On Monday 17th June, Charlotte Tilbury, one of the world’s most sought after make-up artists will be hosting a unique week-long beauty festival in The Concept Store at Selfridges, London. While an exclusive light installation by Chris Levine fills the corner window, a collaboration between StudioXAG and Charlotte Tilbury’s creative team take over the instore space and the three Orchard Street windows have been transformed into a glamorous celebration of beauty and fashion.
Charlotte will be giving Selfridges customers access to her expertise every day, sharing tricks & tips through makeover consultations and live demonstrations. In the evenings Charlotte will host intimate panel discussions on the eye-catching red lip sofa with some of the industry’s most influential figures: Nicola Formichetti, Chris Levine, Lisa Eldridge, Cara Delevingne and Malcolm Edwards, to name a small few.
Utilising a chic colour palette of rose gold, blush nude and lacquered night crimson, the aesthetic theme of the windows and the concept store borrows inspiration from the elegance of the Art Deco period, with a playful dash of the surreal and theatrical.
The first in a trio of Orchard Street windows introduces the world to Charlotte Tilbury with a show-stopping lit sign that combines bespoke typefaces, from the in-lined to the hand-scrawled, each incandescent with different lighting techniques. A pair of giant red lips made from lipstick bullets in rouge shades perch on top of a light box, whilst cabochon fairground bulbs illuminate Charlotte’s name.
In the second window, MAC make-up forms a surreal eye installation, showcasing one of Charlotte’s signature smouldering eye looks. Eyeliners cut to varying lengths form delicate eyelashes whilst eye shadow discs create the inner eye and emerald green iris. A surrounding gold and silver shimmer sign acts as the glimmering eye shadow that completes the look.
Taking inspiration from the classic vanity mirror, a series of arches similarly lined with bulbs, boldly frame the final window, revealing a glamorous boudoir-style dressing room. Estee Lauder make-up spills luxuriously over the rose gold floor, and mannequin arms clutching make-up and tools of the trade reach elegantly towards the central dressing table, where tutorials from Charlotte can be seen on-screen.
Meanwhile, the concept store celebrates Charlotte’s work and vision, adorned with stunning examples of her work with well known magazines and photographers, and hand-scrawled with some of her own make-up mantras and empowering phrases. Here, customers are able to achieve one of five signature eye looks at the Quick Flick Eye Bar, or receive longer treatments from Team Tilbury in the One-Hour Makeover Area. Customers are also invited to capture their transformed portraits in the Beauty Flash Photo Booth, and contribute their glamorous lipstick prints to the Kissing Gallery, where it can sit alongside the famous lipstick prints of beauty icons, such as Kate Moss.