The Power of Pat
Twenty years of runway magic, as Pat McGrath remembers it.
Statement lashes. Multidimensional lips. Megawatt highlighter. Beauty trends may ebb and flow, but one visionary has always been pulling the strings: the singular, incomparable Pat McGrath. Crowned the most influential makeup artist in the world (not to mention made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II), the legendary Brit has helped shape every major designer's vision since the '90s, from John Galliano's cinematic surrealism to Miuccia Prada's skin-focused minimalism to Marc Jacobs's doll-like wonder. McGrath was even appointed the first-ever cosmetics creative director for Louis Vuitton, following more than a decade of runway collaborations with Creative Director Nicolas Ghesquière.
But McGrath's impact isn't limited to individual glam moments. She single-handedly transformed runway makeup—often shrouded in secrecy or severely downplayed to avoid competing with the clothes—into its own spectacle worth celebrating. "I love the thought of makeup becoming completely immersive, moving beyond the face into something that is as much experience as it is art," the mogul herself shares with us. "Technology, craftsmanship, couture, cinema, performance—all of it." Take the Maison Margiela haute couture spring/summer 2024 runway, for example, where McGrath turned models into porcelain dolls with impossibly glossy, latex-like skin. "I've never experienced a show that goes viral. That's the first time," Galliano told Vogue regarding the theatrical masterpiece. That's the power of Pat: She pushes boundaries in a way that gets people talking. For decades.
While narrowing down McGrath's best runway looks from 2006 to 2026 feels inconceivable, there's no denying these 18 deserve to be immortalized in the glossy pages of fashion history books. As for her next chapter? "My mind never stops. There are always more ideas than there are shows to put them in," McGrath says. "The dream I keep returning to is a full crystal-encrusted face conceived in collaboration with an architect: something sculptural, structural, where beauty and design become one impossible object." And with her track record, even the wildest dreams float within reach in a matter of time. Pat McGrath isn't finished writing her story—not by a long shot—but for now, let Mother personally escort you through the archives.
"We were creating a character with a whole history behind her eyes, and nothing was ever too extravagant or imaginative. The porcelain skin; the smoky, romantic eye; that pinched, dark mouth—we weren't simply creating a backstage beauty look. We were creating living theater."
"Couture gives you permission to wish upon a star and obsess over every tiny detail to mirror the artisanal craftsmanship that is unfolding in the collection. For this show, I treated every crystal, every lash, every shadow almost like embroidery—beauty crafted stitch by stitch. Those are the moments I live for. Heaven!"
"A fresh, poetic face crowned in black flowers with an embellished red lip that felt like a single flash of majestic color against Raf [Simons's] canvas. Those crystallized lips were just one element of detail on the day, but somehow they became an accessory and talking point in their own right."
"Sarah [Burton] created a world that felt emotional, romantic, and just a little dangerous. The dramatic feathered brow and that pale, ethereal skin had the spirit of McQueen without trying to re-create it. For me, that was always the magic of this look—beauty that made you feel something before it asked you to admire it."
"That raw slash of electric blue across the eye—deliberately unfinished, sublimely subversive. We approached color almost like painters, layering pigments until they became something completely unexpected. Artisanal, fearless, entirely instinctive—it is beauty as art."
"[Riccardo Tisci and I] always embraced contradiction and had this romantic, gothic sensibility. For this look, the embellishment became part of the face itself, with the jewelry and skin as one. I adore a look that blurs where beauty ends and adornment begins. Ornament as emotion—it was such a powerful moment."
"How fun is this look? Lips everywhere—kisses printed across the face and neck like a surreal secret language. It was very conceptual and eccentric. To have had the freedom to do this as a makeup artist was extraordinary and, frankly, wildly exciting."
"Lace laid over the skin like a second, sculptural layer. It was couture craftsmanship translated directly onto the face: delicate, strange, unforgettable. Beauty should surprise you."
"The drama lived in one perfect detail: that gilded, molten lip against radiant skin. Gold has always fascinated me because it behaves like light rather than color—a single metallic lip that completely transformed an otherwise understated face into something unforgettable. Modern, powerful, a little subversive, gold always has a place in my heart (and my makeup kit)."
"Another favorite surrealist moment from the days of John [Galliano] at Margiela. Here, the face was pure abstraction—flushed and painterly beneath that clear veil, a burst of orange on the lip, absolutely no fear of the unexpected. Every face became its own artwork. Color wasn't there simply to flatter; it was there to provoke emotion."
"This is one of the looks that I still get asked about: the cluster of feathers blooming from the lashes. Such a poetic understanding of beauty, and I adored how delicate and otherworldly they were against luminous skin."
"I love creating beauty that feels playful without ever losing sophistication. We played with these dreamy graphic accents in red and white—a little bohemian, a little fairytale. Those graphic lines brought a little bit of magic to every face and were pure joy to create."
"What would be a retrospective without a look back to that glass skin? In the 35 years I have been doing makeup backstage, I have never seen a reaction like it. We pushed ourselves technically to build that hyper-reflective, porcelain finish—layering and layering our special formula to catch the light until each face looked like a living mannequin. We worked through the extraordinary blend of cinematic, historical, and futuristic worlds, and we answered it with beauty that matched its artistry entirely. The whole world felt it. So did I."
"There was something wonderfully surreal about turning the ear itself into the jewelry. Crystal, skin, and that extraordinary emerald became one precious gesture, as if the jewel had grown directly from the body. Pure Schiaparelli magic."
"One bold, glossy circle of red—graphic and fearless: a three-dimensional, circular mouth that channeled this [look] into one perfect accent. Truly subversive! That is confidence. And confidence, when you are creating looks to complement a collection, is everything."
"Inspired by the legendary David Bowie: bleached brows, porcelain skin, couture contour, and one uncompromising red mouth. It felt like a portrait from another era, completely reimagined for the future. Sophisticated, severe, and utterly beautiful."
"That liquid onyx lip was the entire gesture—molten, immaculate, and incredibly powerful against the skin. I loved the restraint of it: one surreal, perfect mouth that made the whole look feel utterly otherworldly."
"A Felliniesque gold and blue collide on the eye—warm and cool, metallic and ethereal—against luminous bare skin. With Nicolas [Ghesquière], the beauty always feels precise, futuristic, and completely modern."
