Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele defines lipstick as the most beautiful object you can find inside a handbag. Moreover, the coloured bullets are the ultimate transformative make-up tool.
The Italian brand's coveted lipstick collections and other make-up products are now available in Bangkok, at the first Gucci Beauty counter in Paragon department store.
"Lipstick is a playful object because it recalls crayons that children colour with. Lipstick also symbolises of the world of cinema, and all of the famous lips from Hollywood," Michele added.
The names of the shades are inspired by iconic Hollywood movies and characters from the gilded era, played by the likes of Jean Harlow, Maureen O'Hara, Anne Baxter, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo and their peers.
Rouge à Lèvres Mat in intense shades with a silky texture and a matte finish.
The 25* Goldie Red shade, for instance, is named after legendary character Goldie while the starred 25 is a reference to the creative director's lucky number.
Themes and titles of the classic films, such as Love Before Breakfast, Three Wise Girls and A Royal Scandal, also inspire the lipstick creations.
The diverse formulas include Rouge à Lèvres Satin with a satin finish, Rouge à Lèvres Voile with a sheer finish, and Baume à Lèvres, a lip balm with a translucent finish.
Rouge à Lèvres Mat features a gelling soft wax base that harmonises with pigments for a lipstick in an intense vivid tone with a silky texture and a matte finish.
The packaging appeals as much as the vibrant shades as Michele designed the lipstick tubes by interweaving the brand's motifs with contemporary codes.
First created more than a century ago in metal, the lipstick tube was a mechanical gadget, its technology hidden under a garnish of decoration and colour.
"When lipstick tubes were invented they became technologically interesting objects and a great expression of design so I started from this idea," he said.
The creamy Rouge à Lèvres Satin is housed in an Art-Deco inspired golden tube, etched with a decorative pattern drawn by the creative director.
The Rouge à Lèvres Voile features a pink rosebud print on an ivory-coloured tube with a gold base. The roses are reminiscent of the wallpaper of an old motel, of a 1950s beauty parlour in Los Angeles, or the lipstick you would find in a vintage market.
Below Gucci Beauty's emblematic red, inspired by legendary Hollywood character Goldie. Photos: Gucci Beauty
The tube of the Baume à Lèvres is in turquoise, which is a hybrid of blue and green chosen specifically by Michele because it represents an attention to colour, before pink was assigned a symbol of the post-war feminine world.
The design of Rouge à Lèvres Mat has evenly-spaced narrow ribbed grooves etched vertically into its golden tube. "Lipstick is primitive, and symbolic of an almost ancient and evocative language. Something that sends a precise message even when it's no longer on. The beauty of putting it on is also taking it off," he said.
Not only for women, a lipstick is a transformative tool for men.
"For me whoever wants to wear lipstick can do so. It's time to free men from the idea that make-up is an interpretation and an idea of femininity," he said. "Make-up is a total expression of freedom, because putting on lipstick means you are getting closer to the amplified idea that you want to give of yourself."
Rouge à Lèvres Satin in a smoky brown named A Royal Scandal.
Rouge à Lèvres Voile in a cranberry pink named Love Before Breakfast.
Rouge à Lèvres Satin in a smoky brown named A Royal Scandal.
Rouge à Lèvres Voile in a cranberry pink named Love Before Breakfast.
