Retro Rebound

By Christine Esposito

Whether it’s Reese Witherspoon onOscar’s red carpet in a 1955 Christian Dior gown, Ford reintroducing the Thunderbird or a young couple registering for a Waring blender resembling the one their parents got as a wedding present, vintage looks are immensely popular across a broad spectrum of consumer goods. Part nostalgia, part good design, consumers old and young are drawn to products that hearken to yesteryear.

Many beauty companies have taken a retro approach in packaging of their modern cosmetics, fragrance and personal care products, creating pieces that women are proud to pull out of their purses or display on their vanities.
While inspiration can come from a bevy of eras and sources — Victorian times to mid-century modern to old style apothecary — packaging design experts say use of vintage/retro style needs to fit the brand’s image if it’s going to work on the shelf.

Vintage Flair

Fragrance has always been one area where packaging design has been paramount. From the earliest use of perfume bottles by Egyptians around 1000 BC to perfumers of France using exquisite glass bottles from premier glass makers of the day, packaging has always reflected the luxury nature of fine fragrance.

As fragrance and cosmetics became more commonplace, however, evolutionary changes in style led way to simpler, more utilitarian styles of packaging for these products. But luxurious packaging — much of it with vintage flair —is making a comeback.

“The greatest resurgence in luxury packaging was the late 1970s and 1980s. But in 1989, the recession hit and that was a turning point. It became déclassé; less is more. In the past three years, we are seeing somewhat of a resurgence of luxury packaging,” says New York City-based designer Marc Rosen.

Rosen singled out John Galliano’s Lavender and Tom Ford’s Youth Dew Amber Nude as two recent fragrance launches that have vintage style.In addition, atomizer bulbs are popping up. They give Prada’s scent and Curious Brittany Spears a modern vintage Hollywood 1920s/30s look.

On the cosmetics side, one brand that has had success with vintage-inspired packaging is Benefit, the San Francisco-based company started by Jane and Jean Ford.

According to Camilla Taft, president of Hummingbird Packaging Associates, Hawthorne, NJ, Benefit has been successful with retro-style graphics. “The retro images are presented in a humorous, whimsical campy, tongue-in-cheek fashion,” she says.

According to Jane Ford, Benefit’s packaging uses “both modern and old-fashion images and styles to create fun products that women will want to carry in their bags or display on their vanity.”

Creating beautiful pieces is also the goal of Body and Soul and Bésame Cosmetics, two niche lines that feature cosmetics that look as if you found them on your mother’s (or grandmother’s) vanity.

“I wanted to recreate the feeling that it’s a keepsake, not a disposable product, something with a bit more staying power. I wanted to bring back the nostalgic feel,” says Bésame founder Gabriela Hernandez. Her company works with metal, Bakelite, old plastics and other materials to create its vintage look.

Bésame’s roster includes a 1940s style lipstick that’s a blast from the past. The formulation is as color-intense as it would have been in the 1940s, and the size replicates this era when lipsticks were more petite than their modern counterparts.

“People think we are trying to give less product, but truthfully, it probably costs us more to make it. We are trying to give a duplicate of what was available at the time. It fits nicely in a clutch,” Hernandez notes.

Body & Soul touts a beauty line that “brings back the romance and beauty of makeup,” and represents “an age when elegantly designed cosmetic pieces were showpieces and conversation starters,” according to its website.

“Back in the day, it was considered glamorous and luxurious to powder your face at the dinner table with everyone looking,” says Tao Miller, president of Honolulu, HI-based Body & Soul. “Nowadays, ladies go and hide to make themselves prettier. We appreciate the confidence in the women from those past eras and hope that women of today would not feel ashamed or feel it’s rude to make themselves pretty.”

Body and Soul’s line includes color cosmetics and skin lotions and powders, and its top-seller is a compact with packaging that combines metal and plastic. The outer box has a design-patented keyhole shape that allows users to peek in at “Gigi,” its signature model drawn by illustrator Ann Field.

For both Hernandez and Miller, bringing their brand to life was a labor of love, often taking years of research, rummaging through flea markets and antique stores and finding the right packaging suppliers.

“It took me a while to find suppliers who were willing to manufacture these pieces. Finding those willing to do custom work, to do the engineering and do what works, was difficult,” says Hernandez.

Being a niche company also makes the task difficult.

“It is a challenge. As a small company, we are faced with large minimum order commitments,” says Miller. “We were very fortunate because everyone could appreciate our direction and felt that it was original and they wanted to be part of it. Most of our suppliers have always been very supportive and understanding.”
Exacting standards make open communication between client and supplier essential. For example, Body & Souls’ signature color is sea foam, but according to Miller, it’s “not exactly a Pantone color, making it difficult to work with.”

Later this year, Bésame will launch a sharpener that looks like a hummingbird. After Hernandez fashioned a clay model and sent it to the supplier, it took three to four months to finalize a unit that worked and met her standards. “We create everything from scratch and suppliers must be willing to take that journey with us,” she says.

Getting The Look

While Body and Soul and Bésame rely mainly on custom pieces, experts contend savvy material, color and design choices can help create packaging with vintage appeal.And, the good news is, it canbe done with stock products, say industry insiders.

“It’s harder, but it’s possible,” says Rosen, who suggests companies choose certain shape components and caps, maybe older styles, and treat the surfaces.

“Retro can be accomplished through fonts, color scheme, shapes and of course, the whole graphic design,” adds Taft.

According to creative director Hannah Malott, Benefit works with both stock and custom, depending on the project, time restraints and budget.“No matter what the primary component, we really rely on our artwork to dress the piece and make it uniquely Benefit. It brings our creative team a great feeling of accomplishment to take an ordinary stock jar, tube or bottle and make it extraordinary with the artwork…” She says Benefit often dresses these components with special die cut labels, silk screens and foils.

Miller also recognizes the need to tweak stock components, despite the added costs. “Even when stock packaging is used we customize it extensively where needed. This makes our packaging very costly but original.”

For the Right Reasons

While it may appear easy to pull off retro style with simple choices and a little creativity, designers are quick to warn companies about taking this route just because others are doing it.

According to Rosen, it is imperative that the packaging style matches the brand’s image.

“Stay away from vintage if you are doing it just for vintage’s sake,” he says. “It has to be appropriate to the line, be ergonomic or have a correct relationship with the company’s history.”

For example, Rosen recently designed the bottles for fashion designer Jill Stuart’s new fragrance. The goal was to have the packaging mirror the feminine vintage look that she uses in her fashion line.

Still, companies can opt for vintage/retro looks for special items such as an anniversary launch or commemorative packaging, but they must keep in mind the brand’s heritage, and above all, execute.

“Anything can backfire if it is not executed well,” adds Taft. “Excellence in execution is of paramount importance.”

HOW TO GO RETRO

Here’s a look at how some companies get their vintage look, and ways to incorporate retro style:

• Materials: While it’s hard to imagine the world without plastic, metal and glass were the packaging components of choice until World War II. “Older” plastics, such as Bakelite can help create a vintage feel too. For fragrance, try heavy, very faceted glass, say packaging designers.Rosen suggests black, white or opal glass.

• Graphics/Fonts: In many instances, a certain font or graphic design can connote vintage appeal. The Kiehl’s logo is an old style font, giving its products an apothecary look, says Taft.

• Color: “Color is most important to give a feel from a certain era,” says designer Robert DuGrenier, president of DuGrenier Associates. Looking to capture the 1970s? Try harvest gold, avocado green and chartreuse, as well as intensely pigmented shades. Amber bottles with a tea-stained looking label give Dr. Perricone’s skin care line an old- time neighborhood pharmacy look.

• Shape/Weight/Size: Lipsticks were smaller in the 1940s, while cold cream jars were huge. Replicating shapes is also a trick of the trade. Companies such as Bigelow, Crabtree & Evelyn and L’Occitane use aluminum crimp style tubes, and mimic vintage glass bottle shapes with plastics. Schwarzkopf & Henkel has launched a new Poly Kur shampoo in a bottle based on an earlier design. It contends the new bottle offers marries a retro look with convenience and durability.

• Adornment: Beauty and personal care items were fancy, and not just those sold as gift-with-purchase or at holiday. Jewels, ribbons and even functional adornments—think mirror attached to a lipstick—were much more commonplace. Bulb spray atomizers can give a fragrance instant retro presence, such as the look used by niche fragrance brand Abinoam (above).