When John Met Vivienne: backstage at 90s fashion weeks with Gavin Bond

Being backstage in the Nineties was electric. Once a show was over, everyone would pile back to congratulate the designer. Here, John Galliano and his right-hand man Steven Robinson (far left) had come back to see Vivienne Westwood after her Anglomania show in Paris on 16 March 1993. I loved Galliano and Westwood, they were both so energetic and different.

My whole career started with Vivienne. I’d just left Saint Martins and hers was my first-ever show. The Times bought my images from backstage and ran them as a story, and Vivienne saw them. The next season I found myself shooting her for a month as she created the collection and then at this show in Paris with her.

Everything I shot was full-frame as I saw it. Nothing was retouched. I built relation - ships with the models and never got in the way, so they let me past the hair and make-up with all the photographers, to them getting into their frocks. There was always so much fun unfolding, the girls would be screaming, so full of life, music would be pumping. Everyone would be downing Moët & Chandon (at Galliano’s shows they’d also all order in Big Macs). Back then, there was no social media, people just went out, had a good time and the next day things were just a memory. I captured those memories.

Gavin Bond: Being There is at Claridge’s until 29 Sep and Hamiltons Gallery until 29 Oct. The book ‘Being There’ is out now, £75 (Idea)