With the arrival of legendary makeup artist Dame Pat McGrath’s debut collection for  La Beauté Louis Vuitton, 3OUD takes a look back at some of her most unforgettable visage transformations for fashion’s most iconic maisons.

There’s one name that has forever altered the DNA of runway beauty, it’s Pat McGrath. Known for creating some of the most unforgettable makeup looks in fashion history, her touch has become synonymous with visual drama, hyper-sensorial textures, and an innate understanding of how beauty can both elevate a collection and, at times, outshine it.

What sets McGrath apart is her fearlessness. She doesn’t work from face charts or sketches. Her artistry is intuitive, tactile, built in the moment and guided by a deeply personal sense of visual rhythm. While most makeup artists rely on the precision of brushes, McGrath is famous for using her hands, literally sculpting pigments and textures directly onto the skin with a kind of alchemical grace. In an industry that often defaults to repetition, her work remains electrifying because it’s constantly evolving.

Don’t believe us? Check out these breathtaking makeovers

Maison Margiela SS 2024

Top of mind for most, even a year after it first appeared on the runway, is McGrath’s now-legendary glass skin for the Maison Margiela Spring/Summer 2024 collection. A porcelain-perfect finish so hyper-reflective it launched a thousand tutorials. McGrath used custom-blended layers of sheen to create doll-like luminosity that blurred the line between human and mannequin, offering up a face that felt both eerily artificial and heartbreakingly fragile. It wasn’t just beautiful, it was a philosophical statement about the performance of identity.

Dior Couture SS 2004 show

Twenty years earlier, at the Dior Couture Spring/Summer 2004 show (one of John Galliano’s most audacious collections for the fashion house) she gilded faces with sculptural gold accents that looked like fragments from a Klimt painting as the models looked as if they had just stepped out of a colorful Egyptian hieroglyph.

Givenchy SS 2010 couture show

Backstage at Givenchy’s Spring/Summer 2010 couture show, Pat McGrath did what only the most visionary artists dare – she broke the rules, beautifully. For decades, the unspoken law in runway makeup had been clear: highlight one feature, either eyes or lips, but never both. McGrath threw that principle out the window. Instead, she sent models down the runway with smoldering, high-gloss smoky eyes and vivid red lips. A striking combination that didn’t compete for attention but rather amplified the power of both. Fifteen years later, this look is still being referenced and reinterpreted, not just because it was visually arresting, but because it marked a turning point: a reminder that beauty, like fashion, is at its best when it defies expectations.

Valentino Spring 2019 Haute Couture show

McGrath also memorably "got her flowers" during the Valentino Spring 2019 Haute Couture show, where she vibe matched perfectly with designer Pierpaolo Piccioli’s extravagant celebration of florals, turning the models' lashes into blooming petals. Feathered extensions curled around the eyes like soft flora in motion, or alternatively, hand-painted blossoms dusted in shimmer framed the windows to the soul, lending each model a fantastical, almost surreal gaze.

Givenchy SS 2014 show

Another time McGrath cranked up the make-up "to eleven" was at the Givenchy Spring/Summer 2014 show. Everyone knows the artist loves working with crystals, sequins, and metallic flourishes to elevate her lewks, but this time she outdid herself. She took a very dramatic leap, collaborating with designer Riccardo Tisci, she crafted exquisite facial masks using Swarovski crystals and delicate tulle, transforming eight models into living, breathing objets d’art.

Viktor & Rolf Spring 2017 couture show

At Viktor & Rolf’s Spring 2017 couture show, she once again proved that when it comes to redefining the boundaries of beauty, the face is merely a blank canvas. However, this time, the medium wasn’t glitter or gloss—but thread. In an unexpected twist on the classic cat-eye, McGrath glued delicate strands of thread directly onto the eyelids, extending them outward in sharp, architectural flicks. To heighten the surrealist effect, she layered the strands with washes of silver and gold pigment, creating a striking interplay between raw texture and metallic sheen, creating a look that was bold, yet somehow minimal in nature.

Anna Sui SS 2018 show

Proving herself to be both prescient and a tastemaker, the make-up concept that McGrath came up with for Anna Sui’s Spring/Summer 2018 show in New York created serious cultural ripples. She delivered a beauty moment that felt like a shimmer-drenched whisper from the future. Long before Euphoria would bring glitter tears and dreamy washes of pastel into the pop culture mainstream, McGrath was already sketching out its aesthetic blueprint. For Sui’s nostalgic, rock-romantic collection, she gave models delicate silver glitter on the eyelids, placed not with restraint but with a sense of carefree, fairy-like abandon nodding to both ’60s psychedelia and Sui’s signature flower-child spirit. It quietly forecasted a coming era of maximalist, emotion-driven beauty.