Chances are, even if you’ve only dabbled in makeup in the last few decades, the influence of legendary makeup artist Pat McGrath has made its way onto your face.
Remember blue mascara in 2012? McGrath brought the trend back after brushing it on the eyelashes of the runway models at Stella McCartney. When McGrath’s longtime friend and collaborator Naomi Campbell set off a blinged-out lip trend with her glittery ruby pout at the 2016 VMAs? That was also McGrath. The unstoppable highlighter craze that’s still dominating beauty looks from RuPaul’s Drag Race to TikTok? McGrath has been doing that her entire career.
McGrath, the self-taught, self-made, world-renowned businesswoman hasn’t just made her mark on the breakout trends of the makeup industry; she’s broken down barriers all across the beauty world thanks to products designed for every and all skin tones and for the countless innovative catwalk and editorial looks she has created. Her work can be seen on the covers of Vogue, British Vogue, W, Allure, i-D, and Harper’s Bazaar on the faces of Pink, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift, and in campaigns for Versace, Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton. McGrath is also, perhaps, the most prolific fashion show makeup artist of all time, conceptualizing the beauty looks for upward of 80 major shows a year. Oh, and one more thing: she is the first makeup artist ever to receive a damehood, having been honored by The Queen in 2020.
“I am moved by fashion, by diversity, by powerful women with passion and desire,” says McGrath, whose upbringing by her single mother in Northampton, a couple of hours northwest of London, served as the foundation for the artist McGrath would one day become.
“My mother was obsessed with fashion and with makeup,” McGrath continues. “When I was younger, I would be watching TV and she would point out, ‘This designer was inspired by this film. Do you understand?’ There I was hoping that I could just watch a film [laughs] but then she wanted to explain all about the makeup, all about the fashion.”
Despite the distraction, McGrath considers herself lucky to have received such instrumental early training. Because of her mother’s unique eye and absolute dedication to understanding the roots of fashion and beauty, McGrath was imbued with a particularly unique worldview. As Black women in 1970s England, there was a considerable lack of options for women like herself and others when it came to fashion and makeup.
“There was no inclusivity then,” says McGrath. “My main job with my mother, as the youngest daughter, was every Friday I was forced to go shopping with her and look for the colors that would work for our skin tone. It would be every three weeks or so that we’d be able to find the right colors that didn’t have the titanium in them. It was almost like I was hot-housed and trained into the fashion and beauty industry because of its lack of inclusivity. And I think that that’s why I made my brand what it is today. That’s what made me want to make the right colors for everyone.”
In addition to an ingrained sense of inclusion, McGrath’s formative years also found her laying the groundwork for her penchant for experimentation and risk-taking, which often led to wow-factor level looks. Once McGrath was old enough, she started hanging out in London’s punk scene, showing up to clubs in her own designs, and wearing bold makeup — all of which helped her get noticed by some of London’s influential fashion players. Eventually, she met the stylist and writer Kim Bowen, who took McGrath on shoots for i-D and Blitz magazines. She learned on the job, honed her skills and eye, and was soon booking her very own shoots.
It was a long journey, McGrath admits, but one that she was destined to take and one that, after every shoot, every look and eyelash, now sees McGrath as the CEO of her own eponymous makeup company, Pat McGrath Labs, which launched in 2015 and has been breaking beauty industry records ever since, thanks to not just McGrath’s enviable products, but also the beauty maven’s eye for partnerships.
McGrath has collaborated with the likes of Prada, Valentino, Versace, Comme des Garçons, Chrome Hearts, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and even the Star Wars brand on collections of new and reimagined favorites from her line. In September 2020, she launched the first-ever beauty collaboration with Supreme New York, which sold out in a record 8.2 seconds.
As for her latest partnership, McGrath remembers in late 2019, in a world before Covid, being contacted by Netflix and Shondaland about a possible collaboration. “Everything came slightly in code,” McGrath chuckles, “and I didn’t get many details, but I knew there was something fantastical about to happen.”
Indeed it was. Two years later, Pat McGrath Labs, Netflix, and Shondaland are set to debut the first Bridgerton makeup collaboration, available beginning on December 26. While McGrath’s work with Star Wars and Supreme was fun, fruitful, and saw the often described "mother" of modern makeup illustrate how versatile her take on beauty can be, with Bridgerton, the inherent romance and opulence of the series provided the ultimate connection to McGrath and her brand's ethos.
The first launch of McGrath’s Bridgerton collection is a modern, royal palette focusing on tonal inclusion with three brand-new products: the Diamond of the First Water eye palette, with six ultra-regal, creamy powder eye colors; The Divine Blush + Glow Trio: Love at First Blush, comprised of three glowy gel-based powders; and the limited-edition shade of Skin Fetish: Sublime Skin Highlighter, a pearl-infused, gel-powder highlighter. In all, the line makes for a highly customizable collection of products that allow anyone to inject some Regency richness into their everyday look.
Ahead of the launch of McGrath’s Bridgerton collection, McGrath talks to Shondaland about her intuition when it comes to designing and creating new looks, her lifelong career, and why Bridgerton was the perfect collaboration for her.
VALENTINA VALENTINI: What were your first thoughts when you got the call?
PAT MCGRATH: You can’t even imagine! How could I not be involved with this? The thought of working on something with Shonda Rhimes and our team, I lost it. I’ve always been a fan of Scandal, I lived for Olivia Pope. And Grey’s Anatomy, of course. When I got the call, I was beyond excited.
VV: Well, this might be a redundant question then, but why did you want to do the collaboration?
PM: Obviously, I love Shonda for everything that she has done within the industry, but also what she stands for, all the genius that she has given us. I felt there was an amazing synergy with what I was hearing from the show — love, powerful women, diversity — and I thought it just sounded perfect. There was no way I was not going to do this.
VV: What were some of the first ideas you had for the palettes when you saw the early bits of the show?
PM: I was given rushes of the show and I saw right away that connection between the show and how obsessed I already am with this period. You can see from my Instagram, from the editorials I do, the couture shows that I’ve worked on, this ornateness and opulence. So Bridgerton was almost overly inspiring. So rich and so bright and fresh — but even then, I was seeing the early rushes. So that was nothing even compared to the finished product! Also, seeing that inclusivity was going to be such a big part of the show, that was really inspiring as well.
VV: What is your creative process like? If that’s something you’re able to break down.
PM: Once I saw the sets and costumes, I began to really feel the colors. They were lavish and ornate and seeing those fabrics that Daphne wears several times, that helped me to come up with the Regency blue — which is on the outer packaging of the collection and also one of the eye shadows in the palette. One of my earliest editorials had that pale blue in it, and it’s always one that I’ve liked playing with.
It might be strange, but when I watch a show, I see the colors, I see it all immediately. It’s in me. It’s in my intuition. I’m like, “how can you not see a beautiful eye palette?” But I get it… that’s me [Laughs.] Another way to describe it is, when I’m watching a show, it’s like I’m at work because when I am at work, I’m in the most incredible houses with the most incredible designers with the most incredible photographers in the world. It’s like being transported into a dream every day of my career. Then, I work with my teams to make the pigments, products, and packaging. It’s safe to say opulence has always been an obsession of mine from the beginning of the brand — a modern opulence. So, it felt like the right fit.
VV: How does this collaboration compare to other collaborations?
PM: My other collaborations were Star Wars and Supreme. It’s amazing to be able to do such diverse projects. It stretches and pushes me, pushes my line. I was in sci-fi, then in the skate world, and now a modern take on Regency England. All the products that I create have this otherworldly escape to them, a real nod to the past, present, and future. I feel blessed to be inspired in this way. And when it comes to inclusivity and romance — that is my brand. So I really felt that this was the perfect and authentic collab.
VV: I wonder what will be next then! What era or world will you take on next…
PM: Coming soon! Don’t think the ovens aren’t on. I’m cooking!
VV: Obviously — and much to your credit — the fashion and beauty landscape has changed for the better with representation and inclusion. But are there aspects that you think still need some work?
PM: We can always get better and there’s always room for improvement. I remember growing up and there being no foundations for me, never an eyeshadow or having to wait three weeks for one. I really feel that we have made amazing progress. But I feel we could always do better. I am so proud, though, to have my muses, like a Paloma Elsesser, breaking barriers and to work with so many wonderful young people who represent the brand from all walks of life. But yes, things can always get better.
Valentina Valentini is a London-based entertainment, travel, and food writer and also a Senior Contributor for Shondaland. Elsewhere she has written for Vanity Fair, Vulture, Variety, Thrillist, Heated, and The Washington Post. Her personal essays can be read in the Los Angeles Times, Longreads, and her tangents and general complaints can be seen on Twitter at @ByValentinaV.
Get Shondaland directly in your inbox: SUBSCRIBE TODAY
