PARTY CENTER: The beauty industry put on its party shoes with a flourish this Paris Fashion Week, when the number of celebrations was close to the intensity of pre-coronavirus levels.
On Friday night, Carita Maison de Beauté threw a party in its newly renovated flagship on Rue Saint-Honoré, where Crazy Horse dancers performed in the arched staircase. Cocktail attendees included actress Monica Bellucci and Jean-Paul Agon, president of L’Oréal, owner of Carita.
Coco Rocha, also a model and dancer, was among the guests at the five-story beauty mecca. She had just finished the 101st Model Camp, a master class that Rocha gives to models from all over the world. Some 3,500 men and women have already participated in the programme.
“It’s for every model that I think needs to be represented,” he said. “I’ve had the youngest 14 and the oldest 75, women and men in chairs.”
Rocha helps guide the models in the right direction, to know, for example, which contracts to sign.
“It’s also posing, catwalks and all the fun stuff,” she said. “But the business side is what we’re really focused on.”
Rocha teaches models to know their rights and promote competition.
“I think we need more women helping other women, but also models helping models,” she said.
Also present was L’Oréal executive Elisabeth Sandager, who was tasked with changing the Carita brand.
“We maintain the Maison de Beauté,” he stressed. “This is how I rebuild the brand. I need a temple of beauty, where it all began. He wanted to make it a luxury house, also with a restaurant and an apartment. I have been inspired by heritage. It’s our first real step into luxury.”
John Nollet is the artistic director of the Maison de Beauté. The celebrity stylist said that he had dreamed of the brand since he was eight years old.
“This brand is just fantastic and unique,” he said.
The night before, on September 29, at least four beauty parties were held simultaneously.
Frédéric Malle held an intimate dinner at Le Voltaire to celebrate his collaboration with designer Pierre Hardy. The two had bonded over purse sprays years ago and have stayed in touch ever since.
“There is always the dreaded time to do things for Christmas, which I find very commercial and not so close to my brand. I thought I might ask Pierre to be Santa Claus this time and invite him as a special guest,” Malle said. “It’s a way to celebrate our friendship, but it’s also a way to celebrate the fact that for many years we’ve had a very similar approach to things. We are both complete modernists, but we are rooted in the past through culture and love of design.”
Malle described Hardy’s signature cube motif as “modern”. “It could have been a Sol LeWitt, but in a way it’s a very classic Roman design,” Malle said. “So it’s really the epitome of what I like.”
For the holiday period, which begins in early November, each of his brand’s red perfume sleeves will be replaced with a red, black and gray Hardy-patterned sleeve. The sleeves of the home fragrances will also be changed, and the designer created some toiletry bags with his oilcloth.
“He did some special designs for us, which I love,” Malle continued. “I want one. I haven’t had one yet, yeah the secret intention behind it is I want one of these for myself and I hate to beg.”
A few blocks away, Interparfums SA was hosting a cocktail party to officially inaugurate its new headquarters, located at 10 Rue de Solferino, the site of the former headquarters of the French Socialist Party. Hundreds of beauty executives filled the buildings and courtyards.
Philippe Benacin, president and CEO of Interparfums SA, said he loves the view from the terrace overlooking the three different buildings that make up the new headquarters.
Across the Seine, Byredo’s Rue Saint Honoré store vibrated with music and people gathered to celebrate with Ben Gorham, the brand’s founder, and his new make-up and image partner, Lucia Pica.
Lucia Pica and Ben Gorham
Heading north, Jean Paul Gaultier threw a raucous party for Scandal, his master fragrance brand, at a mansion on tony Place Saint Georges. Speaking on the subject of boxing, scantily clad men roamed the rooms and there were locker facilities.
Source: news.google.com