say that people who behaved badly should be let off the hook either. Me Too has had a massive impact on what is acceptable behaviour and that’s a good thing. I don’t understand the complaints against being ‘woke’. Surely humanity should be aiming to become more conscious of oppression – we can’t change systems unless we acknowledge them first.
So you would say that LFW has changed since the time these photographs were taken?
Social media and digital consumption of fashion would be the massive changes, and more diversity in casting as well. It’s really hard to show as a young designer in London – combining business with creativity is a hard road full stop. Fashion, art and creativity adds so much to our daily lives and happiness, but it can be hard to square that with the demands of commerce.
How did you manage to score the gig?
Rebecca Zephyr Thomas: It was through an editorial contact, though most of these images weren’t published by the magazine that commissioned – they went with the photos taken by a partner of a designer instead. That was an introduction to the cut and thrust of the fashion world! I was pretty gutted at the time, but now it could be a good thing. Being a photographer is not a straight career path. When I moved to London in my twenties I was super idealistic, which I think you need to be. It’s a bit like falling in love – you need those heady early days when you’re in the honeymoon period to tide you over the times when the romance is gone, and I think a creative career needs a healthy dose of delusional optimism at the start.
Do you have any particular after-party highlights from the time?
I’ve got one party on the same roll of film as the House of Holland photos. It was in Shoreditch House when it was brand new and really exciting and I met Princess Julia, or at least took my first photo of her there. That was 2007, and I’m still friends with her and taking photos of her now. I was a bit of a party animal during the indie sleaze days – I thought of The Joiners Arms as my version of Studio 54, which is kind of funny looking back. I really loved the adventure of a crazy night out and not knowing who you would meet. Luckily I have some photos, but to be honest I would usually leave my camera at home and just focus on having a wild night.
“I thought of The Joiners Arms as my version of Studio 54, which is kind of funny looking back” – Rebecca Zephyr Thomas
Sounds like there was always loads happening on the scene.
In true Indie sleaze style, I can’t remember most of it! Luckily I have old emails to remind me what I was thinking about or writing to my friends back in New Zealand. I think I was just chasing artistic goals, unsuitable partners, and the next hangover, photographing my heroes when I got the chance. Just hustling to survive in London. I was definitely having fun and trying to cram in as much as I could whether it was shooting fashion week, musicians or my friends.
Was there anything, for whatever reason, you felt you couldn’t include in this exhibition?
This exhibition is just a really small archive of my work. I’m working on a bigger project that is about people, parties and subcultures in east London from 2005 to 2015. I shot the last nights of four of my favourite places in Shoreditch: The Joiners Arms, The Griffin, The Nelson’s Head and The George & Dragon. That’s just one part of the work – I have a lot of negatives to scan yet. I think people are really interested in looking at this period, especially images of real people, seeing what they wore in real life and not just styled or set up images of the time. That’s what I’m hoping to create with this project. It’s a slice of east London before it got really gentrified and expensive, when rent was a bit more affordable, and that process of DIY creativity fed into wider cultural movements.
We Are Your Friends: Backstage LFW is open at Coal Drops Yard, Lower Stable Street, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4DQ until April 12, 2024
