PARIS — Carita is upping its game.

“We actually need Carita to be the jewel in [L’Oréal’s] luxury division in skincare,” explained Charles Finaz de Villaine, Carita international brand director.

A key element of that strategy is Carita’s renovated 19,375-square-foot Maison de Beauté on Paris’ Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The flagship is attributable to open Oct. 3.

Carita was inaugurated there by sisters Maria and Rosy Carita on Dec. 15, 1952, within the presence of the Duchess of Windsor and three,000 high society folk.

The duo set shop up on the bottom floor, and ultimately coiffed the well-heeled, had their very own product lines, and ignited the trend for wigs and hairpieces.

With the institute’s renovation, starting two years ago, the target was to create probably the most desirable beauty address on this planet, in keeping with Finaz de Villaine. The Carita team looked to what the Carita sisters developed.

“After they created this house, they called this ‘the hive,’” he said. It buzzed with 200 clients day by day.

“It was a spot where everyone desired to be seen,” continued Finaz de Villaine. “You may have your hair done next to Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot.”

Carita’s institute boasted 100 employees, had 45 telephone lines and sold shoes, hats and scarves.

Rev Studio founders, architects Christiano Benzoni and Sophie Thuillier were briefed about Carita’s golden age, within the ’50s through the ’70s.

“They got here up with this idea of making a contemporary, contemporary hive,” said Finaz de Villaine. “What they really desired to do was create a spot where light is at the center of the architecture.”

People enter the institute through Carita’s signature portico, then pass under a series of arches to succeed in an idea store. On this level, skin diagnostics are made in considered one of three alcoves, and there’s a checkout area.

Benzoni and Thuillier conjured up a glass-topped central atrium soaring 66 feet high that lights stairways and walkways.

As a part of the sustainability drive, materials akin to white and black marbles, pink onyx and chromed metal are used. Furniture includes Pumpkin sofas and Tulip armchairs by Pierre Paulin.

On the primary floor up there are 11 black-and-white treatment rooms, including one double, measuring 108 square feet to 183 square feet. Five are reserved for face care, 4 for body care and one for eye enhancement.

Carita’s treatments use choreographed gestures, including almost 60 hand movements, and sweetness tech.

A level above is the 915-square-foot hair salon with arched mirrors, nine stations and a 302-square-foot private salon, linked by a walkway.

Also on this floor is Rosy, the 1,345-square-foot restaurant seating 35, where healthy dishes are dreamed up by chef Amandine Chaignot.

“Throughout the Carita brand there may be this sense of joy. The Carita sisters used to open Champagne at 6 o’clock each day,” said Finaz de Villaine. “So we would have liked a bar, a spot where all this joy and conviviality can occur.”

Chaignot was chosen to channel this spirit.

On the third floor up nestle more treatment rooms, plus The Look Studio, centered on eyelashes and semi-permanent makeup. Here, as well, is a personal apartment with a front room, dining room, hairdressing suite and double treatment suite.

The Carita Maison de Beauté could be a full-day destination.

“We actually need this address to turn into the worldwide landmark for beauty, to develop the Carita experience so far as we are able to and to push the boundaries of luxury in every thing we do,” said Finaz de Villaine, who cited the Carita sisters’ saying: “At Carita, we care for your dreams.”

Services — including skincare, makeup and hairdressing — were inherent to this.

“We asked ourselves: ‘If the Carita sisters were alive, what would they’ve done in this idea of worldwide beauty, where they were pioneers,” he said.

Cutting-edge beauty diagnostics, called “augmented consultation,” includes technology to measure “skin aura” — in step with the Carita sisters’ obsession with illuminating skin and hair.

To orchestrate the Maison de Beauté, Carita signed on celebrity hairstylist John Nolle as artistic director.

“We wanted to have someone who really knows what the elite are on the lookout for, how you can seek advice from probably the most demanding clients,” said Finaz de Villaine. “In a short time, once we tried to search out the equivalent of the Carita sisters in today’s world, it was so obvious that John has all of it.

“He has accrued an experience in beauty, in client knowledge, that makes him the perfect partner to care for all the main points,” the chief continued.

One other of the sisters’ axioms was: “On the Maison de Beauté, everyone needs to be welcomed and treated like a queen.”

“We gave this sentence to John, and he really made it a reality,” said Finaz de Villaine.

Nollet helped select the staff. Katia Dufon-Schaffhauser was named director of the Maison de Beauté Carita, as an example.

Nollet designed uniforms and proposed the music playlists.

“He brought his vision on hair care,” said Finaz de Villaine. Nollet reviewed Carita’s archives, including hundreds of drawings by the sisters’ nephew, Christophe Carita.

The Maison de Beauté has been conceived as a prototype, due to this fact portions of it could actually be replicated on a smaller scale elsewhere.

The institute will probably be officially inaugurated during Paris Fashion Week, on Sept. 30.

“The Carita sisters were the primary founders to essentially connect beauty with fashion and cinema,” said Finaz de Villaine. So things have come full circle.

Carita became a part of the L’Oréal brand portfolio when it was sold by Shiseido alongside Decléor for a complete of 227.5 million euros in 2014. At the moment, L’Oréal said the 2 French brands together generated sales of about 100 million euros, which ranked the pair combined as number two in the worldwide skilled skincare market across beauty institutes, spas and salons.

Carita and Decléor were moved into L’Oréal’s Skilled Product Division, but then quickly the market evolved, causing skilled hair care businesses to should reinvent themselves — particularly when it got here to digital transformation. And the division focused on its core activity.

“After I deep dived into the archive, the brand story, I felt that Carita had really strong fundamentals,” said Finaz de Villaine, who signed on to the brand in 2018. “It had [everything] to succeed, but not within the skilled division — more on the superpremium market.”

Carita within the early 2000s had lost some footing in the luxurious industry, the chief explained. So key was to strengthen the brand fundamentals and sharpen its platform.

A latest Carita, with a far more luxurious positioning, was proposed to top L’Oréal brass. Then the proposition was tested in China and France.

“It worked tremendously well,” said Finaz de Villaine. That resulted in Carita being moved to the L’Oréal Luxe division at the tip of 2018.

Carita’s relaunch began in early January of this yr, with the remodeling and premiumization of its 20-stockkeeping unit product offer centered around face care, with latest formulations, packaging, protocols and tech. The three major lines are centered around skin repair, remodeling and rejuvenation, in addition to some signature products, akin to Le Fluide 14.

Throughout the L’Oréal Luxe Division, Lancôme has face care priced at upward 200 euros and Helena Rubinstein above 400 euros. Carita’s price points, meanwhile, can surpass 500 euros.

 “The bestselling range is probably the most premium straight away,” said Finaz de Villaine.

The brand’s distribution stays tight, including high-end beauty institutes and hotels. Carita recently inaugurated its first boutique in China.

Its body care line is due out in 2023. “We’re considering the launch of other categories in the longer term,” said Finaz de Villaine. Hair care could be amongst them.