LONDON — MAC Cosmetics has opened its first counter at the Bond Street branch of Fenwick, the British department store, with a unique retail design and layout created especially for the store.
“Fenwick is unique in that it’s a certainly more classic, older department store that has seen an amazing resurgence based on its new direction,” said James Gager, MAC’s senior vice president and group creative director.
“We thought this was the perfect opportunity: It’s a very different customer than perhaps the Selfridges one, and perhaps MAC can help attract the new customer that Fenwick would like to get into,” he continued.
Fenwick’s new direction has been spearheaded by David Walker-Smith, the store’s managing director, who arrived from Selfridges in February 2013. It was a time when the store was considered to be lagging behind its more innovative competitors in London.
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Gager said Walker-Smith was a major factor in the decision to open at the store.
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“I do trust and respect his vision, as I think he does mine. He has a great retailing spirit, he pushes boundaries and, for us, that’s very key,” said Gager.
The 523-square-foot space is situated in a prime location on the ground floor, in the store’s revamped beauty department.
Surrounded by mirror-framed, large-scale campaign images, the circular MAC space has been designed to tie in with Fenwick’s ongoing aesthetic evolution. It features gray, suede-effect fabric panels in the counters and floor-to-ceiling mirrored panels that allow both for privacy when applying makeup and observing the rest of the space.
In the new area, MAC has moved away from its standard tall displays and created a completely new system that is flat in profile and creates a more open environment.
Walker-Smith said Fenwick’s customers were asking every day for MAC.
“I was brought in to reinvigorate and reposition Fenwick, and beauty is of paramount importance both to me personally and to Fenwick as a brand,” he said, adding that the introduction of brands like Charlotte Tilbury last year has been welcomed by the store’s existing customer.
“We are trying to create a new destination for beauty in London, and this is the first time that MAC has been on Bond Street. Will MAC bring in a more diverse customer? Yes, that’s the power of MAC,” he added.
To celebrate the new space, MAC hosted a party on Thursday night, with windows coming alive with scenes from three different collection campaigns shot by Miles Aldridge.
They were recreated in living, breathing, edible form, with models sitting down to a sumptuous dinner party, complete with a foppish “Mozart-esque” character. In another window, the Baking Beauties campaign was recreated with couture cakes in confectionary colors.