UAE. French fragrance house Guerlain yesterday celebrated the inauguration of its first Haute Parfumerie pop-up store in travel retail in partnership with Dubai Duty Free, Dubai International Airport (DXB) and JCDecaux.
The Moodie Davitt Report was on hand during the inauguration ceremony graced by senior representatives from Guerlain, its parent company LVMH, Dubai Duty Free, DXB and JCDecaux.
A big day for LVMH beautyGuerlain was not the only LVMH brand in the limelight at DXB yesterday. Earlier in the day, a pop-up was openened in Terminal 1 to mark a unique collaboration between two fellow LVMH brands, fragrance maison Givenchy and single malt Scotch whisky Glenmorangie. Read our extensive on location report here.
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The pop-up, which soft opened in March, is a premium immersive experience open to departing and transiting passengers from Concourses B & C, Terminal 3.
The dazzling boutique embraces contemporary, refined aesthetics designed to create a visitor experience that serves as an exceptional destination – “a truly beautiful journey situated at the crossroads of fragrance and art”, as Guerlain described it.
“For the first time we invite the travel retail consumer to enter the world of Guerlain, to embark upon a luxurious sensory journey, a place for celebration and interaction, placing a spotlight on Haute perfumery, exclusive services, custom features and personalisation – a boundless playground of luxury,” said Guerlain CEO Véronique Courtois in a statement (look out for an exclusive interview with Ms Courtois coming soon along with more photos and video from yesterday’s ceremony).
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Guerlain, in conjunction with our partners Dubai Duty Free and JCDecaux, in bringing this highly exclusive experience to our global guests travelling through Dubai,” said Dubai Airports EVP Commercial Eugene Barry.
[Click on the icon to listen to hear Dubai Airports EVP Commercial Eugene Barry chat with Martin Moodie after the ceremony]
Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman & CEO Colm McLoughlin said: “We are delighted that Guerlain has chosen our retail operation as the launch venue for this innovative pop-up that is going to be in Concourse B for 16 months.
“We know that our customers, who travel through DXB from all over the world, are going to enjoy this highly personalised shopping experience and will have the chance to understand more about Guerlain as a brand and to enjoy this very special selection of products that have been specially curated.”
“It has been a fantastic success for Guerlain and Dubai Duty Free,” said Dubai Duty Chief Operating Officer Ramesh Cidambi, speaking during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Cidambi praised the spirit of cooperation between Dubai Airports, Dubai Duty Free, JCDecaux and Guerlain (Dubai Duty Free, Dubai Airports and JCDecaux entered a partnership on 1 January 2018 to create a drive-to-store, data-driven advertising offer at DXB).
“I’m so proud to be here today. This is a unique opportunity,” added Guerlain International Managing Director Stéphane Augé. In a reference to the industry’s recovery from the pandemic in Dubai, he noted that “the passengers are here” and that sales to date had been “great”.
Newly appointed President and CEO Travel Retail, LVMH Beauty Philippe Farnier led a round of applause for all those involved in the project. He spoke of the “emotion and poetry” involved in the project, dynamics that enable Guerlain to bring “an amazing experience to our clients”. [Look out for a Podcast interview with Farnier, coming soon].
L’Art & La Matière collection – A celebration of scents, texts and colours
The pop-up features the 17-strong L’Art & La Matière collection, dubbed by the fragrance house as the “crowning jewel of Guerlain Haute Parfumerie”.
Guerlain said: “L’Art & la Matière echoes this irrepressible love of beauty. The 17 creations form a collection of olfactory masterpieces envisioned and crafted with savoir-faire, rigour, and passion. Conceived by art, sculpted with the finest ingredients used in perfumery, and exalted by artistic passion and talent, the fragrance trail becomes more than a signature. It is transformed into an art form.”
Each fragrance in the L’Art & La Matière collection is born of its own spark of inspiration, Guerlain noted. It described the scents as “a gripping aesthetic thrill… an artistic emotion that leaves an indelible mark on the Perfumer’s memory.”
It added, “Gender, era and origin are all little importance; the key is exhilaration. Sight, sound, touch, and smell; all of the senses echo and transcend each other. Like a painter seated before their blank canvas, a writer piecing together their words or a composer arranging together notes on a score, the House of Guerlain Perfumer elevates fragrance to the rank of art.”
The collection features fiery florals, fresh fragrances, robust woody scents and orientals.
L’Art de Vivre: Home Collection
The boutique also offers a range of candles and diffusers designed as complements to the Eaux de Parfum of the L’Art & La Matière collection.
“Guerlain Haute Parfumerie celebrates the art of fragrance in its fullest sense, honouring scents as they exist in everyday life,” the company said.
Les Matieres Confidentielles : fragrances for private moments
Guerlain noted that its approach to the art of perfumery has never been restricted by boundaries. As early as 1900, the house recommended that clients spray perfume on gloves and handkerchiefs just as they would have done on the back of the neck or décolleté.
Maintaining this tradition of perfuming ‘those private moments’, the Les Matières Confidentielles collection can be used by aesthetes (lovers of art and beauty) in their homes, upon their skin or over cherished materials.
Orchidée Impériale & Rouge G: ‘the skincare and makeup quintessence’
To take clients on a “voluptuous and sensorial beauty journey”, a dedicated space has been designed for skincare and makeup. The skincare space features the hero Orchidée Impériale line, renowned for its effectiveness on the signs of skin ageing and the sensory pleasure of its textures.
The premium skincare collection embraces the latest discoveries in skin longevity, its formulation housed in a jewel-like creative design.
Guerlain’s expertise in lip makeup is also to the fore with Rouge G, which offers a wide variety of shades and textures. “It’s where lip personalisation starts,” Guerlain said.
Refinement at its most personal
With personalisation at the heart of Guerlain, each L’Art & la Matière fragrance is designed to be “utterly singular and brimming with personality”, the house said. This in-store experience of olfactory discovery includes the option to adorn the purchased bottle in a variety of arrangements.
The customisation experience offers a myriad of materials and colours. The plate placed on top of the bottle stopper, for example, can be chosen from 12 versions. To ensure that the bottle is unique down to the last detail, colour options of gold, black, blue, red, pink or green are available for the thread, as well as a choice of either gold or black for the tassel.
Bottles can also be engraved with initials, a name or a short message.
[More to follow]
