Sheridan&Co recently designed two luxury retail concessions - the first in the UK, and the largest for the brand in terms of retail space - for US cosmetics brand Anastasia Beverley Hills. The 38 sq./m ABH retail space at Selfridges in Oxford Street, London, which opens this month, is the biggest of its kind for the US brand.
With an Instagram following of nearly 17 million followers, Anastasia Beverley Hills has grown to become a pioneering cosmetics brand, specifically in its relation to forging the perfect brow with its patented 'Golden Ratio' approach. It enlisted Sheridan&Co's design team to work closely with Anastasia Soare's team as well Claudia Soare, daughter of Anastasia Soare, who is president of the brand. Together they worked collectively to conceive, develop and install a retail concession tailored specifically to Selfridge's clean and bright beauty hall environment, that would also make the brand stand out and elicit interaction with its products.
"With its immense social media following, Anastasia Beverley Hills is a force to be reckoned with in the US, despite the brand's relative youth," commented Michael Sheridan, chairman and CEO, Sheridan&Co. "With its premium yet accessible cosmetics range, it has found fanship amongst a diversity of consumers - from millennials to professional make-up artists to celebrities. Our challenge was to help this already successful brand in the US enter the UK market with a concession that distinctively catered to European tastes, gave a nod to its social media gravitas, whilst still remaining recognisably Anastasia Beverley Hills."
Anastasia's brand palette is predominantly black. However, with Selfridges' beauty hall housing a number of beauty concessions also delineated in black, the design teams elected to create a retail space that subverted its usual sooty-hued aesthetic. Using a colour palette comprising ivory, rose gold and accents of matte black, the revised overall effect is still identifiably Anastasia in look and feel. The branding is executed in brushed rose gold with its elaborate brand mark embedded at the ends of each ivory colored consultation counter. Accents of rose gold also frame the minimalist mirrors at each of the makeup stations. The products are rested on black matte counter tops, providing a striking and elegant contrast to the ivory. A further display plinth showcases enlarged images of the brand's various colour palettes, and the concession's walls are decorated by beauty shots of a model made-up with the brand's iconic 'polished' look.
"The juxtaposition of light against dark, with subtle inflections of brushed rose gold, gives the brand's retail presence a decadent and feminine yet distinctively modern identity that will appeal to its consumers," Sheridan added. "Amid a beauty hall of competing cosmetics brands, Anastasia Beverley Hills has an elegant yet standout design that is true to its existing brand values and guidelines. The positioning is clear: this is a luxury beauty brand that empowers consumers with the nous and professional tools to look their optimal best."
