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ANCASTER MONACO COSMETICS

were looking cheap. Thepackaging had devolvedfrom gold to a muddy

mushroom color with navy accents.Once the makeup of choice for thearistocrats orbiting around the youngPrincess Grace, Lancaster had fallenon hard times, bought and sold and all the worse for wear.

Finally Coty bought the brand andhired industrial designer KennethHirst to bring it back to life.

Sketchpad in hand, Hirst started

with a single phrase to guide his hand:“a drop of liquid sunshine.” After all,the Lancaster factory was still inMonaco, the ingredients from thatMediterranean part of the world wherelight, air and water all seem to mixinto one heady concoction. Radianceof skin and smiles was the “visualterritory” Hirst wanted to cover. Hefirst translated the “drop of liquidsunshine” into the re-design of thelipstick tube, “the hero of the line,” as he calls it, placing “a gold accenton the top of the cap as though you

dropped a pebble in water.”Combining the gold with silver

“to make it look more modern,” Hirst created line extensions once Coty approved the lipstick look —compacts, nail polish, a foundation.

(Don’t go looking for it. Althoughthe brand was successfully re-launched in Europe and Saudi Arabia,it is not yet available in the U.S.)

Hirst, 49, is at the top of his form,a leader in the ranks of cosmeticpackage designers. Debonair with acheery Australian accent, he could

Stunningly designed packaging nestles nicely in Vancouver’s skyline (from left): Lancaster Monaco; Delices de Cartier; Prada Pour Homme; Dr. Feelgood Balm; Anna Sui’s Secret Wish; Alien by Thierry Mugler; Pure Poison by Christian Dior; Pasha de Cartier; Miso Pretty; Orchidee Imperiale.

The packaging is art. The thinking behind it is science.

STYLE BY LOUIS POSTEL • PHOTOGRAPHY BY TAYLOR SHERRILL

COSMETICS COURTESY SAKS FIFTH AVENUE, PALM DESERT AND FREDALA, BEVERLY HILLS

D E S I G N O V E R T H E C O U N T E R

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easily pass for one of the PrincessGrace set. Over his career he’slaunched a wide variety of cosmeticsfrom upscale Lancaster based inMonaco to mid-market Nautica andcelebrity lines for Jennifer Lopezand Celine Dion.

Other talented individuals aredoing the same:

• Marc Rosen, once the artdirector of Elizabeth Arden, is busycreating ampoule-based cosmetics for world-traveling women for Lisa Hoffman, wife of Dustin.

• Norman Kay of IBC/Shellpackagers is hard at work makingeco-friendly packaging out of

biodegradable plastics (“theEuropeans are ahead of us on this we have to catch up”). And that’s just a random sampling.

The world market for new anddifferent makeup solutions seemsinsatiable. Take a look at anycosmetics counter — the choices are too numerous to mention, a kaleidoscope of possibilities.

How, then, do designers like Hirstdifferentiate their products, makethem unique and beautiful just as theykeep us unique and beautiful?

One part is sheer inspiration —“the drop of liquid sunshine” guidingyour sketching hand. Another part is

the ability and knowledge in staying“on trend” as they say in the fashionworld. And indeed, cosmeticpackaging is at the very forefront of the fashion world, intimatelyconnected to whatever else is going on: runway fashions, street fashions,even architecture.

Yes, architecture. For example,there’s an entire look emanating fromFrank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museumin Bilboa, Spain. Its titanium skin and floating forms have creators ofcosmetic packages (as well as theircontents) experimenting with the same kind of shimmering effects thatchange completely when under a

What a beautiful combination.

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cloud, or in rain, or a shadow, or seenfrom a different angle. As our worldbecomes smaller, there’s no corner of it that doesn’t exert some influence on fashion and the way we and ourproducts appear.

As our technological prowessincreases there’s no end of specialeffects possibilities for packaging.

To name just a few, there’sglistening, “wet” package surfaces,anodized metallic, glazed, blurred,

and gilded. There’s even a panoply ofinteresting patinas; your compact canhave the same look as a bronze statueof Aphrodite left out in the weather.

Sunny Maffeo is an expert in thelook and feel of cosmetic packaging.She knows what it takes to keep it “on trend.” As the Creative Director atEngelhard in New Jersey (part of theBASF plastics conglomerate), Maffeotravels the world trying to figure outwhat’s next in fashion. She’s in Paris

at least three times a year at variousshows, camping out at L’Oreal andother firms just to see what’s going on.And she makes her way to the desert,too. “As a matter of fact,” saysMaffeo, “I’m a member of the ColorMarketing Group and we just had aconference in Rancho Mirage.”

Palm Springs was a good location“because trends start on the high endand usually work their way down.Except for glitter on packaging which

From left: Antidote by Viktor & Rolf; Eau du Soir (Hubert D’Ornano) by Sisley for Women; John Varvatos; Some Kind of Gorgeous by Benefit; Armani Code; SK II; Jo Malone of London’s Cologne and La Prairie’s Midnight Rain. Thanks to Pam Riccio of Saks Fifth Avenue for her assistance.

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started low and then went up.” Maffeo calls this lifestyle pattern

the “porcelain phenomenon” — afterMarie Antoinette, “people now areabsorbed in taking care of themselves.I tracked vanity tables on the ’net. Atfirst they were almost non-existent;and now it’s a big thing. Time is beingspent at those tables and now thetrend is to have beautiful things toleave on them as well as ‘companionpackaging’ — smaller items of thesame design you can take with you.”

Maffeo sees designers creating this

boudoir-friendly cosmetic packagingin basically four different modes:

MODE 1: “This look is about calm:meditation, delicacy — subtle contrastand layering, tone on tone. Punched-out or dotted things in lettering. Not-quite-geometric printing on boxesand labels but soft wallpaper effects.Opalescent. Resembling luxe fabrics.There’s sometimes a very faint golddusting-over that can be seen atcertain viewing angles.

“The color palette is an elaborate

one of skin tones: Delicate rosy towarm tans. The packaging has a lusteremulating healthy skin; a healthyglowing reflection.

“As for the ‘Flemish Face’ or ‘nomake-up make-up look’ — trust me,it takes a lot of product to do thatlook right,” says Maffeo.

MODE 2: “You will never get awayfrom pink in cosmetic packaging.Though, in the fashion world at-large,pink is ceding its top spot to green,there are new pinks coming from the

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