Vogue Runway
The autumn/winter 2025 shows are in full swing, and there is no one busier than make-up artist Dame Pat McGrath. McGrath, who will clock up 15 shows this season alone, can typically found backstage conceptualising out-of-this-world runway beauty looks during fashion month, but today she is front and centre, as it is announced that Louis Vuitton is launching its first, much anticipated foray into make-up—La Beauté Louis Vuitton—with McGrath at the helm. Stepping into the newly created role of creative director of cosmetics at the house (Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud leads on the existing fragrance line as master perfumer), McGrath has already been behind the scenes at the shows for the past 20 years, and working on the product development of this line for the past four—all while presiding over her own eponymous brand, Pat McGrath Labs.
Make-up aficionados will know that this isn’t the first time McGrath has created products for a major brand. While not as forward facing, she was the mastermind behind the launches of Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci’s beauty lines. But this, this, is something special. And now that she can talk about it at last, her excitement is palpable.
“People have been asking me for years, ‘When is make-up is coming for Louis Vuitton?’ Now I can finally say it’s happening,” she says. “I have been creating make-up looks for Louis Vuitton for many years. We have a shared vision of beauty and collaborate in a way that feels entirely natural, but every season there is a surprise and a twist! La Beauté Louis Vuitton is a perfect extension of the journey we’ve been on together.”
So how does it differ from Pat McGrath Labs? Can the two co-exist? “Of course!” she cries. “La Beauté Louis Vuitton is the absolute highest level of craftsmanship. With product development I have always been obsessed with the smallest of details and the perfection needed in product texture… the precise application methods, just the right amount of pigment pay-off, and how products should make you feel,” she continues. “Pushing boundaries in formula innovation and sensory exploration is part of my own brand’s DNA. It can really lead to groundbreaking results and this new venture is no different.” It all makes sense when you look at the creatives the house has brought in before Pat. The late Virgil Abloh remained at his own brand, Off-White, whilst heading up menswear at Vuitton, and Pharrell Williams has followed in his footsteps while continuing to carve out his own path as a musician and entrepreneur. As with Abloh and Williams, this new partnership promises to be epic.
“Prepare to be wowed,” McGrath says with a laugh, as she catches up with Vogue in between the Milan and Paris collections. “This is a métier – a concept with an artisanal approach to make-up that combines the heritage and legacy of the fashion house, with the best innovation that the French product labs have to offer. It’s meaningful and it’s timeless, with each and every product being treated like an object of desire.” Speaking to the rich history of the house, McGrath describes how she was given full access to its archive, which holds vanity cases from 1854, as well as powder compacts, brushes, and mirrors from the 1920s. Beauty has always been in the DNA of Louis Vuitton, it’s just the make-up that was missing. Until now.
So what can we expect? “We have exquisite lipsticks [55 of them to be precise], incredible tinted lip balms [10 total], and eyeshadow [word is there will be eight quads].” If you look at McGrath’s back catalogue of Louis Vuitton looks, it makes complete sense that this make-up pillar should kick off with offerings for both eyes and lips. But where things really get interesting? McGrath revealed there will be a range of dedicated small leather goods to house the new products, in the form of lipstick cases and mini trunks.
And whilst the exact shades and packaging have yet to be revealed, McGrath impresses on me that the LV signatures are there. Still, it goes beyond being inspired by the house’s iconic vanity cases and trunks. “It’s about the art of living,” she explains. “It’s the textures of the leathers, the colours from the collections, the codes of the house—these have all been springboards to the imagination and every detail has been considered with the same level of artistry as the maison’s most legendary creations.” Expect to cherish each piece as an heirloom, just as you would a Louis Vuitton trunk, a handbag or a piece from a ready to wear collection.
“This is just the beginning,” McGrath adds mischievously. “We are setting a new standard in luxury beauty.”
La Beauté Louis Vuitton will launch in autumn 2025 in 115 stores worldwide
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
