As they get ready for their reunion tour, the iconic British girl group spill on beauty looks they regret, creative control and which TikTok aesthetic is just their 00s style

Girls Aloud prepare to ride again, with Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle and Cheryl (Tweedy) coming together for a *major* reunion tour. It’s been 22 years since we – as in, those of us old enough to remember 2002 – first saw them form on Pop Stars The Rivals. To say that their return is stirring up a tonne of nostalgia would be an understatement. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate the beloved late Sarah Harding.

Beyond the matching Timberlands, co-ordinated draped lycra dresses, and primary-coloured tights and heels, the five girls set the tone of British beauty in the 00s. Their archive looks are a time capsule for all the hits – and sometimes misses – of the millennial and zillenial coming-of-age. I got lucky enough to meet the band for what felt like the ultimate girls’ loo chinwag.

Greeting four strangers whose faces I’d known most of my life sat in front of me, I was a little nervous. Imagine Girls Aloud not liking you? If their very sweet hellos didn’t put me at ease, Nadine checking if her socks and stiletto combo was in shot did; “I kept my socks on and Victoria [our stylist] would kill me.”

The bands’ stylists and glam team have mostly stayed the same over the years. The band describe them now as mother-like figures in the chaotic, rapidly changing world they were catapulted into as teens; “It was imperative that we had a team around us,” says Nicola. “Lisa [Laudat], our hairdresser, has actually been with us for 20 years now.” MUA Karen Darnell who did Nicola’s makeup that day, worked on their iconic debut video “Sound of the Underground”. These flags couldn’t be more green.