Cosmetic Feature: A New Year of Luxury
Fragrances like Marc Jacobs for Women, which launched in late 2001, signaled what was to come in 2002. Overpackaging is out and classic style is in in the New Year How prestige packaging promises to set the mood in 2002.
By Lori Bryan, EditorWhat makes a luxury product is not just one thing, but rather a combination of things. How much an item costs, where it is sold, and the image of quality it projects are all part of the prestige. But in 2002, luxury designs will be defined largely by something else: the mood they express.
Expect luxury-package designers to affect consumers' emotions by altering the appearance of their designs, says Annette Green, president of The Fragrance Foundation (New York City). The emphasis will be on designs that are more fluid, less static. "Just as one can play music or adjust lighting to set a mood, so can a designer [create a feeling or attitude] by changing the way a bottle looks," Green says.
Packaging designer Marc Rosen also sees emotion as key in 2002. "In the 1990s, the attitude was unemotional, and the designs were more generic," says Rosen. "In the 2000s, it's all about emotion." Luxurious designs that embrace feeling rather than deny it promise to be the result.
Read on for some trends that will be part of the aura of feeling.
Excess Is Out
Restraint is in. The industry is "moving away from overpackaging," says Green. This year, "the bottle will be played down," she says, because luxury consumers don't want the feeling of overindulging. However, they do want to feel that their money is well spent, and that they get unique, quality products for it, she adds.
Consumers don't want to appear frivolous, adds Rosen. "Too many pieces, too much glitz, is not luxury," he says.
The black and white packaging for Essential by Alfred Sung is simply elegant Designer Alfred Sung conveys that less is more when it comes to indulgence with the packaging for his Essential Hand Cream. Available in fine department stores this February, the cream with Sung's signature floral fragrance comes in "timeless and sophisticated black and white packaging," says Pamela Kennedy, public relations and promotions manager for Riviera Concepts Inc., the marketer and manufacturer of the brand. The presentation is classic, and, true to the product's name, offers only the visual essentials for a simply lavish experience.
Also classic is Marc Jacobs for Women. The fragrance launched last September, signaling that traditional, enduring style would play an important role in the coming year. "[Designer] Marc Jacobs likes his [designs] to be classic," says Michael Feuling, senior vice president, marketing and advertising, for Parfums Givenchy Inc. "But each of his designs has a different twist," Feuling says, noting the hand-applied leather bow that is the bottle's finishing touch. The detail says this is a special product and so are those who purchase it. So, consumers can feel special without feeling they've overindulged.
Plastics Feel Right
In the New Year, glass, with its weight, clarity, and compatibility with fragrance, will continue to be an integral part of luxury packaging. This is no surprise. What is news, however, is how important plastics will be. They will not only shape innovation, but also please consumers with designs worthy of their indulgence, ones they can feel good about.
"The use of resins in designs is something we'll see much more of," says Feuling. Recent improvements have yielded a new class of plastics that provide a heft and sleekness unattainable in years past. They are being made to look and feel more like glass than ever before, and that resemblance is getting them a strong foothold in the luxury market.
"I think that the use of resins will continue," says Green, "as long as there is a look of quality about them."
Luxury packaging for the Kenzoki line of skin-care products by Kenzo is supplied by Techpack America Inc. And the quality is only improving. Packaging supplier Techpack America Inc. (New York City) counts on that trend, as it serves the packaging needs of prestigious brands like Yves Saint Laurent and Jean-Paul Gaultier. "Plastics enable us to achieve unique designs that can't always be attained with glass," says Techpack America's chairman, Daniel Rachmanis.
Indeed, resins are "determining the shape and feel of luxury products, and these [outcomes] are creating brand images," says Feuling. "Givenchy Homme, set to launch in the spring, is an example of this." Designed by Pablo Reinoso, the new men's fragrance features a cap that covers roughly 75% of the bottle. "From a packaging standpoint, the cap is the part of the design that establishes brand," Feuling says. "The look is masculine and aerodynamic, like the hood of an automobile. Using resins achieves this."
Color Is Key
"The color palette will be extremely important," says Green. Consumers tend to relate colors to emotions, she explains. They buy the package design that represents how they want to feel. Red-colored glass feels sexy. Green-colored juice feels refreshing. So whatever the color, the emphasis in 2002 will be on how it makes the consumer feel.
Luxury-product manufacturers will likely elicit such "colorful emotions" from consumers not only with primary packages, but also with folding cartons and rigid set boxes. More than ever before, packaging substrates will need to accommodate an array of colors, gradations, and decorating processes and deliver high-quality images.
Substrate suppliers like Westvaco's Packaging Resources Group (Stamford, CT) are gearing up to meet the demand. "In spring 2001, we launched Crescendo, a product developed specifically to provide the aesthetics and reliable, on-press performance that luxury packaging requires," says Kimberley D. Stearns, business manager, global marketing. "The paperboard--coated on one side with ultrabright, blue-white styling--provides a mirror-smooth surface for quality graphics reproduction," says Stearns. The company provides paperboard for Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and others.
Can You Feel It?
Emotion will dictate and define the look of luxury this year. Prestige products and their packaging will set the mood with understatement, innovation, and color. For designers and consumers alike, perhaps a little indulgence has never felt better.