I won’t have a word said against Shakespeare’s Sister. Not simply because Hormonally Yours was the first tape album I ever bought at aged nine, but because – particularly now, in retrospect – they informed so many of the goth-indie fashion and beauty trends that we’ve been apt to rediscover and celebrate lately.

Etched most in my memory though, is the video to the song, Stay, which was released in January 1992 and held the number one spot for eight weeks (the longest stretch for any girl band, ever). It’s a Christmas song of dreams; namely because it doesn’t contain any lyrics pertaining to Christmas or the nativity or tinsel or anything else remotely festive. Still, it was dramatic, camp, sorrowfully beautiful, futuristic and celestial.

It’s a Christopher Kane galaxy t-shirt in motion; an Alexander McQueen fashion show expressed through music. I’ve never met a person who doesn’t adore it. And if you needed further proof of it’s sanctioning into the cultural canon of the early 90s, look no further than French & Saunder’s hilarious skit.

"It’s a messed-up, nihilistic sort of beauty ideal"

Though Marcella Detroit looks abominably beautiful with her haunting smokey eye and red lip, it’s Siobhan Fahey who plays the evil one and so got to have the most rip-roaring fun with her look on set. It’s a messed-up, nihilistic sort of beauty ideal: excessively smudged eyes, a deep maroon (or black) glazed lip and a growl that says ‘come any closer and I will consume you.’

And that’s the lovely thing about winter: you can get away with wearing much more make-up without looking like you’ve tried exceptionally too hard. Because, if you give something a goth edge, it immediately becomes non-tacky and takes on the air of a tortured, loveless soul. Wearing both a strong eye and lip is something that has always eluded me – I know it’s a farcical old rule, but I admit I do subscribe to the law of doing one or the other – it balances the face.

Here, both are expended theatrically, yet somehow it all still feels well within the realms of non-shouty make-up prowess. Especially when teamed with a stonewash jean and black leather biker. Or a barbed wire tiara. 

1. Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick in Tuxedo Black, £20 at Selfirdges
2. Clarins Eye Quartet Mineral Palette in Graphites, £31 at Selfridges
3. MAC Extended Play Lash Mascara, £14 at Debenhams
4. MAC Lipstick in Cyber, £15

Photography: Hugo Yanguela