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beauty
PHOTOGRAPHY, GEOFFREY ROSS (PRODUCTS)Chanel Rouge Coco Gloss in 816
Laque Noire ($39); Rouge Allure
Velvet Extrême in 130 Rouge Obscur
($46); Ombre Première Top Coat in
327 Pénombre ($45). For details,
see Shopping Guide.Amy Verner discovers the
allure of an ultra-dark lip.
FA D E
to
BLACK
WHATEVER PEOPLE EXPECTED from the Chanel resort
show in May—the first official collection under the direction
of Virginie Viard, who had been Karl Lagerfeld’s closest col-
laborator for more than 30 years until his death in February—it
probably wasn’t such ultra-dark lips. (In recent seasons, certainly,
lips have leaned toward a more classic look: either lightly glossed
or with a slick of prototypically Parisian red.) But instead of the
statement coming across as clichéd goth girl, it was assertive and
polished—like a more youthful, modern spin on the femme fatale.
A few weeks earlier, at the Chanel Beauty headquarters at the
western edge of Paris, Lucia Pica, global creative makeup and
colour designer for the French brand, showed off the deep-bur-
gundy lipstick and black-cherry gloss that would debut backstage
as part of the broader Noir et Blanc de Chanel fall makeup collec-
tion, which includes a vibrant-black eyeshadow that glints with
gold and an opaque-white nail polish. For a brand so inextricably
linked to black and white, it’s surprising that they’ve never been
the starting point for a seasonal makeup collection—until now.
Pica was eager to demystify the gloss. She noted, for start-
ers, that the texture was developed to be moisturizing with no
uncomfortable stickiness. But what about when to wear it? “If
you really feel provocative or confrontational or just want to
have a bit of a good time,” she replied, pausing just long enough
to layer it over her existing lip colour (without using a mirror).
“You see? It’s not that scary,” she said, her white teeth appear-
ing even brighter against her maroon mouth as she smiled. “But
what I like is that it still feels really chic. It’s not just for millen-
nials; it’s also for us.”