December 1, 2025 |
Every fierce frontwoman needs her war paint. For Beth Ditto, the legendary lead of radical rock trio Gossip, it’s beauty savant Andrew Gallimore who she’s trusted with painting her face for nearly two decades. Both fans of a thin brow, a severe winged eye and lashes with spider leg length, they’ve remained one of the most loyal pairings in punk. Working alongside photographer Rob Rusling and hairstylist Eugene Souleiman for the issue, Gallimore transforms Ditto into a Otto Dix painting, if it was vandalised by Nina Hagen. The result is anarchically sublime. Want to know the method behind the madness? After the shoot, the duo let us into the workings of their collaborative process.
How did the shoot go?
Beth Ditto: Really good, it was quite the feat. We pulled it off, Andrew.
Andrew Gallimore: Sophia [Neophitou] said that she wanted it colourful. We had a starting point that was an Otto Dix painting.
BD: It’s a play on words: Ditto Ox slash Otto Dix. Andrew is very smart. He knows about art because he went to art school. I’m always like, I don’t know what you’re talking about.
AG: It’s always great looking at art references instead of fashion images or other make-ups that already exist. I like to look at paintings, either for the colours and shapes or things that they have on their faces. Otto Dix started a bit of a spiral of research for me. I started looking at other German expressionist artists. On the day, it got peppered with a bit of punk.
BD: You can’t just expect beauty on this face. I’m not [being] self-deprecating. I think that’s why it’s fun. I like to do photoshoots. I like to do things with Andrew because we will go there. Because we’ve worked together for so long, 18 years actually, you’re not afraid to let the other person go wherever. You’re not afraid to make suggestions. When you work with somebody for a long time, especially when it’s your face, I trust what it’s going to be, whatever it is. I’m not a researcher, but I feel like you have to look at it like you’re somebody else and Andrew knows that about me and is comfortable with taking it somewhere else. With Andrew I always feel excited because you get to do something crazy, and he always has the perfect balance of being out there and yet keeping things very tasteful. It’s not going to be done for the sake of being weird. It always has a purpose. It’s out of fun and a genuine joy for it.
Face and Body Foundation in white, Chromaline Eyeliner in black black, Colour Excess Gel Pencil Eyeliner in Glide Or Die and Lipglass in clear by M.A.C Cosmetics, Dew Drop Concealer in 1 by SURRATT, Soft Matte Powder in Cliff by NARS, Stay All Day Matte Dual-ended Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in black by STILA, Vast Lash Mascara by VICTORIA BECKHAM BEAUTY, Liquid Lipstick Matte in Fire Grace by BYREDO, bra by ATSUKO KUDO
AG: I took pictures of Beth with very little make-up on, downloaded them to my iPad and then designed the looks onto her face. I did a bit of research and took some inspiration, but because we had so much to do, I wanted to plan the day a bit.
BD: You had that shit planned out, like fucking Thanksgiving dinner.
AG: I need a bit of a narrative. We also give ourselves freedom to allow for a bit of spontaneity.
BD: And you knew you needed to give me some time to get up and walk around because I can’t sit there still for that long.
Can you remember how you guys first met?
BD: It’s one of my favourite stories and it’s even more special now considering who it entails. We met through our mutual friend Lyndell Mansfield [hairstylist and 10 family member], who passed away two years ago. I hate thinking about. It was the worst loss.
AG: Me and Lyndell did a shoot together. She was driving us home and started playing the Standing in the Way of Control album. I’d never heard it and I was like who is this voice? Then I became a really big fan and Dell was just constantly saying, “We’ve got to get you two working together.”
BD: Lyndell was my window into fashion and glamour. I’d never met anybody like her and never will again. She took me under her wing a lot and was such a good curator of people. She wanted me to work with Andrew together. Fast forward to Dell’s 35th birthday party and she’s said I’m going to have Andrew come do your make-up for it. Me and Andrew both blacked our teeth out for the party and we’ve been together ever since, whether he likes it or not.
Face and Body Foundation in white, Chromographic Pencil in basic red, Retro Matte Liquid Lip Colour in caviar and Lip Pencil in caviar by M.A.C Cosmetics, Dew Drop Concealer in 1 by SURRATT, Hyaluronic Hydra-Powder by BY TERRY, Nebula Airbrush Paint by KRYOLAN
AG: Gossip became a family. It really did. We’ve often said if we’d had gone to the same school…
BD: I would have gotten you in a lot of trouble. I feel like you would have been more of a rule person.
AG: I was good at school.
BD: I was just like, “Let’s do anything else!”
AG: We get on creatively as well. Mutual reference points.
BD: We like a lot of the same things and introduce each other to new things. When you can learn something from each other, that’s fun too because I’m like, “Who the fuck is Otto Dix?” and that’s always exciting too. We like a lot of the same television.
AG: We love to watch Gogglebox.
BD: When you are friends for that long, you develop your style together. You grow together. In any working relationship, you’ve made mistakes together, so you know what not to do. You learn what does work. You can always tell a lot about a person based on the length of the friendships they’ve had. Of course, Andrew and I have argued, we have been through deaths together, we have been through weddings together, births, all that stuff. We were together for the 2016 election. We were together when Michael Jackson died.
Face and Body Foundation in white, Chromaline Eyeliner in black black and Lip Pencil in Ruby Woo by M.A.C Cosmetics, Dew Drop Concealer in 1 by SURRATT, Soft Matte Powder in Cliff by NARS, Vast Lash Mascara and Instant Brightening Waterline Pencil by VICTORIA BECKHAM BEAUTY, Velveteen Liquid Lip Colour in Ribbon by LISA ELDRIDGE
AG: It’s all about trust. Beth’s quite happy to just close her eyes and let me do her make-up and then walk on stage. That’s only [come] from working together for 18 years.
BD: At the same time, I can say, “I saw this thing”, “I have this idea” or “I don’t want that”. Sometimes stylists just want to push their own vision onto you.
AG: It’s not just the visual, you’ve got to feel comfortable, happy and confident to go on stage after it. It’s in none of our interests for me to do something that you’re not happy with.
BD: God no, because we’re so close. It’s literally usually a comfort thing, like, “This lash is poking my eye”. Working with me, Andrew could give you the rundown of the most outrageous but perfect waterproof products, because I’m disgusting and it’ll all melt off. Many people go, “Oh, but just try this, honey.” I’m telling you right now, it always goes wrong. It’s true.
AG: M.A.C Liquidlast 24-Hour Waterproof Eyeliner does not come off, you literally have to have to take it off with an oily remover. This is what I put on Beth for every stage show because it doesn’t move. It stays on her through an hour and a half of sweating in a concert. She’ll be washing her face with a towel, come off stage, and it’s the same as when I put it on her.
BD: So many swimming pools we’ve been in and that liner is still on. You can literally swim in it. That’s the same eyeliner we used to black our teeth out on the very first day we met. If we ever got married, that would have to be our wedding make-up.
AG: Please M.A.C, never discontinue that product.
Face and Body Foundation in white, Chromaline Eyeliner in black black, Colour Excess Gel Pencil Eyeliner in Glide Or Die and Lipglass in clear by M.A.C Cosmetics, Dew Drop Concealer in 1 by SURRATT, Soft Matte Powder in Cliff by NARS, Stay All Day Matte Dual-ended Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in black by STILA, Vast Lash Mascara by VICTORIA BECKHAM BEAUTY, Liquid Lipstick Matte in Fire Grace by BYREDO, bra by ATSUKO KUDO
BD: I am an amateur make-up artist, aka I will do it for my friends for weddings in Portland, Oregon. They have called me the next day and were saying, “I don’t know how to get it off”. Have you had people call you and be like that?
AG: I do remember the first time I used it on a model. I was so panicked because I had to change the looks and I literally couldn’t get it off. I didn’t realise you need oil-based, waterproof, make-up remover.
BD: Shout out to my mom, she only wears waterproof and she would just use olive oil.
What have been some of your favourite looks that you’ve done together?
AG: I really love some of the things we did for the A Joyful Noise album [in 2012]. It was all quite exaggerated: a skinny eyebrow, spiky bottom eyelashes, but they were bigger than the top eyelashes, quite exaggerated.
BD: We did long black Cher hair. I wanted hair to the floor, but we couldn’t as there was no wig that long. The thin eyebrows were like eyebrows my mom would have.
AG: I really liked the solo record EP [2011]. I made those eyelashes out of plastic.
BD: We’re both crafty in our own way, but it was tasteful. It’s not doing something to be weird, but to make the whole picture make more sense. I also think I have a huge head.
AG: You have a really good face for a canvas, but also you often shave your eyebrows off, so that gives me more space to play with.
BD: We should put together a book. There are all these pictures of us over the years, how many fucking hotels we’ve been in, how much traffic we’ve been in, how many airports we’ve been in, how hungover we’ve been in all of these places.
AG: How many rivers we’ve been rescued from.
Face and Body Foundation in white and MACximal Silky Matte Lipstick in Lipstick Snob by M.A.C Cosmetics, Dew Drop Concealer in 1 by SURRATT, Hyaluronic Hydra-Powder by BY TERRY, Blends Palette Shade Dream and Masterclass Pro Cheek Palette Shade Hotline by BLEND BUNNY COSMETICS, Stay All Day Matte Dual-ended Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in black by STILA
BD: That really happened. We got rescued by the fire department from a river. Are you familiar with river tubing? Like those rubber rings that you float along in? We did a lazy river. Andrew had never done this. I grew up in the country so to be honest I’ll fight an alligator. But I had never been on this river and the people who were with us were supposed to stay with us. Me and Andrew stopped floating and were having drinks on the river – you’re not supposed to do that, it’s super dangerous. We look and we don’t see the people who were with us anywhere.
AG: I’d just broken up with someone and we were having this conversation. Then it started getting dark. We were like, “Oh shit, where the fuck are we?”
BD: We used all our energy to pull ourselves to the river bank, wading through twigs. It is the wilderness. Then all of a sudden, what do we see?
AG: The fire department.
BD: They’re like, “Oh your friends are looking for you.” Looking for us, my ass!
Face and Body Foundation in white, Chromaline Eyeliner in black black and Lip Pencil in Vino by M.A.C Cosmetics, Dew Drop Concealer in 1 by SURRATT, Soft Matte Powder in Cliff and The Multiple in Trance by NARS, Stay All Day Matte Dual-ended Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in black by STILA, Vast Lash Mascara by VICTORIA BECKHAM BEAUTY, Demi Wispies false lash by ARDELL, Liquid Lipstick Matte in Marriage by BYREDO
AG: I feel like most of the crazy stories are not on tour. Once we were on the rooftop of the London [West Hollywood] Hotel in LA. We ended up gate-crashing this woman’s 50th birthday party. We were treated to champagne and then birthday cake came round. We had our caricature portrait done. It was all this stuff going on, all these amazing things at this woman’s party, and nobody realised that we weren’t guests. Also, the other memorable moments were the people we’ve met. For me, who doesn’t move in those circles, Beth took me to meet Stephen Fry, as Smokey Robinson was performing, and then we ended up dancing with Grace Jones. All of that is classic pinch-me moments.
BD: You say that like I’m going to those things all the time. They’re the only times I’ve gone and never been invited back. We have a thing where we’re like, let the adventures continue. We end up in weird scenarios together.
Face and Body Foundation in white, Lip Pencil in Vino and MACximal Silky Matte Lipstick in Lady Danger by M.A.C Cosmetics, Dew Drop Concealer in 1 by SURRATT, Hyaluronic Hydra-Powder by BY TERRY, AMC Eyeliner Gel in shade 77 black and duraline by INGLOT, Vast Lash Mascara by VICTORIA BECKHAM BEAUTY, Supracolor 05041/00 by KYROLAN, gloves by ATSUKO KUDO
If you had to revisit a Beth Ditto era from the past, what would you pick?
AG: They’re all different variations of the same thing. Usually there’s going to be a very thick black line or something graphic on your eye, because we don’t really go in a natural beauty direction. We have done a few things actually. That’s one of the things I love as well from a make-up artist point, that you’re amazing and can look great with nothing on or, like, the kitchen sink. It’s satisfying for me to do just a bit of concealer, as much as it is to do your face covered in black liner and crystal.
BD: That was a good one, wasn’t it? There are some [people] that have to get made up. Let’s be honest, I’m not Britney Spears. I’m not famous, but I get my picture taken more than other people that I know and it’s part of what I do. Some people really don’t enjoy that part and, to me, it is the funnest part. It’s dressing up. There’s the narrative, then seeing it into fruition, and getting to see people’s visions and asking yourself, “How do I play this part?” I enjoy it.
Face and Body Foundation in white by M.A.C Cosmetics, Dew Drop Concealer in 1 by SURRATT, Hyaluronic Hydra-Powder by BY TERRY, Nebula Vivid Airbrush by KRYOLAN, false lash by ELDORA, Insanely Saturated lip colour in Skyscraper Rose and Enhance and Define lip pencil in Carnival by LISA ELDRIDGE
AG: It’s all about the creative collaboration, isn’t it? You bought so much to the shoot we did for 10. We also had the absolute legendary hairstylist Eugene Souleiman, who added a unique magic to the shoot as well.
BD: Who I didn’t know was a die-hard punk. The end of that shoot was so fun, because all we did was talk about bands. I love to meet punks. When you’re on creative teams doing shoots, especially these big shoots that go all day, it’s important that you curate the right team that has the right personality and is in the right mood. That’s a big deal.
AG: I think we did that perfect team. The dream team.
Beth Ditto will launch her Indie Forever Disco series on BBC Radio 6 Music in December. 10+ Issue 8 – FUTURE, JUBILEE, CELEBRATION – is on newsstands December 5. Pre-order your copy here.
BETH THAN DITTO: MORE A MUSE
Photographer ROB RUSLING
Fashion Editor SOPHIA NEOPHITOU
Talent BETH DITTO
Make-up and Creative Director ANDREW GALLIMORE
Hair EUGENE SOULEIMAN
Text PAUL TONER
Manicurist HAYLEY EVANS-SMITH at Saint Luke using ESSIE
Digital operator ALEX CORNES
Photographer’s assistants ADAM ROBERTS and JOSHUA ONABOWU
Fashion assistants GEORGIA EDWARDS and ARA LOPEZ
Make-up assistant OPHELIA LIU
Hair assistants CARLO AVENA and CLARE HURFORD
Production ZAC APOSTOLOU
Post-production Rusling Studio
