The former editor-in-chief of Allure magazine, Linda Wells, knows a thing or two about the beauty biz. Her recent story for New York magazine supports the screaming, bold headline, “The Most In Demand Makeup Artist in the World“: Pat McGrath.” If you like makeup and fashion, you know her name…
“Pat McGrath is perhaps the only makeup artist who lives up to the second word in the job title, the Velázquez of the beauty world. She can make a celebrity gleam for a magazine cover, then gather scraps of patent leather or lace and start cutting and gluing bits to a model’s face until she resembles a butterfly or an unspecified exotic bird…
Before she became the most requested (at about 80 fashion shows a year), most prolific (creating makeup lines for Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, CoverGirl, and Max Factor), most rewarded (she’s the first global creative-design director for Procter & Gamble Beauty), and most wildly inventive (her mediums include rubber, vinyl, feathers, you name it) makeup artist, McGrath was a fan herself. One of three children of Jean McGrath, a single mother and Jehovah’s Witness who emigrated from Jamaica to England, McGrath grew up poor in Northampton studying movies and magazines with her mother, searching for clues about beauty. She examined the geometry of Dorothy Dandridge’s eyebrows, the bow of Bette Davis’s lipstick. Jean, who died in 1992, approached style and religion with equal devotion. Jean and Pat would often take a bus to a department store to line up for product launches. Every day after school, McGrath plunked herself down on the floor of the local newsstand, paging through the glossies. As part of her early education, McGrath’s mother taught her to mix eye shadow with foundation to produce a shade that matched her dark skin, which wasn’t well served by cosmetics companies at the time…”
Speaking of black complexions not being serviced by the beauty industry, I’m reminded of a complex layout I did in the 90s, while working at Allure (with Naomi as the lead image) with scores of dark foundation colors that were just being made available to women of color. The beauty biz has come a long way with Pat now in a position of power.
The article is well-worth a read. Check out the cover story here. And you can follow Pat on Instagram here.
(via New York)
