Face Card Never Declines
Dame Pat McGrath told a romantic, devastating, and fantastical story through her makeup looks at Maison Margiela’s SS24 couture collection show.
Dame Pat McGrath, or “Mother” as she’s known in the fashion industry, has done it again. As the first makeup artist to be mentioned in the Queen’s New Year 2021 Honours list and receive damehood for Services to the Fashion and Beauty Industry and Diversity, McGrath is among the most influential, innovative, and inclusive artists of our time.
McGrath reunited with John Galliano to create these masterpieces, an unstoppable pair who ruled the early 2000s luxury fashion game. In 1996, Galliano was named the Creative Director at LVMH’s Christian Dior and brought McGrath along with him as the makeup artist for almost every show he presented. The pair have created unforgettable runway shows, including Christian Dior Couture SS04, John Galliano AW07, and Christian Dior Couture AW11.
The magic behind a runway doesn’t stop with the designer’s talents; McGrath’s makeup craft completed the show, pulling together the looks to tell a story to the audience. McGrath said Galliano’s SS24 collection inspired her to create these Victorian-doll looks, examining “the ritual of dressing and the clothes we wear as a physical expression of emotion.” The juxtaposition between the low-lit, eerie basement runway show during the first full moon of the year and the “hauntingly” beautiful models in bright, sheer clothing and glossy, porcelain makeup was not lost on the audience. Paris is the perfect setting for these looks, not only as a fashion capital of the world but also because of the cosmetic trends during the Années folles (“The Crazy Years”). French women would pluck their eyebrows, cover their cheeks with circular strokes of bright rouge, and tightly curl their hair into ringlets overnight. McGrath captured and enhanced the 1920s look to pair with the extravagant, erotic looks from Galliano. The models’ glazed skin looked moon-kissed, inspired by the show’s location in an underground club along the Seine during a full moon.
Pat McGrath Labs.
In the show’s press release, Maison Margiela described the runway look as “a study of the muse-like relationship between artists and their anatomical lay dolls.” McGrath transformed the models into living canvases, blurring the lines between makeup and avant-garde art, testing the limits of conventional boundaries as Galliano toyed with the doll-like features of his models. McGrath's talent will leave a long-lasting impact on the world of fashion and beauty.
How exactly McGrath completed the look is being debated online (Kryolan Liquid Glass? Liquid Latex? Vaseline? Melted Candle? Glue?), but Mother isn’t letting us in on her little secret just yet. The transcendental Maison Margiela SS24 reignited the internet’s interest in experimental, theatrical runway shows that seemed long forgotten in an age of fast fashion and overhyped fashion.
