The changing colour of CHANEL’s lipstick ranges from 1960 to 2015

Authors

  • Hélène de Clermont- Gallerande CHANEL Parfums Beauté, 8 rue du Cheval Blanc CS40045, 93694 Pantin Cedex FRANCE
  • Nicolas Rolland CHANEL Parfums Beauté, 8 rue du Cheval Blanc CS40045, 93694 Pantin Cedex FRANCE
  • Patrick Doucet CHANEL Parfums Beauté, 8 rue du Cheval Blanc CS40045, 93694 Pantin Cedex FRANCE
  • Julie Deydier CHANEL Parfums Beauté, 8 rue du Cheval Blanc CS40045, 93694 Pantin Cedex FRANCE
  • Anne Varichon Culture Couleur SAS, 600 bureaux du Jas, 84000 Roussillon France
  • Barbara Blin-Barrois Culture Couleur SAS, 600 bureaux du Jas, 84000 Roussillon France

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23738/ccsj.i102018.03

Keywords:

Lipsticks, evolution, colour, colour charts, CHANEL, hue, NCS

Abstract

We compiled the history of CHANEL’s range of lipsticks between 1960 and 2015 by studying the colour charts carefully kept in the company’s archives.The chosen colour space is NCS System as the representation of hue, blackness and chromaticness are easy to communicate to non-colour experts. The number of shades increased steadily between 1960 and 2005, rising from 12 shades in 1960 to 55 shades in 2005. From the colour point of view, there is a predominance of orangey tones. Reds were always present. Bluish reds were in constant decline compared with other shades: fewer in number, with a shorter life on the markets and more unstable in Chanel’s offer. In terms of clarity, dark shades ranging to nearly black are in the great majority. As regards chromaticness, there is continuity in the saturated shades, especially the reds. Lastly, the shades are fashioned with a high degree of subtlety as they are often very close to one another in the colorimetric space. At CHANEL, the delicacy of the shades is due to their colorimetric fashioning with all the subtlety typical of the brand

Author Biographies

  • Hélène de Clermont- Gallerande, CHANEL Parfums Beauté, 8 rue du Cheval Blanc CS40045, 93694 Pantin Cedex FRANCE

    Hélène de Clermont-Gallerande is Make-Up Research Laboratory Manager in CHANEL. PhD in Organic Chemistry, she has an experience of more than 25 years in Make-up and colour formulation in cosmetic field and is inventor of more than 10 cosmetics patents. She is teaching cosmetic formulation at Bordeaux’s University and published a collaborative book on Sensorial cosmetic raw materials. She managed the color analysis for this study.

  • Nicolas Rolland, CHANEL Parfums Beauté, 8 rue du Cheval Blanc CS40045, 93694 Pantin Cedex FRANCE

    Nicolas Rolland is colorist in Chanel Colour Development laboratory for 5 years. Previously, he worked in l’Oreal, also as colorist. He has an expertise in color data management and achieved the measures of colour-charts for this study.

  • Patrick Doucet, CHANEL Parfums Beauté, 8 rue du Cheval Blanc CS40045, 93694 Pantin Cedex FRANCE

    Patrick Doucet is the CHANEL Fragrance and Beauty Heritage Manager since 25 years and an expert about the Gabrielle Chanel and the brand CHANEL history. His vision is that the Heritage must be a major contributor, in all its significant aspects, to the knowledge and the general development of the brand

  • Julie Deydier, CHANEL Parfums Beauté, 8 rue du Cheval Blanc CS40045, 93694 Pantin Cedex FRANCE

    After History of Art studies, Julie Deydier worked in Manufacture de Sèvres (china), Musée Galliéra (Paris City Fashion Museum), and joined CHANEL Heritage Department in 2003. She has been working more precisely on Fragrance and Beauty heritage for 11 years, developing a specialised knowkledge on luxury fragrance, makeup and skincare. Particularly interested in colour and its use in beauty, she added her expertise on CHANEL cosmetics in this study.

  • Anne Varichon, Culture Couleur SAS, 600 bureaux du Jas, 84000 Roussillon France

    Anne Varichon, Anthropologist in Color Materials, Processes and Thinking, PhD in Applied Arts, expert in color charts. She publishes her researches in numerous publications (in particular “Colors”). She teaches in universities and fine art schools and is in charge of museographical or research programs (notably with CNRS). She comanages Culture Couleur, a specialized agency in color-related phenomena, supporting companies and institutions on projects and cooperating in research or training activities.

  • Barbara Blin-Barrois, Culture Couleur SAS, 600 bureaux du Jas, 84000 Roussillon France

    Barbara Blin-Barrois, is an expert of systemic approaches and interdisciplinary methods, graduated in Political Sciences. She is cofoundator of ôkhra, a cultural colour cooperative in Provence. She organized for 20 years CNRS scientific schools about Colour Materials and color cultural programs. Barbara has developed specific pedagogical and mediation tools, favorizing multi-disciplinary stakeholders cooperation. She comanages Culture Couleur, a color research and learning agency.

References

Colour chart from 1980. CHANEL own property

Colour chart from 1985. CHANEL own property

Colour chart from 1990. CHANEL own property

Colour chart from 1995. CHANEL own property

Colour chart from 2000. CHANEL own property

Colour chart from 2005. CHANEL own property

Colour chart from 2010. CHANEL own property

Colour chart from 2015. CHANEL own property

Delay C. (1983) CHANEL solitaire. Paris: éd. Gallimard, p. 192

Galante P. (1972) Les Années CHANEL. Paris: éd. Paris-Match/Mercure de France, p.50

Mollard-Desfour A. (2001) Dictionnaire des mots et expressions de couleur : Le Rouge, Editions CNRS

Mollard -Desfour A. (2002), Dictionnaire des mots et expressions de couleur : Le Rose, Editions CNRS

Morand P. (1976) L’Allure de CHANEL. Paris: éd. Hermann, rééd. 1996, ill. Karl Lagerfeld, pp 55-57.

NCS Color Atlas, 3rd edition, 1996

NCS Color Album, 2nd edition, 1995

NCScolor.com

Perec G. (2003) Penser/Classer, Editions du Seuil Varichon A. (2011) « Noir et blanc dans les nuanciers :

couple fertile ou célibataires endurcis? », Proceedings of Spring School from - C2RMF - UPMC - MNHN - CF, La couleur des matériaux, Roussillon, mars, pp 115-118

Varichon A. (2011) Couleur et nuancier, territoires et fonctions, analyse poïétique de l’échantillonnage de la

couleur par les manufactures, l’industrie et le commerce (mi-XIXème à nos jours), thèse de doctorat en arts

appliqués NNT: 2011TOU20129

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Published

2018-08-27

Issue

Vol. 10 (2018)

Section

Papers

License

The "Cultura e Scienza del Colore - Color Culture and Science" journal is registered at the Court of Milan at n.233 of 24.06.2014.

The journal is an open access journal, free for readers and authors and has joined ROAD, the Directory of Open Access scholarly Resources, since 2014. Articles published in the “Cultura e Scienza del Colore - Color Culture and Science" journal are open access articles, distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The copyright is retained by the author(s).

How to Cite

“The changing colour of CHANEL’s lipstick ranges from 1960 to 2015” (2018) Cultura e Scienza del Colore - Color Culture and Science, 10, pp. 21–29. doi:10.23738/ccsj.i102018.03.