Philip Treacy marked his return to London Fashion Week with more glamour and 80s excess than any other show this year. Then again, not every show featured Lady Gaga as its ringmaster. Wonderland sneaked behind the scenes.

It’s been 13 years since Philip Treacy showed in London, and the milliner returned with a bang: Alek Wek busting a few Thriller moves on the catwalk, a fully-robed gospel choir and Lady Gaga in a floor-length veil opening the show by declaring Treacy “the greatest milliner of all time”. (We heard her shrieking “I’m so excited!” the minute she walked backstage – in full floral headdress – and saw the multitudes of hats.)

But let’s not forget the real stars of the show: an all-black catwalk in Michael Jackson’s old costumes that paid tribute to the extravagance of icons like MJ, Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow.

Snowden Hill, Fudge Global Session stylist, let us in on a few backstage secrets while pinning models’ hair into sleek, slicked-back barnets: “It’s the small details in hair that you can catch in a certain light. With this kind of hair, you’ve got a big hat going on, so it’s about making small heads very beautiful.”

“Grace Jones is a very good friend of Philip’s and it’s paying homage to her, as well. Big hats look great on black women – they’re very strong and they can definitely carry it off. It’s no-holds-barred here, you can do or wear whatever you like in Michael Jackson’s Neverland!” We get the feeling Lady Gaga would agree.

Check out our other backstage posts from LFW:

Day One: Felder Felder, PPQ and KTZ
Day Two: Moschino, Jasper Conran and Kinder Aggugini
Day Three and Four: Christopher Raeburn, J.W. Anderson and Pringle of Scotland
Day Five: Aminika Wilmont, Fashion Fringe and Nasir Mazhar
Day Five: Meadham Kirchhoff – Special Report

Words: Zing Tsjeng
Images: Mark Rabadan