Inspiration, Cocreation, Exploration: Chanel’s Cometes Collective Touches Down in New York
The Cometes Collective has landed in New York.
The makeup artist trio, recently anointed by Chanel as global makeup artist partners to ideate the brand’s makeup collections, have taken their latest projects Stateside to Chanel’s New York offices.
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In a wide-ranging interview with WWD, the three artists outlined their varied experiences, backgrounds and sources of inspiration — and their different tastes were on full display. Valentina Li, who ideated the brand’s most recent spring products, accessorized her tweed jacket with a blunt cobalt bob; Cécile Paravina went fresh-faced and Ammy Drammeh, the summer collection’s mastermind, sported a swoop of deep, metallic, greige eye shadow.
The three are a kaleidoscope of aesthetic tastes, though they still speak in shorthand and finish each other’s sentences. It’s that synchronicity, as well as multiplicity of viewpoints, that Chanel bet on when announcing their appointments in 2023.
“We come from different countries, different backgrounds, and maybe you’ll ask me my opinion on what color looks best, or how we can make skin look perfect,” Li said. “It’s a good balance between us, like a dynamic triangle.”
Li is from China; Paravina, from France; and Drammeh from Spain.
“We each have very different background and very different sources of inspiration and influence,” Paravina said. “Valentina has anime, Ammy has R&B music, and I have different vintage books. Everybody has their thing, and together, it works. The Chanel makeup studio found a way to make us work together without overstepping each other’s territories, and we also have individual collections, which enable us to take a risk when we create new stuff.”
That doesn’t stop the artists from getting each other’s input. “We’re like a family,” Li said. “Sometimes, when we work alone, it’s quite lonely. And [on set], you can’t always just ask a photographer what makeup they think is right.”
Added Drammeh, “The understanding of beauty from a makeup artist is very different from a photographer. So to have people who understand not only what we do, but how we feel when we do it, is great to have. It’s like a support group.”
Drammeh ideated the brand’s summer collection, which debuts in July at retail. Her inspiration for the products, which include eyebrow and eye shadow pencils, as well as hero product Baume Essentiel Multi-Use Glow Stick, came from both Chanel’s own archive and Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
“I wanted to do something that was different from what we already had available, and my starting point was the colors. I knew what shades I wanted,” she said. “I went to the archive at Chanel, and I started thinking about ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ and I found out Gabrielle Chanel had the book herself. I took inspiration from her, knowing she was obsessed with nature and used it so much in her designs, but I wanted to give it a twist, so you have lots of vibrant colors and shades that are also super wearable.”
Those shades include names like Song d’été, Rêveuse, Nuage Bleu and Moonlight Kiss, for example.
“An idea becomes the color, which then becomes a story, and you need to feel the colors within the story,” Li said. “It’s very different when you are designing products instead of being a makeup artist, because when we do editorials, it can be crazy.”
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Paravina said the considerations are more practical when concocting products for Chanel clients. “When you create makeup, you create it for real life, for people experiencing it, crying at their weddings, and all of these moments,” she said. “But what I personally like about makeup is that you’re creating tools for people. The person is going to do something personal, it’s going to be individual on them, and we get to create products that are used a million different ways.”
Drammeh likened working with the Chanel team as “getting a PhD in makeup creation and product development, because they’ve been making makeup for 100 years,” she said. “They know everything, all the intricacies of formulation, colors, packaging.”
“I was pretty surprised about how difficult it is to actually develop and create makeup with a lab. There are so many intricacies to understand, the functionality,” Paravina added. “You start with a color that is made in your office, you put it into a little pot, you give it to someone in a lab who tries to match the exact color. And it’s hard to find the perfect formula. The collections we’re showing in New York, we’ve worked on for two years.”
The trio thinks of those products as an evergreen complement to consumers’ full outfits. “Take the little black dress, which is super iconic to Chanel, and my collection is the accessory to that little black dress,” Drammeh said. “You have all your favorites from Chanel, all the shades people have been using for years and years, and then you have my collection, which you can use to accessorize it.”
Paravina also thinks in technical terms, as well as how to communicate with consumers. “How is the product going to be taught in points of sale? How do we break down the technique and make it consumer-friendly?” she asked. “It’s about finding ways for people to get excited, and then making the technique approachable so they’re tempted to try it.”
All three forgo trends in favor of timelessness, despite the seasonality of the makeup collections, as they start developing products years in advance.
“I try to avoid looking at TikTok,” Li said. “Sometimes, you need to think by yourself. Instead of thinking, ‘is this going to be popular in two years when it launches,’ I’d rather spend my energy on the 10 different ways to use a color and what the story I want to tell is. It’s more impactful.”
As for what consumers are looking for from their makeup brands in 2024, it’s a mix of versatility, functionality and individuality. “I don’t think people want to carry 10 kilos of makeup, they want want to look like themselves, and it’s important we can create something multi-use,” Li said.
“To be able to use products in diverse ways, and the same product day or night,” Paravina said.
Drammeh contended that consumers are clamoring for the same types of products Chanel’s founder made. “Look at Chanel — she used tweed that was used by farmers in Scotland, and suddenly it was the chicest thing ever, but it’s really the ultimate multipurpose fabric that is super tough and also beautiful. We’re really just following that ethos.”
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