It's Not Cheap - It's Pat McGrath Labs: Black Women's Creative Worth and the Price of Excellence

7-minute read                                                                                                         Photo credit: Sutulastock stock.adobe.com

 

Author: Bardot

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

Background context that sparked the topic for May’s blog post:

My comment to a LinkedIn post: 18/03/26 re: African designers too expensive?

For so long, Africa and her diaspora’s artists/designers/creatives have long been undervalued, underrated and underestimated. We've been going through a powerful and seismic transformation where we're structuring our businesses, strategising our cultural reach and positioning our pricing to compete on our own terms with our global competitors and succeeding.

The idea that Africa and her diaspora's artists/designers/creatives should offer their products/services for more affordable or cheaper prices, tells me that the viewer continues to use a deliberately skewed lens leftover from colonisation in which to consume and critique Black art in all its forms.

It's clear there is an obvious lack of understanding and appreciation for the design time, r&d, supply chain processes and marketing that goes into pricing. All of this, before we add on the cache that holds over a century’s worth of 'heritage' and 'legacy' that European haute couture houses have.

Better we take the time to reframe and reignite the world with our artistry as it should be authentically seen and consumed on par with competitor brands, than continue to have it critiqued as the 'poor child' who should not be in these spaces and places.

 

The Visionary - Pat McGrath:

Let us be truly clear about something before I go any further. Dame Pat McGrath is not just any makeup artist.

For several decades, her creative influence across the world, visual communication style, and visionary mindset within the beauty, fashion and editorial arenas are the reasons why McGrath commands the attention of many globally renowned luxury houses within the beauty and fashion industries season after season.

Having previously been a colleague of Edward Enninful’s during their time at i-D magazine in the early 1990’s, McGrath would eventually go on to found, set up, and launch her eponymous brand Pat McGrath Labs (PMLs) in 2015. Within four years PMLs had achieved what most entrepreneurs don't – unicorn status -, where a privately held company is valued at over $1 billion.

So, in early 2026, when social media platforms began circulating PML's financial "structuring news", the bizarre commentary that her products are “…too expensive…” and that she should offer cheaper lines to be more “…accessible to the culture…", we really need to stop and ask a harder question. Would this expectation be placed on Charlotte Tilbury, Victoria Beckham Beauty, or Gucci Westman? Bearing in mind these are all female-founded make-up brands, peers, and business competitors of McGrath’s.

Sadly, you already know the answer.

Now, while the PMLs team exited the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in April 2026 by securing fresh financing from GDA Luma, the original discussion around PMLs pricing and product offering brought me back again to a topic that continues to rumble on in the realm of entrepreneurship and Black female creatives. The pretence that the issue is affordability, when instead it’s an indication of deep, unresolved discomfort within parts of the Black diaspora around placing full commercial value on Black creative genius. Especially if that business is female-founded and led.

 

Supporting Our Creative Value

Indulge me for a moment so I can extend the lens wider to the cultural irritation that expects Black fashion designers to offer heavy discounts, Black photographers to work for ‘exposure’, and Black creative consultants to share their expertise freely under the guise of community or Black History Month programmes of activities. On one hand, it's loudly well-intentioned, while on the other, it’s quietly destructive.

If we desire and want products that provide quality, a luxury experience, and craftsmanship – not just in how the product is made but also how long it’s built to last – in equal measure, that will come at an inevitable cost!

I had no doubt that many of the people negatively commenting on PMLs' then financial plans had no appreciation for what went into making a PMLs product or others of its kind, so let’s take a whistle-stop tour: research and development, including scientific advancements (over several years, possibly decades); raw materials; formulation of ingredients (pigments, textures, finishes, etc.); branding; packaging; a full 360° marketing, communications and public relations strategy aimed at the luxury market and clientele; and let’s not forget Dame Pat McGrath herself, which includes her extensive knowledge, experience and reputation, as the greatest asset for PMLs.

To that extent, there was no way anything coming from PMLs would be cheap to produce, nor should anyone have expected it to be. I could also name some others as examples who have found themselves on the odd intermittent discussion boards about their pricing or product offering (founder name in brackets):

·       Cécred (Beyoncé)

·       d.bleau.dazzled (Destiney Bleu)

·       Danessa Myricks Beauty (Danessa Myricks)

·       Fenty Beauty by Rihanna (Rihanna in partnership with LVMH)

·       Grow-Good Beauty (Cardi B)*

·       Nubian Skin (Ade Hassan, MBE)

·       PATTERN Beauty (Tracee Ellis Ross)

[*] denotes their products range within affordable price points.

While Cardi B’s range was released stateside on Wednesday, 15 April 2026, what does apply to all the women above and so many others is the expectation that experienced Black female creatives should price their work and time below market rate or below what the work deserves. This is a form of cultural self-sabotage, and we can’t afford to do that to ourselves, never mind what this is teaching the younger generation who are constantly watching, studying, and learning from us.

The foundation of our creative self-worth – and how we shape creativity in others so they go on to influence millions – shouldn’t be separated from our commercial value. To undervalue our artistry makes it easier to dismiss from both inside and outside of our collective Black culture.

So let this be a rallying call to all Black female creatives everywhere. Build your brands and truly know your worth. Set your price with confidence. Set your price with care. Set your price with the excellence and professionalism that you’re ready to share.

 

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