How Hermès’ Latest Beauty Launch Was Everything We Never Knew We Always Needed
Open air, deep breaths and the ideal foil to fashion week; the French luxury brand introduces cosmetic innovation with an unconventional seaside jaunt — the perfect celebration for a product designed to rewrite the rules altogether…
At great speed, squinting into the sun and gripping onto a rope for dear life, I career across a shallow part of the English Channel as wet sand unceremoniously splatters me in the face, covering my sunglasses. It’s quite the departure from the previous few days running around Paris during Fashion Week; a slight shock to the system, perhaps, but also – as I’m discovering between wipes of my eyewear – deeply, truly needed.
As astute and in-touch as ever, Hermès knows this too – inviting 100 or so international press to experience its latest beauty launch in the fresh French seaside, hot on the heels of the fashion shows that are their own microcosm for a month every February and September.
It’s a chance to breathe, to reconnect, to explore – and to do it all wearing shoe protectors whilst wading through mud on the way to lunch. If ever the fashion industry needed a lesson in grounding itself, this offered up that opportunity in spades. And from horseback riding to sand yachting (I highly recommend this, by the way), we were given a choose-your-own-adventure-style morning in which to commune with nature, with strict instructions to leave our heels back in Paris.
So why here, why now, and why this particular coastal adventure? Well, aside from Hermès never doing anything by halves, an impressive part of the maison is that it always immerses you into its universe (it even calls these trips ‘discoveries’) – and this time that meant launching Plein Air, its latest make-up concoction, in surrounds that were fresh, invigorating and as natural as it gets. Fitting, for a product, and a brand, that has natural beauty at its heart.
Not quite a foundation and not quite a tinted moisturiser, the maison has carefully labelled this a ‘complexion balm’ – carrying on its grand tradition of never following in the footsteps of anyone else. “It’s a new, innovative formula,” Gregoris Pyrpylis, the newly appointed, Greece-born Creative Director of Hermès Beauty explains when we meet the following afternoon at HQ back in the city. “This connection to the outdoors is very well-rooted in the Hermès DNA,” he says, referring to the maison’s long-time dedication to emancipating women through the creation of outdoor sportswear, driving garb and even pieces to fly a plane in, back in the 1920s. “There’s a sensation of freedom in the texture, the way you feel it on your skin, and the main purpose of this collection is to accompany women in their everyday life with comfort and an aspect of wellbeing, because the whole collection is enriched with skincare,” he continues.
These hybrid formulas are becoming a more prevalent trend in make-up – call it the wellness effect, call it innovation – “for us, it’s more of a permanent quest for wellbeing,” Gregoris says – and, as always, Hermès has delivered. “It’s not just a trend, it’s the future of make-up,” he asserts, before explaining, “We cover three major needs and necessities – hydration with hyaluronic acid, evening primrose oil and Baikal skullcap protect from polluters, and white mulberry extract enhances it all and is a common thread you can find in almost all of our formulas. We’re very proud of these active ingredients because they’ve been conceived by our research and development laboratory in Vaudreuil, Normandy with a Japanese partner.” See? Nothing by halves.
And what of arguably the most important facet (other than it actually working, of course)? “Then you have SPF30/ PA+++ which is very high,” he laughs, leaning hard on the very in his delicate Greek accent. “Normally we find a maximum of 20. I wouldn’t recommend going to the beach with SPF30, but for everyday life it’s enough, and we chose to have mineral-based filters so it can be used by even the most sensitive skin types.”
So far, so good. Especially when I find that putting it on my face (“using your fingers is best,” he instructs), is a truly Hermès experience. If, like me, what a product smells like is of paramount importance, then the maison has your back. Christine Nagel, Hermès’ iconic perfumer and the nose behind Twilly d’Hermès and Eau des Merveilles Bleue, has crafted the scent from arnica, sandalwood and green tea, and quite honestly, it’s delicious. The tube itself is an ode to simplicity, discreetly designed by Creative Director for shoes and jewellery, Pierre Hardy, with that all-important Hermès ex-libris stamped on the lid. And while I generally prefer more of a hearty, full-coverage effect myself, there’s something quite freeing about seeing my skin subtly transform yet still keep its personality. But how does Gregoris predict the product will go down in a market like the Middle East, where traditionally more is more?
“This is just our first step into the complexion category,” he smiles. “We want to arrive with an offering that will sublimate natural beauty. And it’s extremely complementary to our previous launches like Rouge Hermès [lipsticks], for example, where you make one simple gesture and there’s an impact of colour. Plein Air can be worn on its own or it can be easily paired with high[1]coverage concealer, if you wish. It’s our first approach, but it doesn’t mean we’ll only be sticking to this offering,” he adds.
In that case – what next, we probe? Since Gregoris is such a respected figure in make-up artistry, starting at MAC before heading to Shiseido, (he was actually studying to become an English teacher before a chance night in doing his best friend’s make-up made him rethink everything – “She told me, ‘Go to make-up school! You can do my make-up all the time!’” he laughs) – we wonder what his dream product to create will be. And since Hermès is the ideal place to create dreams, can we expect it soon?
“Through my role at Hermès, I will definitely try to bring to life my absolute dream beauty item. I really do believe that there are things that haven’t been created yet, in terms of innovation…” he pauses to think. “In terms of trends, there’s always a bit of recycling going on. The past is something that will always nourish what’s happening now. So it’s very rare to see a trend that’s never existed before. For example, look at colours. We know all the colours. Or do you think there’s going to be a moment in the world we’re living in that there’s going to be a new colour?”
It’s poetic and philosophical – Gregoris’ time studying literature obviously left its mark – and also too delightful a concept to ignore. The invention of a brand-new colour? I wonder where Hermès would take us to discover that…
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s April 2022 issue.
