DIOR BEAUTY
Debuts New Installation At Lord & Taylor
On October 1, Lord & Taylor and Dior Beauty celebrated the opening of the brand’s state-of-the-art installation showcasing color, skincare and fragrance. “This has been a long-overdue renovation [for the store],” declared Terry Darland, President, Parfums Christian Dior for North America. “Not since 1975 has Lord & Taylor’s cosmetics floor been under a complete overhaul. The old Dior bay was a 150 square-foot generic space that was falling apart. This new installation is double that in size and a million times more beautiful and glamorous. I like to think of it as going from a 1960’s VW bug to a 2010 Mercedes Benz.”
“Thanks to Dior Beauty for an overwhelmingly light and beautiful space,” affirmed Brendan Hoffman, President & CEO of Lord & Taylor at the ribbon-cutting. “Our appreciation goes to Terry and [Lord & Taylor’s Senior Vice President/GMM] Barbara Zinn-Moore’s teams for their support.
“The bay’s location ties in to the overall renovation of the department,” explained Dior Beauty’s Bill Shaffer, Senior Vice President of Store Design and Visual Merchandising for North America. “We have traction down the main aisle.”
According to Mr. Shaffer, the design of the installation was a collaboration between Dior Beauty’s market team in Paris and his team in New York. “With double the amount of space we formerly had, we can really show the Dior Beauty products in the best light. We can project the latest evolution of a state-of-the-art Dior Beauty installation.”
“Dior Beauty’s bay has gone from a generic to a personalized space,” he explained. “We can fan out products and show them in their best light. They are not all jammed on top of each other. With the ability to spread out displays, there is more room to make clear presentations of both makeup and skincare products. If a customer wants to browse and shop on her own, this is a much better set-up for her.”
The descriptive text at the displays gives customers a sense of the products. Mr. Shaffer informs, “Text can be placed adjacent to the products. Previously, we weren’t able to do that. The Copywriters and marketing work to produce language that is consumer-friendly. That text is changed with new ranges and launches, and we also have the ability to tweak current text as needed.”
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| Dior Beauty’s Lorraine Mushio and Terry Darland (r.) with Lord & Taylor’s Barbara Zinn-Moore and Brendan Hoffman at the ribbon-cutting for the new installation |
ILord & Taylor’s Liz Rodbell joins Mr. Hoffman, Ms. Darland and Ms. Zinn-Moore in a celebratory moment. | Dior Beauty’s Bill Shaffer shows off the Backstage Makeup area. |
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| Dior Beauty’s Elizabeth Sadkowski, Bela Gausman, Ms. Mushio and Jeana Maduina | Lord & Taylor’s Tina Occhino, May Lau and Sally Shaw with Ms. Darland and Ms. Zinn-Moore |
Dior Beauty’s Lisa Hawkins, Bertrand Tefra and Janis Vaile |
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| Dior Beauty’s Angela Hill, Jamie Seidner, Janis Vaile and Joanna Grillo at the state-of-the-art fragrance display | Ms. Hawkins (2nd l.) joins Dior Beauty’s Jim Anderson (2nd r.) with Lord & Taylor’s Rich Weiner and David Clements. | Customers can sit comfortably and play with makeup at the Backstage Makeup space or have a makeover. |
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| Dior Beauty’s fragrance display shows the depth of the collection. | Each mascara in the Dior Beauty line can be viewed by customers. | Customers can use these tools to play with color cosmetics at The Backstage Makeup table. |
There is also more room for the Beauty Stylists to maneuver,” he continued. “Customers have designated areas where they can sit down for consultations and makeovers as opposed to the former chair on the aisle. The new Color Bar is lower and delineates each product group for eyes, lips and face. They provide an explanation of products for the customer.”
“Our Backstage Makeup table is our area to do makeovers and consultations,” Mr. Shaffer said. Ms. Darland points out that the “long Backstage runway makeup consultation table has room for four clients at one time. They can sit and play by themselves or have a full-on consultation and makeover by one of our five trained Beauty Stylists.”
“The use of videos brings to life all of the Dior runway shows that so inspire the creation of such beautiful beauty products,” she added. “This sets the stage for makeovers.” The videos change seasonally with new fashion collections.
Mr. Shaffer said the visual presentations change every two months with beauty trends and new products. “The visuals are generated in Paris, and production work is done in the US. The images are developed for global use as a one-world, one-Dior approach. We do our part to carry out and support that concept.”
He is proud of the fragrance presentation, which shows the depth of the entire collection. “It is a whole new way for Dior Beauty to
showcase the bottles. It puts fragrance front and center. A separate platform for testers allows the customer to touch and play with the scents. A pull-out tray highlights the ancillary fragrance products.”
Angela Hill, Christian Dior Parfums Account Executive, explained how the new space is affecting the sales team and in turn, the customers. “It sparkles! We’re so proud of our team and we’re proud of our surroundings. The customers can feel it. We have so many regulars who come to us for their special occasions or for just a pick-me-up.”
The new Dior Beauty look extends beyond the beautiful new installation at Lord & Taylor. “Speaking of glamour,” Ms. Darland declared, “Our Beauty Stylists are wearing Dior uniforms designed by the [Christian Dior] fashion house exclusively for Dior Beauty.”
Mr. Shaffer maintains that there was a “really good collaborative effort” between Dior Beauty and Lord & Taylor in executing the plan for the new instillation. “Lord & Taylor was quite clear about its intention for the overall presentation and lighting for the department. They wanted to preserve the heritage of the building while bringing it up to 2010. We were able to easily come to what would work for us. With minor tweaks between the two groups, we got to the finished design pretty quickly. Lord & Taylor did a superb job with overhead ambient lighting.”
“Each client at the Dior Beauty installation can now be greeted and given the excellent D.I.O.R. service that has become the standard in our company,” Ms. Darland enthused “We train our team to make sure they perform [at a high level] every day. It’s all about the people.” BF