It’s backstage on the Helmut Lang show on the primary day of Latest York Fashion Week, and anticipation is within the air. Blow dryers blare, models march and excited (perhaps overcaffeinated) crews chat.

The energy is palpable.

But it surely’s remarkably calmer around makeup artist Daniel Sallstrom, who’s tasked with using MAC Cosmetics to create the ravaged-by-the-elements glam for Peter Do’s second presentation for Helmut Lang. Sallstrom is jitter-free as he precisely smudges pristine makeup on a model’s eyelids with a Q-tip.

“One among the important thing words for the gathering was windswept chaos,” he explains coolly, clearly resistant to the electrified air backstage. “The thought was to take a very done look and disheveling it.”

He navigates the backstage landscape as a seasoned pro, nevertheless it’s a good distance from where he began his makeup journey.

“In Sweden, we had something called Madame Chic, and my sister had this huge box of makeup she would sell and I might all the time play with it after I was alone in the home,” Sallstrom says of his early memories. “I’ve all the time loved transformation and the way you possibly can morph yourself with makeup — whilst a toddler.”

As Sallstrom grew out and in of assorted aesthetic interests — ”Once I was about 14 or 15, I got into being a goth and a punk, and that was after I really began experimenting with it,” he says — various subcultures have inspired him.

“Once I was 19 and I moved to London, I used to be a wild little club kid. I might do drag, gender-bending, and would all the time play with makeup looks. Then, a senior artist from MAC saw me, asked me to return work for them, and the remaining is history,” he says. “It was never planned and all of it happened organically.”

Sallstrom still lives in London, where he’s been for the reason that 2000s, though he admits his life feels nomadic. “I live between London, Rome, Milan and Latest York,” he says, adding that along with the underground subcultures, he spends a variety of time in museums when he’s home. “I really like the Tate Britain in London; they’ve this incredible choice of Francis Bacon.”

In any case, he’s keen on getting out of fashion’s echo chamber when sourcing latest ideas. “I attempt to not have a look at fashion magazines or at Instagram. We’re in such a hamster wheel now where everyone seems to be taking a look at one another and creating the identical thing,” he says. “I attempt to look more at on a regular basis life, even just walking around. I see a lot on the streets.”

But he also gathers insights from his collaborators. His most memorable job is his first show for Rick Owens, fall 2022, where the washed-out glam mirrored the fog machine that clouded the runway.

“Rick Owens — doing his shows was all the time a goal for me. He’s all the time been my number-one designer and we now have so many similar reference points,” he says. “Once I got that first call that he desired to work with me, I’ll always remember it. And I still get so psyched about it each time.”

When ideating runway looks, he tends to remain focused on the gathering he’s working with. At Helmut Lang earlier this month, for instance, he iterated on Do’s focus of every day life in Latest York, weather and elements aside.

“I search for authenticity and respect” in collaborators, Sallstrom says. “You’d have so many designers and photographers that felt they were above everyone else. That way of working is de facto boring, and you possibly can’t be relaxed with someone who doesn’t see you on the identical level as them. It’s also very hard to be creative.”

His dream collaborators vary, though he’s ticked many off the list. “Rihanna, Naomi Campbell I each all the time desired to work with, after which I did. Same with David Sims and Rick [Owens]. But there’s all the time people who are latest and up-and-coming, which is what keeps it super interesting.”

There are a number of megawatt entertainers that he has his eye on as well. “I might like to work with Cher,” Sallstrom says. “And Dolly Parton. Not only are they icons of incredible happiness, but they appear hilarious. I used to work with Grace Jones back within the day and it was so fun to be round her, because she’s so energizing and hilarious.”