Close your eyes and picture the World’s Most Powerful Makeup Artist. If you conjured up a self-important Zoolander-style diva (or divo), you don’t know Pat McGrath, a jubilant, enthusiastic Brit who zips around Milan and Paris on her GoldWing motorbike, Snapchatting all the way. Make no mistake, she does reign supreme in her field: I interviewed McGrath in the middle of a fashion season that had her doing 24 shows in a month (from Rihanna’s Fenty x Puma line to Prada to Valentino)—especially impressive when you consider that shows are just one of her several jobs, since she also masterminds beauty for Procter & Gamble, creates images for magazines and ads, and, to the delight of makeup lovers everywhere, has recently launched her own line of products. But she’s built her game-changing career without losing her sense of fun, and that’s something I think we all aspire to. I chased her down backstage at Versace to hear how she keeps the joy alive.
CINDI LEIVE: Some of the most successful women I interview tell me that what they’re doing now is what they loved doing at seven years old. So how would the seven-year-old you feel about where you are now?
PAT McGRATH: Oh, ecstatic. [Laughs.] I just loved makeup. My mother loved it as well—and was obsessed by the fact that we couldn’t find any makeup for dark skin.
CL: So she would mix her own?
PM: In the seventies everything was sort of ashy, and that didn’t suit our skin. But every now and then, there would be one pigment that was weird—off, but major, and it worked. So she was always looking for those sorts of things. In a way, everything that she was obsessed with, I became obsessed with. Strange, isn’t it?
CL: We all try not to become our mothers, but it doesn’t work!
PM: I just remember her saying to me, “It will be a problem for you if you don’t love what you do. So make sure!”
CL: But you almost got a fashion degree.
PM: I wanted to. And then I decided to just go clubbing in London. From there, I went straight into the world of fashion—a so-called gap year.
CL: And it turned into a couple of gap decades! When did you think, OK—this is the path I want?
PM: For me it’s not about 100 percent knowing. But to work because you love something is the best place to come from because then you’d do anything—sweep the floors, help the stylists, help the photographer. You have the absence of an agenda.
CL: There’s so much attention now on what makeup artists do. And whole generations of people want to become makeup artists.
PM: They’re very lucky nowadays to be able to know so much, to see what goes on backstage. I had no idea! I remember my first show I was shaking the whole time because it was something I’d never seen before.
CL: What’s your best advice for all those people who want to follow in your footsteps?
PM: I knew I wasn’t going to make money in the beginning, so I found another way to support myself—I was a receptionist. It’s quite smart to work that way. Otherwise, you get vicious and desperate, and no one wants to work with you. Build your career slowly; then people start to trust you and pay you well.
CL: Was it easy to get comfortable as a boss? Because backstage you’re a general. You’ve got 50, 70 people working for you.
PM: I just did whatever needed to be done. I started out traveling all around the world with 20 bags on my own, then 40 bags. Then I got one assistant—40 bags between us. You just keep going and before you know it, there are 10 of you. Twenty, 30, 40, 50.
CL: What do you look for when you hire?
PM: Patience. No arrogance. Zero ego. You need to be strong, to be able to work at four in the morning.
CL: Zero ego is a great mantra for work in general. You also seem like a real mentor...
PM: My team has been with me for 15, 20 years; we mentor each other! Without a team, we’re all nobody.
CL: About your new products: Gold and Phantom collections sold out in nanoseconds; Skin Fetish ($72, sephora.com) is out soon. What made you pull the trigger on your own line? People have been asking you to do it forever.
PM: I was questioning myself, “What do I crave? What have I never seen before?” And the incredible gold that I’d been using was nearly finished and I was panicking. So when I found [a new gold], I had the mad idea of, Why not just do a line now? The morning after we launched it, the phone started to ring, nonstop. I was in shock.
CL: So your decision about what product to do first just came from, What do I love? Such an interesting lesson about gut.
PM: Yes, it was something that I’m completely passionate about. So that when I open my mouth, I’m not lying!
CL: There’s a big conversation in fashion now about diversity—we’re finally seeing a broader range of models on the runway. How do we make that last?
PM: It cannot be about only this season. Look at the world! Even if you’re talking on a greed level only, why would you not want to appeal to the whole planet? The more diverse the runway, the more diversity in advertising, the more people are going to feel included and want to shop. It’s so basic. You have to be stupid to not get that.
CL: Everybody likes to ask women, “How do you do it all?” But what do you not do?
PM: I don’t go to the spa or get my hair done enough. I don’t go to the gym enough. But I do take five, six weeks’ vacation; the industry does. You try finding someone in fashion in August. [Laughs.] What a lark.
CL: I’m getting the vague feeling you love your job.
PM: Really and truly—you arrive at work every day, could be five in the morning, and genius things are happening. You are crying with laughter, or crying because you can’t think of an idea. Sometimes I look around the room, and I say, “We are supposed to be adults.” Someone’s thrown an almond at you. Music is loud. One day I dressed up as Darth Vader as a joke, and put smoke into the studio and walked in. So, need I say more about my day? We have the best, best time. I don’t want to let everyone know how good it is. I’ve told you too much. I should have just said it’s miserable. We never sleep.
CL: “Don’t do what I do.”
PM: Yes. I feel bad for anyone who wants to do this job. [Laughs.] But I have a lot of fun.
