The unnerving soundtrack to Gareth Pugh’s power bitches

“I'm not really sure about this music...” one show-goer whispered nervously from the rows of this week’s AW16 Gareth Pugh show, as the voice of Grace Jones growled over the stereo about being a “corporate cannibal” and a “man-eating machine”. Matthew Stone’s remix of Jones’ 2008 single “Corporate Cannibal” was the ideal, unnerving choice to accompany Pugh’s power-bitch women, who strutted down the chequerboard carpet catwalk in the Grand Temple of London’s Freemasons’ Hall – a space once reserved for men only.

“It’s just perfect, she is Hannibal Lecter and she embodied everything that I wanted in the collection,” said Pugh of choosing Grace Jones for the soundtrack. “The original didn’t have the pace or the mood that I wanted, and by chance I came across the a cappella version. As soon as I found it I sat down with Matthew and we made this one track the music for the whole show.”

With their eerily perfect businesswear, Illuminati triangle-stamped briefcases shackled to their wrists and even the occasional Hannibal Lecter mask, this was a vision of cold, hard female strength so total it was almost frightening. “There’s the idea that female power and position within a society are often won by very aggressive attitudes,” explained Pugh backstage. “You have to really get on top of your game and stay there. It’s very true… I know a lot of those women and I both fear and love them. They’re the kind of women you really don’t want to cross.” That was certainly the case here.

Listen to Matthew Stone’s Gareth Pugh AW16 mix exclusively below