Consider a space filled with pitch black and white surfaces, employees dressed in black, red lipstick everywhere, and dance music playing. Is this a nightclub or Sephora? (Or MAC or NYX or Nars, for that matter?)
If beauty stores give you a sense of déjà vu, it's not your imagination. Many of them certainly have some sort of slick, recognizable vibe. MAC, NYX, Sephora, Nars, Chanel, Kiko Milano, and even the new Dior beauty boutique in New York City all have glossy black and white interiors, often with neon accents. While they all offer some points of difference, the overall feeling is that I'm in a very cool place!" .
"I think there's a recognized aesthetic around simple, minimalist, glossy retail interiors," said one design expert who wished to comment anonymously." I wouldn't say that's always been the case, but it's certainly the design aesthetic right now." As such, one could argue that black paint is the millennial pink of beauty retail.
MAC, which opened its first store in New York City's Greenwich Village in 1991, could be considered a pioneer of this aesthetic. (The brand's famous "MAC Black" permeates everything from its packaging to the clothes its employees must wear." Black has always been an important part of MAC's identity, starting with the packaging when it was first introduced. We've always used it as part of our signature look," said James Gager, MAC senior vice president and group creative director. But it's also evolving." The original store was quite ornate. It had a lot of curves and swirls made out of steel rods - a completely different vibe from the MAC store we know today."
Sephora opened its first store in the U.S. in 1998, cementing that style with its open concept and trial of every product, which was completely unique in beauty retail at the time. Its iconic black-and-white brand identity runs throughout the store and is now a ubiquitous part of the beauty retail landscape. "Our overall aesthetic is clean and bold, but not distracting," says Paul Loux, senior vice president of store design at Sephora." We designed our stores to create a natural visual pathway."
This explains the pragmatic reasons why this particular design aesthetic beauty store is so effective in the beauty industry." You don't have to have a lot of color and contrast, or interesting materials or patterns, because you don't want to overwhelm the nice clean sight lines," says the design expert. She notes that these sight lines make it easier to navigate, which is practical since beauty stores have so many products and the products are relatively small in size.
Facebook Conversations