Nicola Formichetti on MAC Cosmetics’ new ‘indie’ era

Everything was normal on the red carpet of the 2025 VMAs: celebrities doing the usual poses, step and repeat, cameras flashing. Doja Cat in a bejewelled Balmain mini dress and bouncy blonde blow-out, following photographer requests, ‘over the shoulder’, ‘down the line’. Then she pulled out a MAC Cosmetics Lady Danger red lipstick, touching up her make-up before twisting the bullet all the way up, taking a big bite and chowing down. 

The stunt, announcing Doja as the new global ambassador of MAC, had all the ingredients of a classic Nicola Formichetti moment – an awards show red carpet, a provocative songstress, playful attention-grabbing antics that break the tedium of standard celebrity fare. This is, after all, the man behind Lady Gaga’s meat dress and her latex Hussein Chalayan egg look. Formichetti had been named MAC’s global creative director just a few months prior, and he was starting his tenure exactly how you would expect – with a bang.

“I want to bring back the fun and the spontaneous energy that MAC used to have,” he tells Dazed. “I’m trying to make MAC feel like an indie brand again. We’re a big company, but MAC has always felt to me like an indie brand, and I want to bring that back in a cool way.” For all his decades-long experience in the industry – creative director at Mugler and Diesel, personal design director for Gaga, creative director of Dazed – Formichetti retains the irreverent punk spirit of his early years.

For his first campaign, ‘Foundation’, released in September, he brought together a cast of friends and stars – Doja, Kris Jenner, Gabbriette, Kristin McMenamy, Cortisa Star, Amar Akway, Kiko Mizuhara, Devyn Garcia – matched them to their perfect foundation shade, and then had Inez & Vinoodh shoot the make-up campaign in black and white. It was a move that stunned more than a few people. But to Formichetti, it just made sense.

“We’ve got the most incredible product and foundation, but instead of just talking about how amazing it is, I wanted to do something much more emotional – something that cuts through the noise,” he explains. “It was almost like a love letter. I’ve always believed in all genders, all sexes, all races – and I want to continue that. This concept will continue forever for MAC.”

Before we start, I have to ask about your time at Dazed.

Nicola Formichetti: Everything I do today, I learned from Dazed. At that time, there were no rules, so you had to wing it. I owe my life to Dazed and Jefferson [Hack] because I was a nobody. I was a shop boy in Soho and they were like, ‘Oh, you look cool, we’ll give you a page – do something.’ That’s how I started.

What was your page about?

Nicola Formichetti: My store was called The Pineal Eye. It was this legendary shop where I worked as a shop boy and also as a buyer. It was just off Carnaby Street, and we used to have the coolest designers there. Katy England used to come in all the time and borrow clothes – that’s how I met her. My page was called Eye Spy. I used to take pictures of the stuff in the shop, put it on my friends, and take Polaroids. It was a collage-style page. Then one page became two. About six months later, they said, ‘Why don’t you do a six-page story?’

I asked my friend, who was a skater, to take the pictures, and I put all these crazy clothes on the skater kids. It went kind of viral – there was no internet back then, so the magazine was like a Bible for fashion people. I got phone calls from all the designers, Miuccia Prada, Gucci, Dolce, everyone wanted to work with me because they saw something different in the work. I had no idea what I was doing. Then I became fashion editor, and later creative director. Dazed still has a big, big part of my heart.

Tell me about your first campaign, ‘Foundation’.

Nicola Formichetti: I wanted to treat it as going back to the roots of MAC – the pure essence, a foundational campaign. I purposely did it in black and white to give an instant sense of elevation. It was risky. What I wanted to say was: all ages, all races, all genders, from day one. I wanted to show that we are all the same; we come in different body types, but we’re all together. It’s the pure essence: back to basics, bare bones, we’re all naked, all together.

I wanted to create a vibe shift. We’re so surrounded by noise. I wanted to pause for a moment and say, ‘Hey, let’s get naked and just have a moment.’ MAC really means loving yourself, right? You love yourself so much that you can be naked.

I see this more as a brand reintroduction campaign. MAC is 90s. That’s when it all started – when all the amazing things were happening in beauty and fashion, with the supermodels. I want to bring that energy back. The photo from the campaign is so iconic, and I can’t wait to show it to the world on billboards everywhere. 

It does feel very 90s, like the old Benetton ads.

Nicola Formichetti: Totally. It was Oliviero Toscani – he did all those Benetton ads, and he was my mentor. I actually went to the same school as his son. So yes, totally Benetton, bringing not just the fashion imagery but the culture behind it.

More than ever, the world feels really divided and a bit crazy, so I think this message of community and inclusiveness is really important. The approach was mixing high and low, really elevated visuals, but also funny, slightly comedic content with all the talent. It’s tongue in cheek, showing their personalities.

You have Kris Jenner in the campaign – are you a big fan of Kris?

Nicola Formichetti: Yeah, I want to look like her! I wanted to really shoot her in an honest, elevated and pure way. She’s an icon. I wanted someone who could cut through all the noise. She’s loved by everyone, old and young, boys and girls. She’s such a MAC girl. It’s also kind of tongue in cheek that all her daughters have make-up brands and she’s doing MAC.

People are very nostalgic at the moment. MAC just re-released some discontinued shades and brought back Cool Spice. People really responded to it. Why do you think everyone wants those 90s shades back?

Nicola Formichetti: It’s because the 90s is the time – it just feels right for this moment. I’ve kind of never left that era my whole life, which is probably why I hated the last five, ten years. I hated Y2K. Now it’s like, finally, the kids are catching up. So I’m talking to my team about looking through all the iconic stuff from back then and bringing it back. You can see from the campaign – we’re bringing the 90s for sure. It’s cool, elevated, but also familiar. 

Do you worry about how to bring it back to those origins but also push things forward, and not make it feel too dated? 

Nicola Formichetti: I think it’s a bit of both. The reason I came on board is that we have an incredible history, but I want to move forward. All the crazy stuff is coming up, don’t worry, it isn’t all black and white and emotional. We’re going to go nuts. I’m only [a few] months in.

Talking about the 90s and that supermodel era – are you going to bring back cool tones? Everything’s so warm right now, and people seem very keen to get cooler shades.

Nicola Formichetti: Yeah, of course. We work very closely with Gabbriette, who’s the queen of cool tones. She really reminds me of the girls from back in the day. I just worked with her in Paris, the skinny eyebrows, all the liner, she really represents that cool 90s look for me.

But I also remember talking to Dick Page, the big 90s make-up artist. He told me that everyone kept asking him to do 90s make-up, so he did, and for him, it was authentic because he used to do those really heavy contours. But people today think the 90s is grunge or something, you know, not caked on. So we can explore different areas of the 90s too. Because I think during the supermodel era, it was really heavy.

People forget that! They think of Kate Moss, minimalist, CK One.

Nicola Formichetti: That’s one part. But the other part was Linda and Kevyn Aucoin – full drag-queen make-up, sculpted. We’re not doing just one thing. We can show something really out there, or something very basic and utilitarian. I love the idea of the toolbox. MAC, for me, is a toolbox for creativity. You can do something super minimal, almost invisible, or something really bold and out there.

RuPaul was the first VIVA glam girl.

Nicola Formichetti: I’m always in the archive, living the dream, coming up with ideas to interpret. There’s always drama – discontinuing shades, formula changes. We try our best, but sometimes, with chemicals and ingredients, it’s really hard to recreate something exactly. Beauty is more personal than fashion. People get so attached – it’s like live or die. Take the Studio Fix powder, for example. Some of the ingredients look amazing, but chemically they can be harsh. You might look great, but it can actually damage your skin.

People have been very vocal about getting the original shade for Spice. What changes make it hard to get the shade exactly right?

Nicola Formichetti: I think it’s about the chemicals we’re legally allowed to use today – it’s different from what they were allowed to do in the past. If we did exactly the same today, we’d go to jail [laughs]. But I think it’s possible. We’re really committed.