For 2025, Marc Jacobs is drawing inspiration from classic beauty—red lips, defined beauty marks, and rosy cheeks. The catch? In Jacobs’s world, no lipstick, pencil, or blush touched the models’ faces for his runway show at the New York Public Library. Instead, makeup artist Pat McGrath played with velvety fabric cutouts to achieve a dimensional makeup look.

“The collection is really a play on dimension in shape and form,” McGrath said backstage. “We are playing with two-dimensional shapes of faces on everybody. It’s a daring abstraction of makeup.” Near the makeup stations, there were small paper plates filled with a smattering of different shades of red; from afar, they looked like plates of red velvet cake. In fact, each plate had appliques for the models’ faces. When put on the cheeks, the red appliques were a stand-in for blush, small black circles mirrored beauty marks, while the ones on the models’ lips represented kisses, in special shades of reds that ranged from scarlet to burgundy.

“They are my favorite reds from Pat McGrath Labs and from Marc’s collection,” McGrath said, of how they were chosen. Some were adorned with crystals, while others were bare fabric. The same went for the beauty marks; some were plain black, while others glittered like volcanic glass.

Under the abstract patches, McGrath kept the real makeup minimal, focusing on the skin. “The skin is luminous, really bare,” she said. McGrath only used Rose 001 The Essence and the Sublime Perfection Foundation and Concealer. Other than that, she opted for slightly groomed eyebrows and a tiny bit of shading on the eyes.

The two-dimensional makeup was meant to serve as a foil to Jacobs’s three-dimensional sculptural collection. The hair, by hairstylist Duffy, drew inspiration from the volume in much of the clothing. Stylists teased out tight waves to create fluffy, undone updos.

McGrath’s fabric cutouts call to mind paper dolls. After McGrath’s porcelain dolls at the Maison Margiela Couture Spring 2024 show, it’s a natural next step for the makeup artist. Doll-like beauty has also been a theme in Jacobs’s recent shows; last year, Diane Kendal also turned the models into doll-like figures with spindly lashes and white greasepaint. This year, it was McGrath’s turn to play—and the results are mod, abstract, and a doll collector’s dream.