Aside from the exhibitions, concerts, film festival, conference sessions and more at next month’s SXSW, Chanel is joining the party and bringing a techno edge. The iconic French fashion house is introducing beauty in a unique format at the Austin happening with its first pop-up Atelier Beauté Chanel, an adaptation of its wildly successful Atelier Beauté Chanel New York that opened in SoHo in 2019.
While the internationally famed Austin festival lasts for 10 days only, the Chanel luxury beauty experience will have a six week run, launching on March 11 (the first day of SXSW) and continuing through April 24. Those wishing to avoid the SXSW crush can visit post-festival.
Chanel’s sleek atelier, to be located in the Music Lane mixed-use center on South Congress, will be filled with the full array of Chanel makeup, skin care and fragrances and the opportunity to experiment and create either independently or with an assist from the atelier’s beauty guides and master artists.
“When guests arrive to the atelier, they will be invited to place their belongings in a locker and fully engage with the space,” Chanel’s chief longterm development officer Christine Dagousset tells PaperCity. “They will be invited to download an Atelier Beauté Chanel app and use it throughout their experience to find detailed product information, buy their favorite products or add them to a wish list, and book services or events.”
Further, Dagousset tempts: “We are bringing to Austin a new technology-enabled experience for Atelier Beauté Chanel members only, which I cannot share yet.”
Chanel’s My Atelier is a three-month membership program that provides participants with access to industry experts, exclusive services, a personal beauty mentor and priority access to both the Austin and New York stores.
The atelier offerings are impressive starting with the first weekend when Chanel celebrity makeup artist Tasha Reiko Brown and Chanel brow artist Jimena Garcia will be available for free consultations as well as limited bookings for the artists’ coveted one-on-one services.
Throughout the six weeks, the menu will include 90-minute makeup lessons with a master artist, makeup applications with a full service option or a focus on eyes, skincare consultations with an expert and a kit of targeted samples to take home. Master classes and livestream events are part of the experience as is the delightful fragrance discovery in which guests select their three favorite fragrances from the full array of offerings to take home in personalized kits.
Makeup Happy Hours at the pop-up will add a note of fun to the happenings with makeup touchups, manicures, champagne and music in the evenings.
“Austin is a very interesting city with a unique energy and which, more recently, has seen a major tech boom attracting people from all over the U.S.,” Dagousset says. “As for SXSW, it brings together an international crowd of creative thought leaders, around innovation in tech, film, music, education and culture – and we felt it was the right audience to celebrate the opening of the Atelier pop-up in Austin.
“I would also add that Chanel is the ultimate house of luxury, leading in exceptional human and tech-enabled beauty experiences that inspire the same tech-savvy, curious and open audience who are drawn to Austin and to the SXSW festival in particular.”
