Catching Up With The Makeup Artists Behind the Met Gala
After trekking between The Mark Hotel and The Carlyle Hotel, the makeup artists behind fashion’s big night caught up over dinner, in partnership with Lashify and Instagram.
The dinner, which started while the Met Gala was well underway, took place at Veronika in Fotografiska, and was hosted by Pati Dubroff, Troy Surratt and Sam Visser.
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Surratt said the tradition started years ago, and has grown in scope to encompass a plethora of new and established artists.
“We started doing this in 2013, and it was just an idea of a small dinner, maybe 10 of my friends in town from L.A.,” Surratt said. “We never get to see each other since we always team up with hairstylists. I thought it would be a good night with everyone in town to build community, and it’s grown every year.”
Cohost Dubroff, who had come into town from Italy just for the event, said the day’s antics were par for the course, and that the artists’ dinner was always a highlight.
Sansho Scott/BFA.com
“I’ve been part of the dinner since the beginning, too, and it’s just evolved. It’s my favorite part of the Met. You get to come to dinner with your peers,” she said. “There’s many artists I know, but so many young ones I’ve been dying to meet. I got to check them off the bucket list, like Mario [Dedivanovic].”
Dedivanovic’s client for the day, Kim Kardashian West, may have arrived at the Met with a cloaked visage, but the artist wasn’t off the hook from his typical duties.
“It’s probably the most interesting Met Gala I’ve ever done because she was wearing a mask. Her entire head is covered, but we still did a full face underneath for when she takes it off later,” he said. “This is my 22nd year in the business, so at first, part of me was like, ‘Yes, I don’t have to do anything today!’ But I always approach it as my favorite red carpet of the year, and I was happy for her because she looked incredible.”
Dedivanovic’s own brand, Makeup by Mario, is coming up on its first anniversary. Despite cosmetics turning around in 2021 and his robust social media following, launching his namesake line came with its own trials and tribulations.
Sansho Scott/BFA.com
“Launching a brand last year was very, very challenging. It was difficult, but the past year has been incredible, and aside from the brand, the amount I have learned from my team is unimaginable. It’s nothing like I thought it was, it’s way more difficult. But also, I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” he said.
Dedivanovic’s entrepreneurial spirit was shared by Katie Jane Hughes, the makeup artist who launched her own line of brushes in partnership with the U.K.-based brand Spectrum. “They sold out in two-and-a-half hours, which is amazing. The consumer doesn’t know how much a brush can really elevate your makeup game, so through content and clear education, I’m able to really translate for our audience,” she said.
Hughes is eyeing other categories for expansion. “I’m launching my own project next year that’s going to be education first, product second. I want to sell product via the education,” she said. “The concept of brands is so easy, and I want to make slightly more complex products with the opportunity to teach people how to use them to give them more flexibility and range out of their makeup bag.”
The evening concluded with an after party next door at the Chapel Bar.
Sansho Scott/BFA.com
For more from WWD.com, see:
Mario Dedivanovic Is Working on a Makeup Line of His Own
The Best Beauty Looks at the 2021 Met Gala
LaQuan Smith Met Gala After Party
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