This week the English capital hosted the 40th anniversary of London Fashion Week. The showcase has long been home to a stellar roster of UK-based creatives, kickstarting the careers of many important global design talents, from industry legends such as Alexander McQueen to more recent heroes in Jonathan Anderson, Christopher Kane and Grace Wales Bonner. 

The biannual showcase’s current schedule also includes talent from the likes of Roksanda, Erdem and Tove, cementing London’s reputation as a leading international city for fashion and creativity.

Designers displayed their spring/summer 2025 collections this week, and the beauty looks were as sought-after as the fashion, with many focusing on ‘no make-up make-up’, prioritising skincare and opting for minimal coverage in the form of complexion sticks or sheer foundations. This minimal make-up was then added to with flashes of neutral colour on the eyelids and warm, 90s-inspired lips. 

Emerging designer Johanna Parv was also the first ever show that had all models walking with absolutely no makeup, instead showcasing a skin-first approach with backstage facial workouts only in partnership with FaceGym, pioneers of the facial work out.

At Roksanda, the focus was on a matte look down the centre of the face with a glow at the side and MyBlend, the luxury cosmetic brand created by the same skincare innovators as Clarins, was used to get models runway-ready. 

The team prepped models’ skin with Cleansing Water, £70, and Revitalizing Pre-Serum, £135, before a Radiance superserum, £65, was applied to intensely hydrate skin before using Glow Fluid, £65, to enhance skin’s natural radiance and deliver that covetable glow. As a final step, the models spent five minutes wearing the myLEDmask, which contains 144 red and 144 infrared LEDs to stimulate collagen production and visibly firm the skin.

At the Erdem show, clean, fresh, modern and boyish were the beauty buzzwords as make-up artist Amy Conway created looks using Bobbi Brown products inspired by the controversial novelist Radclyffe Hall (Hall’s The Well Of Loneliness was banned by the British government in 1928 for its portrayal of a female character called Stephen and her lover Mary).

Conway explains: “The make-up look is this real clean boyish skin, like no make-up make-up, which we are achieving by getting the exact foundation perfect to each skin tone so that you don’t even see it. The key product here is the Vitamin Enriched Face Base, £54, which has given us a brightness underneath the make-up, and that’s our moisturiser primer. Our key product for the whole look is the new Bobbi Brown Weightless Skin Foundation, £43, which comes in 53 shades. This is a brand-new formula foundation. We’ve applied it pretty much through the centre of the skin to give an even complexion, but we’ve let some darkness under the eye come through to give us a more masculine feel and then we finish the look with a brushed-up brow.”

The eyes were subtle too, Conway adds. “The product on the eye is the Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick, £29.50, which is matched to each of the girls’ complexions and then finished with a very minimal mascara, like a no-mascara look.”

Warm lips were key to the look here, says Conway. “We’ve stained the lip with extra lip tint that’s giving us like the stain, but then we’ve blocked it with a powder. So we’ve just softly mattified it out. So you have the brightness but you have the softness at the same time. It feels a bit more diffused.”

The brand used 111Skin’s masks on models, combined with mini-facials that used lymphatic drainage techniques to revive tired skin and leave it looking dewy and refreshed.

Emerging London-based label Tove is a favourite among fashion insiders thanks to its chic, elegant and polished collections. These keywords were the focus for the beauty looks this season too. Lead make-up artist Lynsey Alexander says: “The look for Tove this season was focused on luxuriously polished, chic beauty. We created beautiful soft, diffused eye looks using Merit Solo Shadow, £26, a cream-to-powder shadow with a soft-matte wash of colour. The models each wore a selection of nude, brown, mauve and unexpected flashes of navy and mossy green to complement their skin tones and outfits.”

As we saw across many of the major shows, the make-up base was deliberately minimal. Alexander says: “I’m telling my team to create coverage where the skin needs it using The Minimalist Perfecting Complexion Sticks, £34. When skin is perfected and hydrated, you need less coverage.” 

The looks were then finished with the Merit Signature Lip in Slip, £26, a 90s-inspired brown shade patted over the lips to add warmth.

Emerging designer Johanna Parv’s designs are focused on functional practicality for modern women. Formerly a Baltic states star in middle distance running, her 2020 graduate collection was inspired by a group of female cyclists , and her minimalist utilitarian designs are crafted in water -repellent nylon and lightweight breathable wool. After showing her first 3 collections with Fashion East, this week marked her solo debut at London Fashion Week and she made an impact with the beauty looks for models by being the first ever LFW designer to have all models walking with no makeup.

Parv partnered with FaceGym who worked on a skin-first approach with models having backstage facial workouts only. The 5-step look included cleansing with FaceGym wonder cleansing balm, £20 before using the FaceGym multi-sculpt gua sha, £53 for sculpting and lymphatic drainage. Cleansing balm was then removed before the third step which was all about hydration and facial massage, with the Facegym hydro bound hydrating hyaluronic and niacinamide serum, £71 followed by the Active Collagen Wonder Moisturizer, £75 and finished with the FaceGym Protect and Glow SPF, £39. The result? A clean, confident, minimal and hydrated look.

Images: JW Anderson; courtesy of brands