Welcome to the Fashion Week Photo Diary, a series where photographers document the faces, places and parties surrounding global catwalk shows. Below, IDEA co-founder and photographer Angela Hill recounts her behind-the-scenes documentation of August Barron SS27, designed by Benjamin Barron and Bror August Vestbø.

Backstage was a riot of colour and Elnett hairspray, about one million girls, red faded walls and mega excitement… I loved it.

I had a plastic carrier bag of the cheapest automatic cameras (bought from the Paris version of Snappy Snaps – more like Snappy Snaps Lite though, the PFC to KFC. I shot for two hours; bums and bras, showpaint and pearls and glorious excess.

Lotta was running the crew with a NASA space mission type efficiency. All the girls kissed and hugged me – I was so swept up in the melee, and all too quickly it was time for them to go onstage; I managed to run out to my seat.

The anticipation, the swirling smoke, the giant disco ball only felt right. It had to be over the top – this was La Cigale the theatre, with its old-time red velvet seating, leftover cigarette odour (Gauloises, bien sur), stages and walkways ready. Rafe, first out as the curtain opened up. Now this girl, and this girl, and here comes another, winking, posing, knowing how very, very fabulous darling they looked.

I took some runway pictures and felt like I’d gone back to those days and nights I used to have – the lockdown bars in a basement in Soho. Nights were never-ending, and the coming of dawn only meant moving on to the 24-hour breakfast greasy spoon on Kingsley Street. This show was a sleaze fest, and I sang my heart out.

I bought from the same French Snappy Snaps some lurid pink mini photo albums, fleeced for 3 euros each. Processed the cameras there too, with much arguing as to the type of prints I wanted and size and matte or gloss and scans or no scans before they told me they cannot possibly do this quickly; it might take days, they don’t know, lots of shoulder shrugging and puffing… finally we did a deal.

I made the little albums quickly without a thought to layout, composition or perfect lighting. I just tried to convey the spirit. It was such a happy night. I love AUGUST BARRON.

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