Lancome, Isabella Rossellini, and Sonia Rykiel

3 min read

LANCOME have had two celebrity announcements this month – both of them VERY exciting. The French house has announced a collaboration with designer Sonia Rykiel, and actress Isabella Rossellini will be their new muse.

Isabella Rossellini is the iconic face of Lancome. She became the very first face of the brand back in 1983, and for 14 years she was the Lancome woman. I grew up with Isabella Rosselini in Lancome’s beauty campaigns, so this is just lovely news.

Today, aged 63, she’s back. An inspired and inspiring woman, she joins Lancome now as a muse, to spread the brand’s particular vision of femininity around the globe.

Beyond Lancôme’s values, which she represents so magnificently and quintessentially, Isabella embodies the idea of an accomplished beauty that is synonymous with well-being. She also maintains a very positive, serene attitude to age, which she experiences as liberating and self-affirming,” declares Françoise Lehmann, General Manager of Lancôme.

Isabella Rossellini for Lancome © Marc-Antoine Coulon

Isabella Rossellini will be a regular spokesmodel for the brand, sharing her unique vision of what genuine beauty is, and how to achieve it.

I am overwhelmed with emotion to come back to Lancôme,” says Isabella. “Our collaboration meant so much to me in my life. Continuing it fills me with immense joy and great expectations. I am also well aware that this decision goes well beyond me: it’s a strong indication of Lancôme’s inclusiveness and celebration of all women.”

Isabella Rossellini is the daughter of two icons of the silver screen – Italian Director Roberto Rossellini, and Swedish actress, Ingrid Bergman. Isabella is an iconic figure in cinema herself, and has taken on cult roles and has an impressive filmography, working with major directors including David Lynch, Joel Schumacher and Guy Maddin.

* Lancome’s other announcement is a collaboration with Sonia Rykiel for their AW16 makeup collection. I am so excited about this one, I can’t tell express how much. I adore Sonia Rykiel (who is now 85 years old and has the most amazing red hair), and the brand’s designs. The  AW16 collection is full of colour, and truly joyful, inspired by the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area of Paris, the birthplace of the Rykiel fashion house.

Sonia Rykiel’s fashions are bold, and free-flowing, the cuts are amazing, the clothes are functional, exciting and playful. it’s all about emancipating women in fashion – allowing you to wear what you like, and feel comfortable and chic in it.

In Lancôme I see the free and joyful Rykiel woman who makes her own choices,” explains Julie de Libran, Artistic Director of Sonia Rykiel who, since her arrival two years ago, has successfully and faithfully reinvented the novelty-edged chic of the label’s founder. “A beauty that is sometimes natural, sometimes sophisticated but never subjected to diktats. Our two houses share a modern vision of femininity which, I believe, is tangible for today’s women.”

Julie de Libran ©David Bailey for Sonia Rykiel

Sonia Rykiel is the ultimate incarnation of a certain idea of the Parisian,” adds Françoise Lehmann, Managing Director of Lancôme International. “A woman who cultivates her joyfully emancipated freedom and refuses the imposed choice of depth or lightness, a woman who is simultaneously seductive and in love. It is the “Saint-Germain spirit”, the idea of happiness in one’s own image, actively constructed every day.”

The limited edition Sonia Rykiel x Lancôme collection will be available from August 2016, and I cannot wait!

For more info visit lancome.co.uk

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