Pat McGrath collages make-up onto faces for Marc Jacobs S/S 2025

Pat McGrath was tasked with creating the make-up for Marc Jacobs’ S/S 2025 show, which took place last night at New York’s Public Library. This is not the first time the make-up legend has teamed up with the American designer, of course, with McGrath working alongside hairstylist Guido Palau in 2019 to devise 60 unique beauty looks for Jacobs’ S/S 2020 runway presentation.

With elements of this cacophonously colourful collection referencing 1970s designs by Yves Saint Laurent and Norman Norell, the make-up was fittingly era-appropriate, including false lashes fluttering on models’ eyelids like insect antennae, à la Shelley Duvall.

Pat McGrath’s runway make-up for Marc Jacobs S/S 2025

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Marc Jacobs S/S 2025

S/S 2025 honoured the work of another fellow designer admired by Jacobs, Rei Kawukubo, recalling two Comme des Garçons collections in particular: S/S 1997’s Tumour/Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body – otherwise known as Lumps & Bumps, renowned for its groundbreakingly irregular, sculptural silhouettes – and A/W 2012’s 2 Dimensions, with oversized garments appearing as wearable collage cutouts; reminiscent of clothes worn by paper dolls.

The latter is what Pat McGrath honed in on with her make-up, adorning model’s faces with red circular fabric shapes in place of blusher and lipstick. Besides a second collage-inspired element – a black beauty mark – the skin was kept entirely bare with a luminous finish, eyes subtly contoured and framed by lightly pencilled and brushed-up brows. (McGrath’s take on this quintessential colour palette recalled her work for Marc Jacobs A/W 2020, where she used only red lipstick and black eyeliner to provide a cast of 90 models and over 50 dancers with entirely different looks).

Yesterday on the runway, the fabric shapes for ‘blush’ and ‘lipstick’ appeared in both matte and glitter textures and two different hues of red, nodding to Pat McGrath Labs’ collaboration with Marc Jacobs for a limited edition version of the brand‘s MatteTrance Lipstick.

The art of transforming models into living works of art is one of Pat McGrath’s signature talents. Last year, her ‘glass skin’ for Maison Margiela Artisanal 2024 went viral, leading to the formulation of Pat McGrath Labs’ Skin Fetish: Glass 001 Artistry Mask – a product Wallpaper* previewed in our 2025 Design Awards issue – which replicates the same hyperreal, ‘porcelain doll’ finish. (Whether bringing lipstick and blush decals to the masses are the next on her agenda remains to be seen).

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