Founded as a fragrance house in 1935, Lancôme is celebrating its 80th anniversary throughout the year with the climax last month marked by a big party in Paris, which gathered its ambassadresses such as Isabella Rossellini, Julia Roberts, Penelope Cruz and Kate Winslet.
L'Oreal (Thailand) followed by hosting an anniversary event under the theme "For 80 Years, La Vie est Belle en Lancôme" at The Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok.
"Above all, we wanted it to be a moment of joy, because — for Lancôme — beauty goes hand in hand with happiness. We all know about 'feel-good movies'. Well, Lancôme is all about 'feel-good beauty'. So it's a birthday in the form of a celebration, which each month will reaffirm the brand's greatest ambition: making women's lives more beautiful with Lancôme," said general manager Francoise Lehmann.
The celebration is a nod to La Vie est Belle, introduced in 2012 as the first-ever iris gourmand, which further demonstrated the brand's flair for perfumery which initially began with Tendres Nuits, Kypre, Tropiques, Bocages and Conquête, presented at the Exposition Universelle in Brussels eight decades ago.
Founded by Armand Petitjean, the brand name is derived from Lancosme Castle in central France. Lancôme quickly expanded into skincare with the launch of Nutrix in 1936, followed by make-up the year after, developing its expertise in the three categories.
"Armand Petitjean was an incredible visionary and an intrepid traveller who thought it was important to make contact with women in order to understand them and talk to them. Lancôme draws its strength from this approach by constantly anticipating women's needs,'' said Lehmann. "We do not follow trends for the sake of doing so: our objective is always to offer innovations that respond to very real expectations, not fantasies."
She gives an example of the "swan-neck" Grandiose Mascara launched last year. The design of the bent wand works with the shape of your face, to help women apply mascara easily, achieving the same result on each eye and reaching every single lash.
''Without the science, innovations such as Grandiôse would not be possible," she explained. "Today, Lancôme laboratories benefit from the work of some of the most high-tech, advanced research teams in the world. These achievements are recognised by the international scientific community, even beyond their applications in the cosmetics sector."
On the company's timeline, Absolue was introduced in 1965, thus marking its 50th anniversary this year. Petitjean developed Absolue to represent the quest for excellence, with this skincare line combining cutting-edge technologies with potent ingredients and sophisticated textures.
Through a biotechnological process called Fermogenesis, plant cells from the hybrid Lancome Rose power the skincare efficacy of the oil-like Absolue L'Extrait Ultimate Essence that contrastingly feels light and soft on the skin.
The deep fuchsia Lancome Rose was created in 1973 by renowned horticulturalist Georges Delbard, who selected magenta and mauve varieties as parent roses.
The brand itself is symbolised by a rose, and one of the first lipsticks was Rose de France with a pink-red shade and scented with Bulgarian rose.
Marking the 80th anniversary, an interpretation of the 1958 Les Jumeles lipstick and a jewelled edition of La Vie est Belle L'Absolu de Parfum will come out later in the year.
"The driving force behind our house is to make a difference in women's lives. An incalculable number of women around the world have always known Lancôme," said Lehmann. "Their first beauty product was a cream offered by their mother. Since then, the brand has stayed by their side during each step of their life. Lancôme has always been a part of their lives, like a familiar presence. It's an enormous challenge to maintain this status."
