ESSAY—

FUTURE HEIRLOOMS
A JANE community conversation around CHANEL Rouge Allure L’Extrait and the notion of refillable lipsticks as future heirlooms.
by Rosie Dalton

 


I can still see those elegant tubes of lipstick, lined up along her beauty counter, amongst the strong bottles of scent that would announce her arrival. And I reach out in my mind’s eye, to grasp those tubes of lipstick—gold—perched atop Nanny Red’s counter. To admire their regal gilding and the rich red encased inside.

My grandmother. A woman of vivacious spirit, who loved her lipstick red—just like her hair. This is a tradition that has been passed down to her daughter, my mother, as one might pass down a precious gold chain. The love of rouge took its roots early on and now dances off the surface of her vintage photographs from the 1980s; photographs of my mum in dark glasses and a leather jacket, with her raven hair and lips of rouge. It is, in turn, a tradition that I too have inherited.

Red lipstick has always made me feel feminine, strong, and confident. Like a suit of armour. It is the one statement in my otherwise fairly minimal beauty routine and the one that is most charged with both memory and sentiment. A symbol of women’s liberation, stretching back to the 1920s.

With the recent release of CHANEL’s new Rouge Allure L’Extrait collection, I am reminded of my grandmother’s bold style and her graceful gold tubes with red lipstick housed within. I am reminded, too, of this special connection that is painted across the generations in our family, passed down like a precious heirloom in its own right.

This is a sentiment that is only strengthened by the ethos at the heart of this beautiful new CHANEL collection—a sustainable series of lipsticks that can be refilled after use. And can become, in this sense, literal heirlooms to be passed down through the generations. Not just in the form of favourite shades, but also as elegant objects to adorn one’s dresser.

And I think of my Nanny Red. Wish that I still had her original lipstick case on my own beauty counter. But feel thankful that our shared love of rouge endures, knowing just how much she would have loved the shade 832—Rouge Libre.

Meditating on this notion of beauty as memory, we asked five other members of the JANE PRIVÉE community to share their own lipstick memories and the colours that make them feel strong today.

…

The 832 Rouge Libre by Ilkin Kurt

ILKIN KURT

—Stylist and Consultant

‘Getting closer to my 40s I have noticed my choices around routine have changed dramatically. I used to be more adventurous; had room for anything exciting even though it wasn't practical or time-consuming. These days, I’m all about all-day comfort with a twist of sophistication. That applies to my skincare and make up routine. Chanel Rouge Allure L’Extrait gives me that comfort, as with only one [application] my lips are hydrated for few hours, I know that I don’t need to look at the mirror many times during the day. I have an olive complexion, people think you can own any red lipstick, but this is not true. L’Extrait’s colour palette is so rich, literally you can find the perfect tone for your skin. Not to mention it has a sleek design but, most importantly, it is a refillable product. I try to reduce my carbon footprint and waste as much as possible, and I am so happy to see I can stick to my values [with this lipstick].’ 

…

CHANEL Rouge Allure L’Extrait by Billie Iveson

BILLIE IVESON

—Creative Director of Assembly Label

‘These CHANEL Rouge Allure L’Extrait lipsticks bring back memories of watching my mother blot lipstick to create a stain while getting ready to go out. I now love layering multiple colours to create a custom colour—whether I’m blotting and creating a more wearable stain or a deeper colour for impact.’

 
 

The 838 Rose Audacieux by Jerico Tracy

JERICO TRACY

—Gallery Director of Jerico Contemporary


‘The 838 Rose Audacieux is a true classic red. It has a beautiful, hydrating cream finish. What I really love about all the CHANEL Rouge Allure L’Extrait Lipsticks is the slim line. It makes them really easy to apply, as they fit into your lip perfectly and you can use the edge to really define your lip line.’

…

 

CHANEL Rouge Allure L’Extrait by Annika Hein

ANNIKA HEIN
—Creative Director and Editor-in-Chief of JANE


‘It’s the shape that I remember first. An imperfect crescent that mirrored the shape of her lips, the soft point at the top made more and more defined with each precise smear. I can’t remember the brand, but it was a certain shade of reddish brown—her colour—in the same way that we all have a colour. And it was encased in a navy rectangle with a gold stripe. I’d watch in awe through the rear-view mirror as my mother repeated the ritual each time we got out of the car, arriving at our destination, or making another stop along the way. Sometimes she would put some on her cheeks too, pinching the colour into her skin before expertly clicking the case closed and flinging it into her bag. The whole process seemed so effortless, so grown up, so glamorous, like a rite of passage I couldn’t wait to experience. And so it was that the appeal and the allure of lipstick lived another generation in our family.

—

When I was eight years old, my cousin and my sister and I would play dress-ups—not unlike most girls our age. My mum would let us borrow her very special makeup set. In the dark blue case, there were lipsticks in what seemed like hundreds of different shades. Creamy palettes that we thought were as great as coloured crayons. We created different fantasy worlds to escape into and lands to live within. Effectively, they were just projections of who we thought we’d like to be that day, or one day. The bounds of our utopias knew no limits; we would rewrite and reconstruct our futures with graceless candour, paying little attention to the boundaries imposed by the real world. Creating a different ending seemed as simple as adding a new colour to our lips, and with great delight we could be as many as twenty different people in one day, trying each one on with innocent consideration, studiously noting how it felt, what it looked like.

—

At the young age of two my daughter already understands the allure. I watched her eyes fill with intense curiosity the first time she saw me paint my lips—my red—bright rouge and a little bit orangey. I knew she wanted to try it too, and so I asked her. Now, it’s like our own special ritual, she watches me get ready, tending to my skin and my eyebrows first and then some days picking a lipstick. There are only two variations of colour—fire engine red, or a deep dark burgundy. My twenties taught me what I liked and, in my thirties, I no longer feel the need to experiment or divert too far. Whichever I choose, I can hear the words come tumbling out of her mouth before I even finish applying. ‘Lips too, mummy, I need lips.’ And so, we twist open the case and apply a bright bubble gum pink, sickly sweet—her colour.’

…

 
 
 
 

CHANEL Rouge Allure L’Extrait by Teneille Sorgiovanni


TENEILLE SORGIOVANNI
—Makeup Artist and Founder of Lipstick and Thread

‘My mum had the most alluring lipstick collection, ranging from the richest of reds, to vibrant oranges and moisturising nudes. Watching Mum put on her makeup, I was in awe from a very young age and would sneak into her vanity with any opportunity I could get to paint my face with stain, coloured red. It was there that my love for makeup began, and the classic Chanel red lipstick remains a special memory.’

…

 


fin.