Okay, so we may have missed out on attending the Chanel Beauty House pop-up in LA (*tear face emoji*), but relax, we have the photos. And they are exceptional.
When it comes to creating memorable experiences, luxury fashion house Chanel has always been leading the pack, calling on influencers and notable (yet slightly unconventional) celebrities to promote their products. And not to mention their stunning runway displays that attendees simply can’t not live stream to their social feeds. (That Chanel supermarket? Still legendary).
As consumers, we’ve been pushed and pulled into Chanel’s allure at numerous digital touchpoints, so you’d forgive us for thinking that the Chanel Beauty House experience was going to be nothing more than an Insta-bait tactic employed to spur as many ‘grams as possible without instilling anything ‘meaningful’ or new.
The Los Angeles experience which opened to the public between March 1-4, 2018, not only featured Chanel branding and every cosmetic known to man (as expected), but literally took over an entire house on Sunset Blvd, turning each room into an immersive experience drawing on virtual reality, colour-themed cabanas and unsurpassed levels of attention to detail. Remember Coco Club set in New York? Well, Chanel Beauty House just took that and completely blew it out of the water. You go, Glen Coco.
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Here’s why the Chanel Beauty House is more than just a ‘gram today, gone tomorrow pop-up:
For starters, there was a lot more going on behind the scenes which meant this marketing initiative wasn’t just to halo the brand. Turns out, in keeping with Chanel’s clever digital influencer ways, the brand has launched two new Instagram accounts: One is a user-generated account targeting the Chanel community, @welovecoco , which incentivises beauty enthusiasts and insiders to tag their posts; and a second, @chanel.beauty, which seeks to market Chanel cosmetics and beauty including tips, talks, looks and inspiration, separate from the brand’s runway collections (both of which we are already following, obvi).
So the Chanel Beauty House really had to pack a punch to entice people to a) find out about the new accounts, and b) actually interact IRL with the Chanel Beauty philosophy (and thus find out why they need to follow the accounts). And yet again, it set an example of how to do all of the above without sacrificing its air of luxury and exclusivity.
Don’t believe us? Take a look inside.
The “dining room” was covered floor to ceiling in red lacquer and lipstick was the main thing on the menu. The room housed lipstick stations kitted out with chic colouring books to test out shades (instead of covering your hand), plus stickers with the names of each shade. Outside there were colour-themed makeup artist cabanas to have your preferred shade applied and a customised Chanel photo booth which detected your lips and projected them instantly on a screen on the other side of the room.
There was also a bedroom with an actual bed except unlike your bedroom, this one was swathed in pink neon light with a mirror on the ceiling that read: “Provoke in Pink” — designed expressly for taking selfies.
The “dressing room” housed all of our makeup dreams… a virtual reality makeup try-on station where you sat down, looked at a screen and the camera *magically* identified your lips and allowed you to “try on” any lip shade with the click of a button.
In the bathroom there was a sea of Chanel-branded towels and a high-tech, re-settable mirror on which you could draw whatever you wanted using special “lipsticks.” And OMG!.. a bathtub filled with pearls where people were allowed to get in and take photos. #LookWhatYouMadeMeDo.
And if that doesn’t get you wild, there was a room where you could have a GIF made of you using the actual pink swing from Lily-Rose Depp’s Chanel beauty ad. Too legit, y’all.
But don’t let us drag on about all of its delightfulness, see for yourself in the gallery below:
