Think about a ball pit — however one crowded with teenagers and 20-somethings as an alternative of babies, and stuffed with biodegradable confetti as an alternative of plastic spheres. That’s one method to describe the scene on Saturday at a pop-up store that Glossier, the American magnificence model, opened final week in Paris to advertise the discharge of its newest perfume, Fleur.
In an space surrounded by purple mesh screens, guests might plod by way of the purple confetti towards a tall pile of it, atop which sat a bottle of the brand new fragrance. When an individual grabbed the bottle from its perch, the motion set off a course of that resulted in a customized poem — composed by artificial intelligence — showing on a close-by display.
“You maintain fleur with grace / beneath lavender gentle / your gaze tranquil class,” learn a poem spat out for a pal of Jeanne Melman’s. At 17, Ms. Melman, a highschool scholar in Paris, is a part of a cohort that Glossier has made deep inroads with because it was began 11 years in the past: Technology Z, or Génération Zède as it’s known as regionally.
Ms. Melman went to the pop-up with two buddies, each additionally 17. All three of them mentioned Glossier merchandise had been among the many American exports that they most extremely prized. Ms. Melman recalled the time she tried a Krispy Kreme doughnut after the chain arrived in France in 2023: “Good however not distinctive,” she mentioned. Whereas visiting a pen pal in Cincinnati final summer season, Ms. Melman added, she grew to become acquainted with pickleball, which she “form of appreciated.”
Glossier, identified for skincare and make-up merchandise that the model says improve an individual’s pure magnificence, has been tightening its grip on French clients since 2018, when it began transport to France.
In a rustic that’s house to many iconic makers of perfumes and cosmetics — L’Oreal, Lancôme, Estée Lauder, Chanel — Glossier has managed to seek out an viewers: France ranks fifth when it comes to the place it has probably the most engagement on social media, Kyle Leahy, the corporate’s chief government, mentioned in an interview. However that doesn’t essentially translate to gross sales in France, partly as a result of pop-ups are presently the one method for the model’s followers within the nation to purchase merchandise in individual; it doesn’t have a bodily retail presence there.
Whereas ready in a protracted line to enter the Fleur pop-up, Clémentine Stahl, a 15-year-old scholar, gave a motive for Glossier’s attract to folks her age: It has a “cooler” picture, as she put it, in contrast with legacy French manufacturers, which “suppose extra classically.” Typology, a six-year-old French cosmetics model providing its personal tackle minimal merchandise, was talked about by others on the pop-up as having the same enchantment to Glossier.
Ms. Stahl was together with her 17-year-old cousin, Agathe Bernardi. Glossier was not the one younger American magnificence model they appreciated. Each mentioned they had been additionally followers of Rhode, based by Hailey Bieber, and Fenty Beauty, based by Rihanna. Ms. Stahl, because it occurred, additionally mentioned she believed that “ the very best pop stars come from America.”
Dorothée Thiam, a 20-year-old scholar learning psychology at Paris Nanterre College, mentioned on the pop-up that she and different Gen Z-ers, regardless of the place they got here from, tended to typically gravitate towards manufacturers that mirrored their identities.
Ms. Thiam mentioned the ways in which Fenty Magnificence and Glossier had engaged with Black shoppers like herself, for instance, performed a “big position” in drawing her to their merchandise. “Illustration is so vital,” she added. “It’s about having the ability to see your self within the manufacturers you devour, which makes a giant distinction.”
Marie Olivier, a 22-year-old grasp’s scholar, mentioned manufacturers that embraced individuality as an alternative of prescribing fastened beliefs embodied what she thought of a distinctly American pattern, one which she had come to understand.
“What I like from america is the entire self-development sort pattern,” mentioned Ms. Olivier, who’s learning political science at Paris-Saclay College. “It encourages you, I believe, to embrace your personal way of life, your entire character, and simply to attempt to be the very best model of your self.”
Her sentiment evoked what Ms. Leahy mentioned was the considering behind the identify Glossier: It’s a portmanteau that took inspiration from file, the French phrase for folder, and Into the Gloss, the identify of the web site that laid the foundation for the cosmetics model and that’s identified for that includes a various assortment of magnificence routines. (Glossier’s first perfume, You, launched in 2017, was marketed with the promise that its system smelled barely distinctive on everybody.)
The model could be beloved by Gen Z-ers, however Ms. Leahy mentioned its attain bridged generations. “We see moms and daughters buying collectively,” she mentioned.
Or fathers buying with out daughters, as was the case with one man on the pop-up. He arrived alone however with clear directions from his daughter: Take photos and purchase her the brand new Fleur fragrance and a few Cloud Paint blush.
