Paris — What happens when Guerlain and Pucci collaborate on a limited edition capsule of makeup products? A riot of color contrasts – and creativity.
The project of the houses owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which was due out in August, came about organically. It includes revamped Rouge G lipsticks, Météorites and Terracotta products dressed up in Pucci’s iconic Marmo print.
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Guerlain first approached the Italian fashion brand.
“Immediately, I thought that there is no question or doubt – it is for us,” said Camille Miceli, artistic director of Pucci, who explained that it made great sense for the brand to create makeup colors – since colors are so important to the label – and to push boundaries.
Gabrielle Saint-Genis Rodriguez, chief executive officer of Guerlain, said that the arrival of Miceli to Pucci in 2021 has injected a lot of energy, joy, boldness and wisdom into the brand, so the link was made naturally.
Miceli has never worked on colored cosmetics before but has worn Guerlain’s Terracotta for years. However, she has created packaging.
“I love making things that look like objects and have a second use,” Miceli said.
“Violette immediately embraced the idea of going quite far in terms of unusual colors,” said Miceli, referring to Violette Serrat, Guerlain’s creative composition director.
Saint-Genis Rodriguez described Guerlain as Paris, with a view of fashion, elegance, modernity and tradition, which Serrat embodies and expresses the makeup.
Guerlain has teamed up with Pucci once before on color cosmetics, in 2012. These ties can help recruit new, and often younger, consumers. “It’s a way to talk about the brand from a different angle,” said Saint-Genis Rodriguez.
Serrat loves collaborations among brands. “It’s a way to tell a different story,” she said. “It’s like a marriage. You enter someone else’s life, you get your own vision of it – and vice versa. There are so many interesting things that can come out if so.
“Also, I love working with another creative person who is a designer for another brand,” she continued. “It’s almost like a tango, where you let them lead at some point, then you lead.”
But that’s not about power or ego, Serrat said, explaining that it’s more about discovering each other, and working freely.
“You get really motivated there,” she said. “It’s one of my favorite things. It’s a great opportunity on an artistic level, and also on a business level, because you get new customers or you take your customers somewhere else. It’s very interesting to work on that.”
Serrat wanted to make sure that Miceli could convey Pucci and his vision of beauty.
“Sometimes it’s a modern thing to work with people who are not associated with beauty,” she continued.
The creative process was free from constraints.
“My goal there was really to make sure things were wearable,” Serrat said, calling Pucci iconic.
“I’ve always been mesmerized by how they’re able to keep telling the story with basically the same font, the Marmo font,” she said. “It’s like this mystery recipe that just works.”
“The psychedelic side of Pucci is hidden in the Marmo print for me,” said Miceli.
The capsule features two new Rouge G lipsticks, which come in a plum with a satin finish and a matte red with a velvet finish, and can be used alone or together. These set the pace for the collection and will help introduce the recently reformulated Rouge G line, enriched with active lip care ingredients such as lily oleo-extract.
He has “no offense,” Saint-Genis Rodriguez said. “We are obsessed with natural formation.” That’s true for sustainable ingredient sourcing as well.
Miceli and Serrat’s focus at the same time was on product packaging.
“Seeing all the Marmo data everywhere made me so excited,” Serrat said.
Miceli was impressed by Guerlain’s technical prowess.
The Ombres G eyeshadow quad, called 045 Marmo Vibe, has been developed with four new matte shades, including orange, violet, black and white. Its golden case features a Marmo motif.
That also spangles the packaging of the Terracotta Marmo Sun bronze powder, in three shades, with a fabric zip pouch. It is decorated, as well, with two gold-colored fish pendants, representing the Pucci logo.
Météorites’ bestseller, 02 Rosé, has Marmo-patterned holders and the Marmo Swirl brush, which bears the Guerlain logo.
“They become an object,” Miceli said.
Rounding out the collection is the Parure Gold Cushion Marmo Glow foundation. Prices range from 42 euros for a lipstick refill to 98 euros for the bronze powder.
Each reference will have up to 20,000 pieces, and the capsule will be available for three months.
Both Serrat and Miceli wanted Natalia Vodianova, Guerlain’s international ambassador, to appear in the campaign, which was photographed by Oliver Hadlee Pears. “She is an icon for Guerlain. I love working with her,” Serrat said. “She is so professional.”
“I love her and I think she’s a wonderful woman,” Miceli enthused.
“The whole campaign is a collaboration of three women — having fun and being creative with their craft,” Serrat continued.
The capsule will be sold for the first time in a pop-up at Isetan in Japan on August 15. The launch is worldwide in selected doors, including Guerlain boutiques and guerlain.com, which follows on August 26.
Guerlain’s main makeup market today is Europe, especially France, Italy and Spain.
“Météorites are very successful in Asia, especially in Japan and [South] Korea,” Saint-Genis Rodriguez said. Parure Gold is a big seller in China and the rest of Asia, she said.
Guerlain recently launched Kisskiss Bee Glow Oil for lips, which sold out worldwide after a month.
The brand is no stranger to co-workers. Recent links with the Antoine de Saint Exupéry Foundation, the Maison Matisse and Lee Ufan Arles, have included the Art & Environment prize.
“Art and connection with artists are ways to question yourself, to think [broadly]and raise the level of your ideas and creations,” said Saint-Genis Rodriguez, noting that Guerlain is almost 200 years old.
“Because we have this long history, we like to create bridges between generations, cultures and artists,” she said.
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