French skincare brand L’Occitane en Provence has opened a sunny flagship store on London’s Regent Street. Taking a leaf out of its new Paris flagship’s book, this one also stocks macarons – courtesy of famed pastry chef Pierre Hermé – alongside handcreams and fragrances.
L’Occitane is in the throes of creating a series of individual flagships, and this one-off was the work of UK- and Amsterdam-based design firm Futurebrand UXUS. George Gottl, the co-founder, set about ‘creating a contemporary Provençal landscape in the middle of London’. The colour palette and lighting are warm, and botanicals adorn the ground floor columns.
Customers can throw themselves into discovering the products on this level. There’s a handcare fountain where taps release unguents for exfoliating, cleansing and moisturizing. Futurebrand UXUS has also thought up a new way to sample fragrances, ditching the standard paper strip in favour of a tasteful linen ribbon that can be tied around the wrist. Customers can also get free hand and arm massages on this floor.
Floral display, designed by Futurebrand UXUS.
Many L’Occitane products are bought as presents, so as well as a gift-wrapping station offering personalised ribbon printing, there’s a machine that engraves names or messages on metal and glass perfume bottles (a free service for those who spend over £40).
Futurebrand UXUS widened the stairs to draw customers up to the first floor, where the full product range is on show, along with a consultation room and café area where those bijou macaroons are displayed. ‘We don’t associate food with skincare, but there’s talk now that what you eat is what you become,’ says Gottl. ‘Eating a macaron is so sensorial.’
L’Occitane Group, which has its roots in 1970s Provence, has more than 2,700 stores in more than 90 countries. The Regent Street store is part of L’Occitane’s plans to modernise all of its outlets around the world.
UXUS widened the stairs to draw customers up to the first floor, where the full product range is on show.
The ‘personal beauty concierge’.
The boutique stocks macarons – courtesy of famed pastry chef Pierre Hermé – alongside the usual suspects, handcreams and fragrances.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the L’Occitane en Provence website
ADDRESS
L’Occitane en Provence
Regent Street
London
-
The Wallpaper* guide to party dressing with abandonDecadent get-ups to let your sartorial hair down this festive season, ready for a month-long marathon of hedonism and indulgence
-
C-Next Designers Europe hosted by Cosentino is forging the future of the interior design industry220 interior design professionals from 30 countries attended the invite-only event in Almeria for two days of factory tours, workshops and panel discussions
-
Jaguar reveals its new graphic identity ahead of a long-awaited total brand rebootJaguar’s new ethos is Exuberant Modernism, encapsulated by a new visual language that draws on fine art, fashion and architecture
-
Celebrate Día de los Muertos at one of London (and the world’s) finest Mexican restaurantsDía de los Muertos will arrive at KOL in Marylebone on 2 November, with a collaborative menu including dishes from the chefs behind Endo at The Rotunda to The Connaught, wrapped up with a mezcal fiesta
-
Mark’s Club’s interior refresh brings British countryside charm to the heart of MayfairLocated in a classic Mayfair townhouse, Mark’s Club unveils its new interiors, from greenhouse extensions to a new open-plan layout full of trinkets and charm
-
Frogs legs to fromage: Café François is London’s newest French canteen, serving up all the classics with a contemporary global twistThe founders of Mayfair's Maison François have opened a new addition, Café François. The Borough-based canteen offers an array of French classics from dawn to dusk
-
Dramatic and immersive, Dosa dishes up Korean cuisine with a moody flairThe Mandarin Oriental Mayfair welcomes Dosa, a new Korean restaurant by Akira Back
-
Yauatcha’s bespoke mooncakes mark the start of delicious celebrations for Mid-Autumn FestivalYauatcha, London’s Chinese dim sum teahouse, celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival (17 September) with three flavours of limited-edition mooncakes
-
Why bread is back on the menuGone are the days of carb-avoidant diets dominating restaurant menus. Food Critic, Leonie Cooper, celebrates the return of pillowy, inventive bread as London's stand-out dish
-
Birley Chocolate hits the sweet ’n’ chic spot in London’s ChelseaThe new Birley Chocolate shop, a sibling to Birley Bakery, is a confection of colour as delicious as its finely crafted goods
-
The London tequila bars well worth a shotOur resident spirits writer Neil Ridley explores London’s best places to enjoy the finest agave-based spirits
