GLOBAL ROAMING
Since taking the helm of Chanel make-up, Lucia Pica has brought bold colour, texture and experimentation to the beauty halls of the storied house, and her latest Eastern-inspired collection is no exception. By Remy Rippon.
Lucia Pica’s new Eastern-inspired make-up collection for Chanel features her signature bold colour, texture and experimentation.
Lucia Pica’s ocean-blue eyes alight when she recalls a monthlong trip to Tokyo and Seoul with her friend, fashion photographer Harley Weir. Armed with little more than a camera and a loose itinerary, the creative duo scoured the streets of the vibrant cities, upending as much beauty and inspiration in the frenetic tourist hubs as the abstract, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them details. “I just like to travel and to get myself into strange situations where I can maybe find different things, different colours,” explains Pica, Chanel’s global creative make-up and colour designer, of the voyage that eventually informed the house’s latest make-up collection.
Case in point: the duo’s journey led them to Tokyo’s iconic energetic fish market, where Weir and Pica spent almost five hours capturing the chaos, the vibrant film reel eventually informing one of the collection’s hero products, Ombre Première Gloss in Lunaire. “Definitely with the fish picture, I knew straight away what it was going to be,” notes Pica of the ultra-glossy silver eye pot. “I’m actually quite surprised myself that it looks so much like it.”
Vision D’Asie: Lumière et Contraste is an extension of the hugely successful spring/summer ’ 19 launch, which hit counters in January. This dual-season – spring and cruise – drop happened somewhat by accident, says the Italianborn, London-based make-up artist, with Weir’s photographic journal of the visit inspiring a rollcall of products, colour and textures. “I just had a lot of material and I had a few ideas within the inspiration and I didn’t want to lose them, because I thought it was quite strong. I like the detail [of Weir’s photographs] but I also like the light and shadow and the softness of it,” she says, before adding: “It’s only once I get the photos developed that I have a true sense of the collection and that it’s so obvious which elements of each image will inspire a product.”
It isn’t hard to see why Pica had ample material to inform not one but two stellar lines. To S be sure, the beauty and fashion industries have long been captivated by the creativity in technology and textiles of our Eastern neighbours, and that’s notwithstanding the fact that both Japan and Korea remain pioneers in every facet of beauty innovation. “They treat all the ordinary things with that respect and that elevation, almost like a sacred thing,” says Pica.
The resulting 13-piece collection, which covers off everything from cheeks to eyes, lips and nails, focuses on that ‘elevation’ philosophy,
with shadow- effect formulas and high-gloss accents. There’s Duo Bronze et Lumière, a mattifying and highlighting powder palette (not to be mistaken for your average contouring palette – “I don’t want to call them that, because they’re so much more,” exclaims Pica), which has a translucent, second-skin effect on application.
While exquisite tone and colour are the signatures of Pica’s creations, texture is also a prime consideration. “Texture is important. I actually think about that a lot: you can’t have a certain colour without the support of certain textures. Texture and colour work hand in hand.” This sentiment is echoed in the eye products. There are two super-shiny eye glosses – gold and silver – as well as a neat eyeshadow quad with shades that uniquely transform from cream to velvet. Moreover, the Stylo Ombre et Contours, like smudgy crayon liners in three flattering shades, work double- duty as a standard shadow, eyeliner and even a slick base for eyeshadow.
No creation of Pica’s would make its way into a chic Chanel casing unless it was above all wearable and deftly easy to use. It’s also why, when we catch up in Tokyo – Pica’s first time returning to the city since her creative trip with Weir – she’s regularly dipping her fingers into palettes and lipsticks to get a sense of the textures and colour pay-off; the back of her hand possessing a painter’s palette of tried and tested hues. Her mission, she says, is to deliver trends with an overarching ease of wearability, which uniquely comes down to the fact that she’s her own best critic. “You want to have freedom; you want to play. There are challenges that you face when you’re creating products, but I wanted to make sure that they had multiple uses. So I guess women creating for women delivers that.”
For this reason, the range features Rouge Coco Flash lipsticks in two shades that are muted enough to use on the cheeks, too. On the other hand, the trio of nail polishes in moody lavender, grey and flesh-like beige are simultaneously arresting and subtle. “I’m trying to offer this boldness with wearability, so women are not terrified when they see it, because ultimately they need to wear it, so that’s what I’m trying to do all the time.” Mission most definitely accomplished.
“YOU CAN’T HAVE A CERTAIN COLOUR WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF CERTAIN TEXTURES. TEXTURE AND COLOUR WORK HAND IN HAND”
Opposite: from the Chanel Vision D’Asie: Lumière et Contraste collection. 1. Ombre Première Gloss eye gloss in Solaire, $52. 2. Rouge Coco Flash lipstick in Contraste, $52. 3. Chanel Duo Bronze et Lumière powder palette in Clair, $93. 4. Rouge Coco Flash lipstick in Lumière, $52. 5. Ombre Première Gloss eye gloss in Lunaire, $52.