Believe a ball pit — however one crowded with teenagers and 20-somethings as an alternative of babies, and stuffed with biodegradable confetti as an alternative of plastic spheres. This is one solution to describe the scene on Saturday at a pop-up store that Glossier, the American attractiveness logo, opened closing week in Paris to advertise the discharge of its newest perfume, Fleur.
In a space surrounded by means of crimson mesh displays, guests may plod during the crimson confetti towards a tall pile of it, atop which sat a bottle of the brand new fragrance. When an individual grabbed the bottle from its perch, the motion prompt a procedure that ended in a personalised poem — composed by artificial intelligence — showing on a close-by display.
“You cling fleur with grace / underneath lavender gentle / your gaze tranquil magnificence,” learn a poem spat out for a chum of Jeanne Melman’s. At 17, Ms. Melman, a highschool scholar in Paris, is a part of a cohort that Glossier has made deep inroads with because it used to be began 11 years in the past: Technology Z, or Génération Zède because it is named in the neighborhood.
Ms. Melman went to the pop-up with two pals, each additionally 17. All 3 of them stated Glossier merchandise have been a number of the American exports that they maximum extremely prized. Ms. Melman recalled the time she attempted a Krispy Kreme doughnut after the chain arrived in France in 2023: “Just right however now not outstanding,” she stated. Whilst visiting a pen friend in Cincinnati closing summer time, Ms. Melman added, she changed into conversant in pickleball, which she “roughly preferred.”
Glossier, identified for skincare and make-up merchandise that the logo says give a boost to an individual’s herbal attractiveness, has been tightening its grip on French shoppers since 2018, when it began transport to France.
In a rustic this is house to many iconic makers of perfumes and cosmetics — L’Oreal, Lancôme, Estée Lauder, Chanel — Glossier has controlled to search out an target market: France ranks 5th with regards to the place it has probably the most engagement on social media, Kyle Leahy, the corporate’s leader government, stated in an interview. However that doesn’t essentially translate to gross sales in France, partially as a result of pop-ups are these days the one means for the logo’s enthusiasts within the nation to shop for merchandise in particular person; it does now not have a bodily retail presence there.
Whilst ready in a protracted line to go into the Fleur pop-up, Clémentine Stahl, a 15-year-old scholar, gave a explanation why for Glossier’s attract to other folks her age: It has a “cooler” symbol, as she put it, when put next with legacy French manufacturers, which “suppose extra classically.” Typology, a six-year-old French cosmetics logo providing its personal tackle minimum merchandise, used to be discussed by means of others on the pop-up as having a an identical attraction to Glossier.
Ms. Stahl used to be along with her 17-year-old cousin, Agathe Bernardi. Glossier used to be now not the one younger American attractiveness logo they preferred. Each stated they have been additionally enthusiasts of Rhode, based by means of Hailey Bieber, and Fenty Beauty, based by means of Rihanna. Ms. Stahl, because it came about, additionally stated she believed that “ the most productive pop stars come from The usa.”
Dorothée Thiam, a 20-year-old scholar learning psychology at Paris Nanterre College, stated on the pop-up that she and different Gen Z-ers, regardless of the place they got here from, tended to usually gravitate towards manufacturers that mirrored their identities.
Ms. Thiam stated the ways in which Fenty Good looks and Glossier had engaged with Black customers like herself, as an example, performed a “massive position” in drawing her to their merchandise. “Illustration is so essential,” she added. “It’s about having the ability to see your self within the manufacturers you devour, which makes a large distinction.”
Marie Olivier, a 22-year-old grasp’s scholar, stated manufacturers that embraced individuality as an alternative of prescribing fastened beliefs embodied what she regarded as a distinctly American development, one who she had come to comprehend.
“What I really like from the US is the entire self-development kind development,” stated Ms. Olivier, who’s learning political science at Paris-Saclay College. “It encourages you, I believe, to embody your individual way of life, all your persona, and simply to check out to be the most productive model of your self.”
Her sentiment evoked what Ms. Leahy stated used to be the considering in the back of the title Glossier: This can be a portmanteau that took inspiration from file, the French phrase for folder, and Into the Gloss, the title of the web site that laid the foundation for the cosmetics logo and that’s identified for that includes a various selection of attractiveness routines. (Glossier’s first perfume, You, launched in 2017, used to be advertised with the promise that its system smelled relatively distinctive on everybody.)
The emblem may well be liked by means of Gen Z-ers, however Ms. Leahy stated its succeed in bridged generations. “We see moms and daughters buying groceries in combination,” she stated.
Or fathers buying groceries with out daughters, as used to be the case with one guy on the pop-up. He arrived by myself however with transparent directions from his daughter: Take footage and purchase her the brand new Fleur fragrance and a few Cloud Paint blush.
