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Yesterday, the Queen’s annual list of New Year’s honors was released, naming the figures in British society and culture who would receive the highest honors from the crown for their service to the country. And for the fashion and beauty obsessives, there was one name among all the others that stood out: the brand new Lady. Pat McGrath, who becomes the first makeup artist to ever receive the title of lady. The legendary maverick and beauty entrepreneur is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in beauty and fashion, known for her longtime collaboration with photographer Steven Meisel, who produced some of the images for most iconic fashions of all time, as well as his work. on the runway for John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs and Miuccia Prada.
“I am truly delighted and honored to receive this wonderful honor”, McGrath said to receive the title. “My mom’s obsession with beauty and fashion sparked my passion for this amazing industry, and I feel blessed to have the privilege of working with some of the most amazing people throughout my career.”
Born in 1970 in London to a single mother and a first-generation Jamaican immigrant, McGrath’s journey to become a beauty powerhouse began in the 1980s, when she found herself immersed in the nightlife scene. colorful city, inspired by Blitz Kids and New Romantics. It was here that she met some of the personalities who will be key collaborators throughout her life, including stylists Kim Bowen and Edward Enninful, the latter of whom launched his career by appointing his beauty director at username magazine.
In the decades that followed, McGrath rose to fame for his daringly experimental and iconoclastic works. approach to beauty, with her avant-garde makeup for John Galliano’s Dior sewing shows in the late 1990s and into the 2000s, remaining among the most referenced of all time. In 2015, she launched her own beauty line, Pat McGrath Laboratories, which quickly became one of the industry’s biggest disruptors and was valued in 2018 at $ 1 billion. The brand is known for its full range of skin tones and kaleidoscopic color palettes, allowing its fans and devotees to approach beauty with the same playful and inventive fashion as McGrath herself.
It was this renegade spirit that enabled McGrath to receive some of the industry’s highest accolades, including the Isabella Blow Fashion Designer Award at the British Fashion Awards in 2017, and to be named as one of the Time of magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2018. Notably, McGrath’s Lady status was bestowed by the Queen not only for her services to fashion and beauty, but also to diversity – throughout McGrath’s career, she has always championed a more inclusive approach to fashion, working on groundbreaking covers like Vogue Italy‘s famous “Black Issue” of July 2008 and making the development of a wider range of beauty products for women of color a central pillar of its brand.
“Color across the spectrum is my life’s work and inspiration and I celebrate individuality especially with my Pat McGrath Labs brand, so I’m especially honored that this award is also for diversity,” McGrath added . “I believe that with creativity and resilience there can be many possibilities and that is certainly true today with this award.”
