Pat McGrath (make-up artist)

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Dame Pat McGrath DBE
McGrath in 2024
Born	Patricia Ann McGrath (1971-06-11) 11 June 1971 (age 53) Northampton, England
Occupation	Make-up artist

Dame Patricia Ann McGrath DBE^[1][2] (born 11 June 1971) is a British make-up artist. She has been called the most influential make-up artist in the world by Vogue magazine and other commentators.^[3][4][5] In 2019 she was included in Time's 100 most influential people list.^[6] She is the first make-up artist to be made a Dame Commander of the British Empire.^[7]

McGrath is a Black makeup artist from the United Kingdom who has Jamaican ancestry.^[8] She was born in Northampton, England in 1971^[9] in a working-class household and raised by her mother, Jean, who was a dressmaker and a Jehovah's Witness.^[10][11][12] She completed an art foundation course at Northampton College but this did not include topics such as fashion or make-up.^[3]

In the 1980s, McGrath moved to London and became involved with designers such as Alexander McQueen and John Galliano.^[13] In the early 1990s, McGrath worked alongside Edward Enninful at i-D magazine, although she continued to work as a receptionist to support herself financially. In 1999 she was hired by Giorgio Armani to collaborate on a new range of cosmetics. From 2004 McGrath was employed by Procter & Gamble, as Global Cosmetics Creative Design Director for several years with a salary rumoured to be over $1 million.^[14]

In 2015 she launched Pat McGrath Labs, her own line of beauty products which by 2019 had become a $1 billion company and the biggest selling beauty line at Selfridges.^[15][16] In 2017, McGrath was hired by Enninful as Beauty Editor-at-Large for British Vogue.^[17] In 2018, six actors, including Saoirse Ronan, Naomie Harris and Sara Sampaio, wore Pat McGrath Labs make-up to the Fashion Awards.^[18]

• 2000, 2001: Pantene Pro-V Make-Up Artist Of The Year^[19]
• 2014: Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to the fashion and beauty industry^[20]
• 2017: Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator at the Fashion Awards^[21]
• 2021: Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to the fashion and beauty industry and diversity^[22]
• 2024: The London Design Medal at the London Design Festival^[23]

McGrath has also regularly appeared in the Top 10 of the Powerlist, highlighting the most influential Black British people across a number of industries ^[24][25]

According to Vogue (2007), McGrath is known for her unique, adventurous, and innovative make-up techniques which include using her hands as opposed to brushes.^[26] She uses bold colour shades and experiments with materials ranging from feathers to ornaments.^[27] Her experiments result in a novel and diverse range of looks.^[27] As a result, she is considered to have re-introduced old make-up ideas and developed new ones.^[28]

McGrath has said of her career: "I really love being a makeup artist. It never gets mundane or predictable and every shoot and show is different."^[29] She draws inspiration from many sources, using materials such as feathers, gold leaf, and leather.^[30] McGrath told Vogue in 2008, "I'm influenced a lot by the fabrics I see, the colours that are in the collections and the girl's faces. It's always a challenge but that's the key – to make it different every time."^[26] Her inspiration started with her mother, particularly her love for fashion, film and costumes:^[31] "Everything that she was obsessed with, I became obsessed with."^[28] McGrath's mother encouraged her stating "It will be a problem for you if you don't love what you do. So make sure!"^[28] Growing up in London, McGrath and her mother used to go makeup shopping when she was six years old.^[31] Fashion became a huge inspiration for McGrath, stimulating her creative career trajectory.^[31]

McGrath also looks to models that bring her personal inspiration.^[30] McGrath says, "They are their own women, representing a mix of ethnicities, sizes, and backgrounds, they allow me to experiment and create the looks I dream of in my head."^[30] She considers models Naomi Campbell, Hailey Baldwin, Paloma Elsesser, Jasmine Sanders, Mallory Merk and Ruby Aldridge as her muses.^[30] She says of Campbell, "We've worked together since the mid-1990s, and she inspires me in ways I've never imagined. There is no one like Naomi."^[30] McGrath calls Paloma Elsesser's face "the ultimate canvas",^[30] for her hypnotic complexion that "guides a makeup artist's touch."^[30]

Much of McGrath's inspiration derives from an individual's natural skin.^[32] As a consequence her own makeup lines focus on luminous aspects of skin.^[32] McGrath says, "Flawless, luminous skin has always been a constant in my work. For years I've been using a custom mix of products to achieve different levels of luminosity from fresh baby skin to a supercharged power-glow."^[32] The sequin packaging of her makeup also derives from McGrath's inspiration by sequins, a reoccurring element in many of her looks.^[32] On the definition of beauty, she believes that "real and true beauty comes from within. It's like an energy, because the task of bringing out beauty—and at times creating it—really is like a puzzle. Often in my work, the approach to beauty is to seek perfection, yet sometimes beauty is imperfect or quite raw."^[32]