Signature Styles: Pat McGrath

Pat McGrath is a pioneer in the artistry of makeup. 

Pat McGrath, Dame Patricia Ann McGrath, was born in 1970 in Northampton, England, where she was raised by her mother, a Jehovah's Witness and dressmaker. 

Her mother, Jean, would become an early source of major artistic inspiration for a young Pat. Together they would watch old Hollywood films, analysing the looks. Mixing pigments. Experimenting with different products and techniques. “My mother was obsessed with makeup,” she told Guardian reporter Sali Hughes in a 2017 interview. “She would stand in front of the TV, and we’d have to guess what she’d done differently with her eyes. I’d think: ‘Get out of the way!’ But she wouldn’t move until I’d told her.” 

It would be almost disrespectful to not acknowledge the fact that McGrath didn’t just pioneer makeup techniques, or looks or products, but that she created space for women of colour within the beauty industry, something which was always lacking, and even today we still unfortunately see reminders that it is still not inclusive enough yet, from foundation shade ranges with poor undertones, or just no shades deeper then a tanned olive skin tone, or blushes that won’t show up on deeper skin, or even just the lack of representation in the media. In the same interview, McGrath recalls, “There was no makeup for women of colour…NOTHING. That’s what my mother’s search was all about. When we were out shopping, we were always looking for a product that, probably by accident rather than design, worked for us.”

In many ways, McGrath’s career represents a complete reversal of the industry’s old hierarchy. A beauty world that once failed to accommodate women who looked like her now looks to her for direction. The significance of that should not be understated. McGrath did not simply earn a place within fashion and beauty; she helped change who those industries were willing to see, celebrate and create for.

In the 80s, Pat moved to London, where she worked hard to build a career, eventually working with the most iconic designers of the time, including the late Alexander McQueen (rest in peace) and John Galliano. McGrath’s pathway to success was not one handed to her; it was one of hard work, multiple jobs, determination, and sheer talent. In the day, McGrath was a receptionist; in her free time, she was revolutionising the face of editorial and fashion makeup, working with i-D magazine. 

McGrath is not just an extremely talented and visionary makeup artist; she built a cosmetics empire in the form of Pat McGrath Labs, launched in 2015, which, within just four years, reached an estimated value of 1 billion dollars, yes, billion.

I'll never forget watching videos in 2016 of these sequin-filled packages being ripped open, inside the most incredibly pigmented gold-toned shadow. 

Even the original packaging of McGrath's makeup captured the theatrical feel of runway glamour.

During my early teenage years, I fell headfirst down the rabbit hole of makeup. I would spend hours watching tutorials on Instagram, Jeffree Star reviews on YouTube, and flicking through the pages of Vogue in awe. It wasn’t long before my interest in fashion and makeup collided, and that was when I discovered Pat McGrath. The perfect almost illuminisant skin from Christian Dior Fall 2004, the impeccably blended looks from Galliano Fall 2008 where pink tones ran seamlessly into yellows and reds as naturally as though they were the wings of a butterfly, or my favourite of all time, Tom Ford's Gucci FW 2004 with its grungy smoky eyes and tousled hair. 

It is undeniable that McGrath has an incredible range, but it’s also undeniable that she has a signature style. It is hard to find a word or even a phrase to encompass it all, but overall, to me it screams artistry, experimentation and always, always as close to perfect application as possible. 

Take, for instance, the Maison Margiela 2024 show in which models walked the runway with glassy skin, almost as if they had been dipped in vats of lip gloss, or sprayed down with a plastic coating like real-life dolls. The look instantly drove the internet crazy. Influencers and artists alike worked tirelessly to try to recreate the looks, experimenting with glosses, face masks, and airbrushes, all to try to achieve the surreal, almost alien look that McGrath somehow produced en masse for an entire runway show. And that’s what makes her so special, the talent, the creativity, the ability to envision and execute techniques that no one has ever dreamed of before, or let alone thought possible. 

The looks from the show were genuinely out of this world. Almost reminiscent of the porcelain, uncanny glamour of the Elizabethan era, with the pale skin, blush tones and high, thin brows. In a way, the makeup became as important as the clothes. It was not there to make the models look conventionally attractive; it was not there to sell a story of luxury. Instead, it immersed itself into the world of Margiela's collection, turning the models into living pieces of art instead of coat hangers as we see so often on the runway. Green lips, blue eyes, messy back-combed hair. Yellow curls, pursed lips, arched brows. 

With McGrath, the makeup takes on character; it tells stories, sells lifestyles, completes collections. It bridges the in-between, the grey area between model and designer, transforming the look from just a person wearing haute couture to a complete image where the person convincingly inhabits the designs. 

Perhaps that is why McGrath’s influence feels so enduring. Trends come and go, products launch and disappear, but true artistry leaves a permanent mark on the industry. Decades into her career, traces of her work can still be seen everywhere, from editorial shoots and runway shows to the makeup tutorials flooding social media feeds. Yet imitation has never quite been replication. There remains something distinctly Pat McGrath about the way she approaches beauty: the refusal to accept limitations, the willingness to experiment, and the understanding that makeup can be far more than a tool for enhancement. In McGrath’s hands, makeup becomes storytelling: it becomes fantasy and fashion in its own right. Few artists can claim to have changed the visual language of an industry. Pat McGrath is undoubtedly one of them.