Peter Philips’s Makeup Inspirations Are TikTok and Mickey Mouse
As a young boy growing up in Antwerp, Peter Philips dreamt of attending the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts to study fashion. Although his parents were supportive of his creativity, his mother urged him to go into something more practical, like graphic design. He got his graphic-design degree — this was before everything went digital — and promptly decided to attend the academy after all, where his classmates included designers Raf Simons and Veronique Branquinho, photographer Willy Vanderperre, and stylist Olivier Rizzo.
During his time at the academy, he’d take a school bus with his fellow students to Paris Fashion Week to help out the Belgian designers. Backstage, he found himself more enthralled by the makeup on the models than the clothes. “I didn’t want to disappoint my parents, so I finished my studies and got my degree,” he says. “Then, I decided to throw myself into makeup, like an autodidact.” He began working with his former classmates, shooting with them and taking charge of makeup for their shows while also finding commercial jobs that he says taught him to do “real makeup.” Philips says, “It’s easy to do makeup for an editorial — golden splash on a face always photographs well, but to do beautiful, believable, natural makeup takes really more skill.”
Eventually, he began working on bigger campaigns and magazine shoots and, thanks to Karl Lagerfeld, had a stint at Chanel before joining Dior makeup as its creative and image director in 2014, which means he comes up with everything from the concepts to the colors of makeup. “A small guy in Belgium being offered Dior is kind of amazing,” he says. Below, he discusses how the beauty industry has evolved, the role of social media in his creative process, and the Mickey Mouse–themed shoot that altered the trajectory of his career.
How has your industry changed over the years?
I’ve been doing makeup for over 30 years in total. Going from rolls of film to digital, and AI now — to see that evolution is fascinating. At first, we just had magazines, and suddenly, there was fashion on TV, and then TV became the internet and social media. There has almost been a liberation of this beauty world. Makeup and beauty became democratic and accessible to everybody. That’s where the shift came from — the world of beauty and the world of fashion turned into the business of fashion and the business of beauty.
Last year, you said TikTok and the younger generation inspire you and your new creations. What does the process of seeing feedback on social media and incorporating it into new launches look like?
For example, we have a Forever foundation line, which we launched a few years ago. We started with the Glow version, which was totally inspired by what you see on social media with people really starting to embrace glowy finishes. But I also noticed the difference in how they were applying makeup. For example, the older generation is used to pumping foundation onto their hands and applying it with a brush or a sponge. I see young kids looking for new gestures — like influencers dropping foundation on their faces straight from the bottle — because they don’t want to do it like the older ones. They want to reinvent. We have an expression in Belgium, which is like, they try to reinvent hot water, but in a way, there’s nothing new under the sun.
While I was watching them, I realized that it had been a long time since I had a really good stick foundation. When I was starting makeup, stick foundations were for theater and very heavy makeup. But in those days, Dior had a lightweight stick foundation, which I loved because it was so natural. I said, Oh, maybe it’s time to bring it back, because we’ve got our compact foundations, our cushion foundations, and our fluid foundations. Why don’t we reintroduce another application technique, which also goes hand in hand with this expertise that young kids have now about highlighting and contouring? So we launched a stick foundation, and it’s been a huge success. With social media, you get really close to your potential consumers and your existing consumers. You just have to be open to it. It’s in the little hints.
What do you think is going to trend in 2026?
I think everything to do with glow will still be here. We did the crazy glass skin and extreme highlighting, and now, most people have mastered how to really do a beautiful glow without being too extreme or shy. I think they really will drive on that expertise and that comfortable feeling of knowing how to apply your makeup. Glow is very flattering for all ages.
What’s the most surprising place you’ve gotten inspiration from for a runway look?
A few years ago, we did a show in Athens with Maria Grazia Chiuri. It was a huge show, and it was at the Panathenaic Stadium. The distance between the audience and the models was huge. So if you wanted to do something, you had to do something very visible. Maria Grazia worked with a Greek artist, and she constantly talked about the Greek eye, the one for luck. So on some of the shoots before the actual show, we started playing and experimenting, and I did something with pearls around the eye. That was surprising, because Maria Grazia had said, Let’s not do too much, because there are too many models. But she saw some of the shots with the pearls around the eye, and suddenly, that became a concept for the show. We ended up doing them on every girl.
Looking back, is there a particular look or shoot you’re especially proud of?
I’m proud of many shoots, but I’m going to mention two. The first one I shot with Willy Vanderperre many years ago. I drew Mickey Mouse on a boy, and the photograph was used afterward by Raf Simons as the cover for a book called The Fourth Sex. It was published in the zero issue of V magazine, before V magazine actually existed. It became a cult image, because in those days, it was a very new, innovative approach to beauty for men.
Many years later, I did another Mickey Mouse with Irving Penn. Totally different approach. It was an amazing shoot day, and the project was published in U.S. Vogue as a full page. Afterward, it was the cover of a Vogue beauty book. This Mickey Mouse was a mask made with Chantilly lace that I embroidered myself, because I love making things. I had it in my suitcase for a few years. During the shoot for Vogue, Phyllis Posnick, the stylist, told me that Mr. Penn was asking if I had any masks. I said, “I have a few, and one of them is this Mickey Mouse.” He loved it, and we shot this beautiful shot with it. I have the print at home. I love that every time I pass it, it reminds me of that day.
How would you describe your approach to makeup artistry?
When I do makeup, it’s not about me. I’m seldom on my own. It’s always a conversation with the hairdresser, the stylist, and the model. I seldom come to a shoot with a plan, unless I need to make something for it. The most important person is the person in the chair. He or she will look great only if they are feeling comfortable. I use my skills and experience to help somebody cover up an insecurity, like, for example, if she’s not happy with her skin or the shape of her eyes. I can tweak it and help out. Or I can use my expertise to complete a conceptual concept for a shoot for a designer’s vision. So it’s always teamwork.
What other advice would you give to upcoming creatives?
Make sure your ambitions are not bigger than your talent. Because with your talent, you can work on it, and you can make it grow. But if your aim to fame is bigger than your talent, it’s not going to last long. Just take it step by step. There’s a very simple, old-school saying: First you crawl, then you walk, then you run, and then you can sprint. Don’t start running straight away, because you will fall over. I’m now close to 60, and I still learn every time I work with a new photographer. I’m open to learning. There’s nothing new under the sun. But no matter how many red lips I’ve done and how many red lipsticks I created, every new generation who wears a red lipstick reinvents the lipstick, because the context is always different.
What is a particular moment you’d describe as your big break?
In retrospect, my big break was that first Mickey Mouse mask shoot. We didn’t realize it at the time. We just had fun. We tried to make great shots and a great story and saw how people reacted to them. Now, I can say, “Oh my God, yeah, this Mickey Mouse actually led to that. And that thing led to that.” We did many other great shots, but that one really triggered something. It was almost like you planted the seed of a very exceptional tree, but you didn’t know it until it started growing.