West Hollywood glowed a little pinker for one night only.
Dior transformed a local events space into a sweet shop on Tuesday night, a soft pink, candy-coated world where makeup and fragrance collided.
The evening marked a launch about three years in the making, led by Peter Philips, creative and image director of Dior Makeup, and Francis Kurkdjian, Dior Perfume creation director, who together fused makeup and fragrance into a single, playful vision with the debut of the new Dior Addict Lip Glow Oil and Dior Addict fragrances — gourmand scents in Peachy Glow, Rosy Glow and Purple Glow. The event marked the pop-up’s second and final stop, following its debut in Tokyo.
At the center of it all were Anya Taylor-Joy, Willow Smith and Jisoo, the faces of the new Dior Addict campaign, each embodying a different expression of beauty.
For Smith, that visibility carries meaning.
“Being a woman of color, the fact that I can be here and have an alternative look — I have piercings and tattoos, and, you know, my hair is a different kind of texture — I feel, like, when I walk into a space, that in itself is almost me being like, ‘This is also beautiful,’” said the 25-year-old singer and actress, daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. “This kind of beauty is also beautiful, and all sorts of beauty should be accepted in these spaces.”
Willow Smith, who marches to her own beat, said her sense of inspiration right now is rooted in community.
“Helping each other through this really, really tough time that we’re going through,” she said, alluding to the uncertainty and division felt across the U.S.
The sweet shop was a pause from the outside world, and for Taylor-Joy, bringing Dior Addict to life offered a moment of levity amid an otherwise demanding stretch of work.
“We had so much fun shooting the campaign,” said the 29-year-old actress. “I was in the middle of quite intense night shoots, so it was the perfect thing to counteract that, to be thrust into a pink candy wonderland.”
She’s heading into a busy year, with projects spanning animation, film and television. She’ll next be heard voicing Princess Peach in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” followed by the release of Apple TV’s drama series “Lucky” this summer and “Dune: Part Three” in December.
“This is perfectly, absolutely Dior,” Taylor-Joy went on, taking in the glossy walls. “Somebody told me they’re Dior lollipops. I think that’s so chic.”
That pink fantasy extended into a room overflowing with candy and treats, where guests lingered for photo ops and at beauty stations to test the new fragrances and lip oils, reformulated and coming in 26 shades. A dark hallway then led to an entirely different atmosphere: a club-like back room pulsing with music, complete with a DJ, bar and lounge seating. An unexpected after-hours turn to the sugar-coated front.
Those mingling throughout included a mix of actors and music artists, among them Will Price, Mckenna Grace, Flowerovlove, Odessa Young, Ji-Young Yoo, Julia Butters and Odeya Rush.
For Philips, the launch led with function.
“We had one iconic product, the lip glow oil, which became viral,” he said. “We fine-tuned the formula in a way that doesn’t change the sensation for people who love the formula, but allows us to add pigments and glitters.”
The result, he said, was about play and choice.
“Everybody can find something,” Philips said. “It’s like a candy store. You can find your favorite little candy.”
Kurkdjian translated that same idea into scent, describing the partnership as both rare and intuitive. It’s the first time the two have collaborated.
“When a woman is in love with a perfume, she feels almost protected. It’s like armor,” he said. “So we brought that idea of fruitiness, yumminess, gourmand. This idea of juiciness, freshness, morning dew.”
