Pat McGrath launches inclusive foundation line with high-profile campaign

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 19, 2019

Pat McGrath Labs is continuing its expansion drive and the latest push in this programme is the launch of its long-awaited Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection The System. It’s an  inclusive foundation line and comes with a new supporting campaign shot by one of fashion and beauty’s biggest photographer-directors, Steven Meisel.

The product, as the name suggests, is actually a system comprising primer, the foundation itself (in 36 shades) and a blurring-effect setting powder.

The new Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection campaign features a cast of “new McGrath Muses”, including make-up artist Sonjdra Deluxe; American drag queen, burlesque dancer and model Violet Chachki; Chinese dancer-turned-model Zhengyang Zhang; Ethiopian-born South Sudanese fashion model Shanelle Nyasiase; star model Blesnya Mihner; and rising model Primose Archer. One final muse is Liz Hurley’s son Damian, whose presence in the line-up has attracted most media attention given the celebrity connection and his similarity to his mother.

McGrath said of the creative: “To realise a campaign with Steven Meisel is a monumental moment – and an incredible visual culmination of my body of work. To have Meisel's fierce and disruptive aesthetic, eye for fresh talent, and prolific, unparalleled approach to beauty is a dream come true. Working with our amazing cast has been simply magical and made this set so fun and easy.”

The system launches on July 26 on the brand’s own webstore, via Sephora’s webstore (and some of its physical stores), as well as in Bergdorf Goodman and Selfridges in the UK.

And it’s likely to make a major impact. The brand’s recent Selfridges takeover was one of the biggest promotional events in the store’s history and saw Pat McGrath products on its bestseller list for the duration of the event.

The brand has a strong history  sellouts with McGrath leveraging the high profile achieved though her work for designers and magazines into a product line in 2015. Her debut product, Gold001, sold out in record-breaking time when it launched on her social media accounts at the time.