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From Anna Sui’s opulent and offbeat heiresses of the ’40s, to the ribbony eyes of Schiaparelli’s Paris Couture show, and Dolce Gabbana’s fresh and youthful visages: Pat McGrath knows how to make a moment that articulates a house’s storytelling. And now, to Donatella’s Versace Fall 2025 show at Milan Fashion Week—where McGrath channeled the rebellious signature look of Kristen McMenamy.
The makeup artist was tasked with creating a beauty look for a collection that radiates color, with vivacious shapes and prints. “I love clothes to empower, to give strength and confidence,” Versace wrote on Instagram. “With this collection, I am not following any rules. Only the rules of the Versace DNA.” The clothes pulsate with flamboyant prints, rhinestone-studded denim, and seminal Fall 1998-referencing metallic dresses. And so, beauty had to go toe-to-toe with an exultant celebrations and innovations of Versace house codes.
To capture the vibe, McGrath gave models—including Alex Consani and Mona Tougaard—a glowy base with her own Divine Skin: Rose 001 The Essence, adding the Sublime Perfection Foundation and the Blurring Under-Eye Powder for a luminous finish. On the highest points of the face, she added the Skin Fetish: Highlighter + Balm Duo to catch the light. McGrath captures color well, and so eyes shimmered with a pearly, iridescent lavender.
But it was the lips that McGrath made the look’s focal point: A bold combo of deep, venom-primed purples and browns achieved with McGrath’s vivid, deep burgundy MatteTrance Lipstick in “McMenamy,” with the cool-toned “Deep Void” pressed into the center of the lip. To finish, it was sealed with a clear gloss for that signature glassy finale.
The lipstick, of course, takes its name from the legendary model Kristen McMenamy—renowned for her commitment to the rebellious lip shade. A look through the Vogue archive proves abundant as reference, like Steven Meisel’s iconic “Grunge Glory” shoot in the December 1992 issue of Vogue, where McMenamy goes full “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in flannel and a swipe of ripened plum on the lips. As McMenamy propelled grunge to its subcultural supremacy, she walked the runway of Chanel’s spring 1992 Couture show at Paris Fashion Week with a gargantuan black hat, a duck egg blue suit, and aubergine lips, and took to Fendi’s Spring 1993 show in a monochromatic look with circular sunnies and another gothic lip. For Chanel’s spring 1993 Couture show, too, her hair was extra long and slick, eyes were ringed black, and lips stained merlot.
McMenamy herself is a devotee to McGrath. Check her episode of “In the Bag” with British Vogue, where she shared the contents of her bag. Aside from the discontinued Miss Dior Le Parfum and sunscreen, there’s her got-to red Supreme x Pat McGrath lipstick.
MCMENAMY! MCGRATH! Donatella VERSACE 💜
