Pat McGrath: a make-up myth

Fashion lives on make-up. This could be the mantra of Pat McGrath, universally recognised as one of the world’s most famous make-up artists. To her we owe many campaigns that have marked the collective imagination but also the most daring trends that, over time, have literally rewritten the rules of beauty.

Born in England to a Jamaican mother, Pat grew up among multi-ethnic colours and cultures. Paradoxically, she never attended a make-up school, but her enterprising, out-of-the-ordinary spirit led her to approach the fashion industry and to collaborate quickly with the most prestigious names in the sector. Steven Meisel wanted her for his most famous shoots and soon her work conquered the prestigious covers of Vogue.

From photo shoots to catwalks the step is short and it is in the backstage areas of fashion weeks that McGrath shows off her creative skills, building a solid reputation and an immediately recognisable stylistic signature. Before long, it is the brands that are looking for her and no longer the other way around. She thus became the author for the shows of Versace, Prada, Valentino, Dior, Alexander McQueen and many other giants of the fashion system. Her make-up is liked because it is just like her: bold, theatrical and able to anticipate trends.

Thanks to her, the figure of the make-up artist becomes more and more valuable because she is able to bring art to art in every fashion show or photo shoot. Whether glitter, liquid metals, shiny plastics or three-dimensional applications, each of her looks becomes a manifesto. In 2015 Pat founded her eponymous cosmetics line but her impact in the fashion industry goes far beyond business and for this, in 2021, she was made a Dame by the British government becoming the first make-up artist in the world to receive such an honour.

Among her most recent successes, it is impossible not to mention the porcelain “glass skin” look created for the Maison Margiela fashion show by John Galliano, her great friend and Pygmalion, or her appointment as creative director of Louis Vuitton’s newborn La Beauté line, a project with very high hype. Prestigious achievements and make-ups that have bewitched generations: Pat McGrath thus confirms herself as a legend capable of interpreting the times and reinventing them.