Re-think and re-invent
In this interview, Prada Beauty Global Brand President Yann Andrea talks about the brand’s recent expansion into makeup and skincare, the disruptive tech and AI-driven ethos that drives its product creation, and its mission for ‘self-reinvention’
Prada Beauty Global Brand President Yann Andrea
“Everything we do is built on the same philosophy: to re-think and re-invent.” Those are the words of Prada Beauty Global Brand President Yann Andrea as he underlines the brand’s mission to reimagine traditional notions of beauty with its avant-garde aesthetic and modern triple-axis portfolio of products.
Travel retail, according to Andrea, is crucial to achieving this mission. “Our ambition at Prada Beauty is to build a global beauty brand from both a category and regional perspective with consistent and instantly recognisable styles and codes.
“We have an ambitious plan in travel retail and are continuously launching in new countries and locations. As the largest worldwide retail footprint, travel retail is a key strategic channel for us and a perfect place to build and extend brand awareness while engaging directly with consumers through beautiful stores and spectacular brand moments including pop-ups and animations.”
Prada Beauty has already begun its exciting journey in travel retail with the opening of the first store at Malpensa Airport in Milan – the home of Prada – followed by two flagship boutiques in Hainan with China Duty Free Group at the cdf Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex and the cdf Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex.
A key part of Prada Beauty’s expansion into the channel is underlining the power of its triple-axis portfolio. The first full expression of this portfolio was presented in the brand’s flagship airport boutique at Milan Malpensa. “With our expansion plan on beauty, we will display the full product catalogue across skincare, makeup and fragrances – including our exceptional collections, Les Infusions and The Olfactories – in the key travel hubs around the world, inviting travellers to explore every facet of the brand.
“It doesn’t stop there. In addition to this elevated brand expression, we will continue to create disruptive and engaging animations for travellers, fuelled by the avant-garde codes of Prada, just like the Prada Lunar New Year activation in Hainan where we re-interpreted the Lunar New Year Lantern in signature Prada style; the impactful Paradoxe Intense animation in Dubai and Milan Airports; and the most recent Prada Holiday Gift Factory Pop-up at Singapore’s Changi airport in November.
“Since the integration of Prada Beauty into the L’Oréal Luxe portfolio, our vision and ambition has always been to make Prada enter the selective club of key players in the premium beauty market by developing a global beauty brand that is driving change, creativity and offering new perspectives on beauty,” Andrea says.
Reinventing traditions
L’Oréal Travel Retail Asia Pacific described the Haitang Bay pop-up as a Lunar New Year world first for Prada Beauty and an inaugural activation at the Haitang Bay shopping emporium. The activation was designed to showcase the brand’s position as a pioneer while making a statement of confidence in the market.
Connecting traditions and modernity has always been in the Prada DNA and this year, for the first time, the brand reinvented the red lantern – a traditional symbol of good fortune.
The pop-up, which occupied 130sq m and was more than four metres tall, featured a design that integrated familiar elements of Prada in an unexpected way.
The red semi see-through triangular fins, inspired by the Prada triangle logo, surrounded the periphery of the pop-up to give the effect of a moving lantern.
The Prada Gifting Factory was dressed in a vibrant colour palette of gold and mint green. It showcased Prada Beauty’s fragrance portfolio with a special focus on the Paradoxe fragrance line, the brand’s key launch in 2022. The scent offers a white floral olfactory bouquet and is contained in a triangular bottle.
Travellers were able to scan a QR code to unlock the digital Pradaverse and experience the Prada Holiday Gift Factory through a filter that features gold, glitter elements.
A motion-sensored display screen was a standout element. Here, visitors could discover the story of the Prada Paradoxe fragrance and learn about its key fragrance ingredients by lifting a bottle off the shelf and activating the screen.
Enter the Pradaverse: A rotating ‘Christmas Tree’ centrepiece, premium personalisation and motion-activated fragrance discovery awaited travellers at this vibrant gifting animation
Maximal expression, minimal effort
The launch of Prada Skin and Prada Color Explorer represents a milestone in the brand’s development both in travel retail and domestic. Describing the ethos that drove the creation of the two product lines, Andrea says: “When developing our skincare and makeup products, it was imperative for us to offer our own point of view. Both Prada Skin and Color were realised in tandem, both reconciling minimalism and maximalism; sophistication and playfulness; simplicity and versatility, drawing from both heritage and technology for skin-conscious formulas and eco-designed packaging that bring luxury and responsibility into harmonious conversation.”
Sustainability and tech are key values to Millennial and Gen Z shoppers, which is why most of Prada Beauty’s products are refillable
Since 1913, Prada the fashion house has been known for creating dialogue about fashion and couture and challenging conventions in silhouette, colour and style. This same boldness has been adopted by Prada Beauty, which often takes inspiration from key house motifs and styles, creating a strong link between fashion and beauty.
Andrea explains: “Today, Prada Beauty is opening new perspectives, bringing forth a free-thinking, avant-garde vision of beauty activated by tech and creativity. Skin and colour are redefined through their intention, characterisation and expression to open new perspectives and possibilities of self-reinvention that is timeless, yet always evolving. Everything we do is built on the same philosophy: to re-think and re-invent.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have a strong and constructive collaboration with the creative Prada team. Together, we have embarked on a beautiful adventure with strong synergies between fashion and beauty, infusing Mrs Prada and Raf Simons’ vision and insights into all Prada Beauty creations. For example, our bestselling Prada Monochrome Lipcolor reinvents the brand’s signature materials – Saffiano leather and Re-Nylon – to offer two perspectives of matte.”
According to Andrea, this approach has also helped the brand resonate with Millennial and Gen Z shoppers. “The Prada philosophy perfectly connects with Gen Z, which is really the most paradoxical generation. As shown by many studies, they are looking for both performance and novelty; they want to follow trends and purchase newness as a driver of social integration, while at the same time remaining cautious about the genuine values of brands they are interacting with and buying from.”
Integral to engaging with the next generation of beauty consumers is a strong focus on sustainability and a willingness to embrace the latest developments in technology. Both are key pillars for Prada Beauty, Andrea says.
“We know that sustainability is integral to a modern beauty brand today and a non-negotiable for consumers, which is why we developed our sophisticated packaging that is unmistakably Prada with refillability as a key pillar from the start. The refillable mechanism is streamlined and intuitive to ensure maximal user experience with minimal environmental impact, bringing together one Prada Beauty vision with codes of luxury, functionality, and responsibility in its intention and execution.
Adapting to the newest technologies in formulations, marketing and communication is key to reaching the next generation of beauty consumers, Andrea says
“When it comes to technology, we live in a world where reality is ultra-connected with virtuality and it is important that we stand at the forefront of technology with a vision that bridges IRL and URL dimensions.
“To that end, we rethought the whole makeup artist approach for the brand and appointed two official brand talents: a global creative makeup artist Lynsey Alexander, one of the most recognised and sought-after makeup artists today who also serves as Prada Fashion’s official makeup artist, and an e-Makeup Artist Inès Alpha, one of the rising stars in the digital world, in a collaboration designed to enrich one another in their creative processes.
“This vision in tech and innovation is just one example of our one-of-a-kind phygital (physical + digital) process designing Prada Color. For example, The Prada Reveal Foundation is a hybrid formula created by humans with AI input, leveraging an algorithm to scan 3,000 individual skin tones around the world to craft a human-tailored shade range of 33 shades catering to most individuals.
“We know that today’s consumer is always looking for ways to express themselves and enhance their natural features. Our Color line delivers maximal expression with minimal effort from versatile fashion-curated colours and smart textures, offering all the tools to explore and express all the different shades and facets of yourself.”
Prada Beauty foundation shades were created using an AI algorithm that measured 3,000 skin tones
Skin through the lens of adaptation
Notably, Prada Beauty’s skincare line promises to ‘rethink skin through the lens of adaptation’ foregoing the traditional ‘anti-ageing’ beauty approach. “When we launched skincare, it was imperative for us to offer a distinctive point of view,” Andrea explains. “We do not embrace the traditional way of approaching this category often talking about correcting, anti-age, anti-wrinkle, anti-fine lines. Instead, with a positive approach to skin through the lens of adaptation as the new performance, we focused on the very source of biological performance to tackle both the youth and health of skin.
“How have we done this? Well, we have explored Adapto.gn Smart Technology – a rare breed of 15 plants that have existed on our planet for over 400 million years. Known for increasing our body’s resistance to certain forms of aggression, they were the perfect tool to rethink skincare performance and became the base of our Prada Skin range, ultimately helping skin adapt as fast as the environment changes. With over five years of research, a patented ingredient Proxylane and a pending technology patent on adapto.gn, the transformative skincare range from cleanser to foundation provides quality care instantly and over time.”
“The skinification of beauty is more than just a phenomenon” – Yann Andrea
As the lines between skincare and beauty become more blurred, especially with the rise in the so-called ‘skinification’ of beauty, Prada Beauty sets itself apart by viewing skinification as more than just a trend, but instead as a central pillar to its approach.
“The skinification of beauty is more than just a phenomenon; it’s at the core of the brand philosophy,” Andrea explains. “We believe that Skin and Color are intrinsically connected, and every product is developed to deliver instant results as well as benefits over time through active care and ingredients.
“For instance, The Prada Reveal Foundation features the IRL(In-Real-Life)-Micro-Filter technology to instantly reveal naturally radiant complexion while Lactobacillus extract, Niacinamide and Vitamin E hydrate, refine skin texture and even skin tone over time.
“The Prada Monochrome Lipcolor features Micro-Fit technology for instantly maximal colour with minimal feel, while Bifidus extract and jojoba oil hydrate and strengthen lip barrier over time. Lastly, The Prada Dimensions Eye Palette features Micro-Pixel pigments technology for instant, one-stroke payoff as Placentia volubilis oil helps smooth eyelids over time.”
“Our vision for Prada is high-performing, avant-garde beauty activated by tech and creativity”
– Prada Beauty Global Brand President Yann Andrea
Next-generation
beauty services
This AI and tech-driven approach extends to Prada Beauty’s augmented beauty services as well, some of which may soon be present in its travel retail stores. Andrea says: “Our vision for Prada is high-performing, avant-garde beauty activated by tech and creativity. To this end, Prada’s exclusive beauty-tech services integrate human expertise with technological innovation to conduct advanced skin analysis, revealing its current condition and its potential for optimisation.
“At counter, we have the Prada Skin Decoder, an innovative skin diagnosis device across both skincare and skin tone. Developed in collaboration with L’Oréal Research and Innovation, Prada’s cutting-edge device uses advanced algorithms powered by artificial intelligence, incorporating convolutional neural networks machine learning and visualisations, to assess numerous skin parameters, ultimately providing us insights on how to optimise skin through Prada’s adaptation-driven formulations.
“At counter and online, we also have the Prada Color Explorer, a virtual makeup try-on service that features the Prada Color catalogue in full and offers enhanced customisation options for consumers to explore and experiment a reimagined expression of Prada’s eye and lip colours.
“Lastly, when it comes to reinventing consumer immersivity, we have created our own augmented experiences that bridge physical and virtual worlds. This innovative learning and exploratory journey are accessible by scanning our signature QR codes deployed on points of sales, product packs and media – consumers are immersed in digital experiences towards fragrances, skin and colour, reinventing themselves while learning about avant-garde beauty before ultimately landing on our retail partner pages.”
Self-reinvention as the new self-expression
Prada Paradoxe, the brand’s major launch in 2022, certainly made an impact in the channel with memorable activations in China and Latin America. Recent showings from the fashion house have also put Prada at the forefront of the fashion conversation, driving both awareness and brand desirability. For Andrea, now is the time to leverage this buzz surrounding the brand to propel Prada Beauty to becoming a beauty leader.
“Prada has always conveyed a distinctive philosophy which today perfectly embraces the new vision of luxury, engaging and delivering on the expectations of the younger generation through an open-minded vision that is creative, responsible, and tech-driven. Prada is one of the hottest fashion brands in the world, and today we are extending this avant-garde and free-thinking creative vision to beauty. By balancing heritage and innovation in perfect harmony, we are creating the most desirable global beauty brand ahead of its time, driven by excellence, innovation, and creativity that is totally in sync with the Fashion House.
“With the launch of Skin and Color this year, Prada Beauty has been exploring new directions and channels; from a spectacular take-over at Harrod’s to an incredible online-to-offline activation in China, we are delivering consistent brand styles and codes across all regions and engaging in all touchpoints with today’s consumer. Ultimately, this approach offers a new paradigm of luxury that is more aspirational than ever with the younger generation; we believe that self-reinvention is the new self-expression, and Prada Beauty allows all people to explore their multiple dimensions and facets.”
In November 2022, L’Oréal Travel Retail Asia Pacific marked the launch of the Prada Paradoxe with China Duty Free Group by opening indoor and outdoor pop-up spaces at cdf Haikou International Duty Free Complex
Spotlight Series - February 2024