Eyes in focus
Last week in Zürich, Switzerland, La Prairie Group unveiled its latest skincare breakthrough, Skin Caviar Eye Lift. This was a launch with a difference, one that married the world of luxury with that of art. Martin Moodie was the sole travel retail journalist at a series of events attended by media from all around the world. In this special report, he examines the new product and its artistic associations, and interviews La Prairie President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Rasquinet, Group Chief Marketing Officer Greg Prodromides and Director of Strategic Innovation and Science Dr Jacqueline Hill.
Eyes in focus
Last week in Zürich, Switzerland, La Prairie Group unveiled its latest skincare breakthrough, Skin Caviar Eye Lift. This was a launch with a difference, one that married the world of luxury with that of art. Martin Moodie was the sole travel retail journalist at a series of events attended by media from all around the world. In this special report, he examines the new product and its artistic associations, and interviews La Prairie President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Rasquinet, Group Chief Marketing Officer Greg Prodromides and Director of Strategic Innovation and Science Dr Jacqueline Hill.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
La Prairie’s citation from Proust as the Swiss luxury skincare house unveiled its newest creation, Skin Caviar Eye Lift, this month, was doubly appropriate. Not only was the French novelist, critic, and essayist’s quote pertinent to the eyes but it comes from his most renowned work – À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time).
And it is time – or resistance against its effects – which lies at the heart of La Prairie’s hugely successful mission of recent years. “We want to be a leader in skin care and to offer women the most precious gift of all, which is time,” La Prairie Director of Strategic Innovation and Science Dr Jacqueline Hill (see interview on page 13) told W Magazine in a 2016 interview.
La Prairie claims that Skin Caviar Eye Lift is the first eye-opening serum for the whole eye area, including brows. “Eyes are the mirror of the soul and the mirror of age,” Dr Hill told journalists at a packed media conference held in the elegant old-world splendour of The Dolder Grand, high above Lake Zürich. “They are the most fragile and delicate area of the face.”
La Prairie, part of German personal care company Beiersdorf, claims that the scientific test results of its new launch are “simply unprecedented”. Dr Hill outlined the concerns felt by millions of women around the world in terms of their eyes – sagging eyebrows, dropping upper lids, ‘crow’s feet’ at the temple area, sagging and wrinkled lower lids, under-eye bags and puffiness. “Eyes are a women’s main concern,” she said. “But there has been no adequate response. Until now.”
Describing the launch as “the first liquid lift to revive, raise and redefine the eyes and brows”, Dr Hill flourished the phrase, “The Gaze is Reawakened”.
It was that concept, The Gaze, that one day earlier underpinned a unique La Prairie collaboration which married the luxury and art worlds. On 12 June, the beauty house opened an art exhibition called ‘Eyes in Focus’, featuring creative interpretations by three young Swiss women photographers – Daniela Droz, Namsa Leuba and Senta Simond (pictured left to right below) – of ‘the female gaze’. How would three eclectic talents celebrate the female gaze through their own eyes and lenses?
At the La Prairie Pavilion in the Collectors Lounge within the annual Art Basel exhibition, the answers were unveiled. La Prairie described the trio as the “new guard of contemporary photography”, each with her own unique approach. La Prairie Group President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Rasquinet told guests: “We decided to put a special focus on the eyes as they represent the mirror of the soul. La Prairie decided to explore this emotional, this powerful, this defining quality of the eye.”
“These three artists have a lot in common,” he continued. “First, they are all young because La Prairie believes that emerging artists have the power to shape the future. The second commonality is that they are all female artists, because La Prairie strongly believes that women’s wishes and desires are at the forefront of everything we do. And all are Swiss, because we love to express our Swiss heritage through the prism of art.”
Each of the three photographic experiences was conceived as an immersive journey – designed to take the viewer into the ‘revived, raised, redefined’ nature of the gaze. The exhibition celebrates the female gaze through the prism of the female photographer’s eye.
“We are very excited to partner with Daniela, Namsa and Senta,” said La Prairie Chief Marketing Officer Greg Prodromides. “Their pioneering works are in perfect harmony with La Prairie’s heritage of audacity. We firmly believe that it is essential to support and encourage young artists who are forward-thinking while remaining sensitive to the timelessness of art. As Swiss artists, their refined, minimal approach is completely in line with that of La Prairie’s aesthetic.
“In making the deliberate choice to work with female artists, we also pay homage to the inimitable quality of the female gaze, interpreted by the perspective of women themselves. These artists break the codes of their chosen medium, just as La Prairie continues to break the codes of luxury skincare with unexpected creations.”
The association with art didn’t end there. Before visiting Eyes in Focus and Art Basel, guests were taken to Fondation Beyeler in Basel, which was showing the unforgettable works of the young Picasso (left), featuring his Blue and Rose periods. It also featured an exhibition from contemporary painter Rudolf Stingel, a creative master renowned for the way he probes and interrogates the status quo of painting.
(Top left) La Vie (1903), widely regarded as the pinnacle of Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period, on show at Fondation Beyeler. (Above) Giovanni Segantini’s magnificent Alpweiden, on show at
Kunsthaus Zürich.
And still there was more. On the eve of the Skin Caviar Eye Lift unveiling, La Prairie hosted a dinner at Kunsthaus Zürich. This magnificent art museum houses one of Switzerland’s and the world’s most important art collections, with works spanning from the Middle Ages to contemporary art – including an appropriate emphasis on Swiss pieces.
The three-course menu was created by Nenad Mlinarevic, a Swiss chef who was named Gault Millau’s Chef of the Year in 2016 and who received two Michelin stars in 2013. In a homage to Skin Caviar Eye Lift, the evening was entitled ‘Caviar Dinner – Fine Dining meets Art’: an artistic encounter between Chef Nenad Mlinarevic and artists Daniela Droz, Namsa Leuba and Senta Simond.
The menu was themed ‘Revive, Raise, Redefine’, each of the three terms inspired by Ms Leuba (starter), Ms Simond (main course) and Ms Droz (dessert), respectively, and interpreted by Chef Mlinarevic.
The result was as delicious as it was artistic. Guests then enjoyed a private tour of Kunsthaus Zürich, a wonderful affirmation of the richness that great art bestows. What a context for the statement of Swiss creation that would follow the next day.
What does Skin Caviar Eye Lift do?
“The results are simply unprecedented,” claims La Prairie of Skin Caviar Eye Lift, described as a potent combination of two formulas enriched with Caviar Premier and La Prairie’s exclusive Cellular Complex.
Using algorithms specifically developed for the study of Skin Caviar Eye Lift’s data, La Prairie scientists found that with regular use, over time the eyes are opened while the eye contours and eyebrows appear redefined. The upper lids look tightened while crow’s feet appear visibly reduced.
Lower lids appear smoothed and under-eye bags and puffiness look diminished. With daily use, the complete eye area appears lifted and firmed. “The gaze is raised,” says La Prairie, a theme that was echoed throughout the launch event.
The Moodie Davitt eZine | Issue 263 | 20 June 2019