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Cosmetics packaging is an excellent opportunity for designers to indulge in a bit of luxurious design. Design Week follows the trail

Stella McCartney

Stella McCartney’s fragrance

Design: Made Thought

Fashion industry darling Stella McCartney’s first perfume, featuring packaging and graphics by Made Thought, was launched in style last month at McCartney’s London flagship store.

Stella – the perfume’s name – is an Art Deco-inspired bottle with clean lines. The faceted Eau de Toilette bottle is McCartney’s own design, but Made Thought ‘dressed it’ and made it more feminine, says Made Thought’s Paul Austin.

The bottle was originally in a solid plum colour, but Made Thought introduced dégradé colouration, which fades lighter to the bottom. The packaging is a grey, snug, hexagonal three-part box from high-quality Italian board by paper manufacturer Fedrigoni.

The pixel-style ‘Stella’ marque, conceived by Wink, circles the silver neck of the bottle, and inside sits a traditional applicator. ‘It’s much sexier than spraying,’ says McCartney.

‘The entire feel is vintage with a modern twist, like [McCartney’s] collections,’ Austin adds. ‘Our aim was to create something that felt hand-crafted.’

The Eau de Parfum, at just 5cm tall, follows the Eau de Toilette’s angled shape, but is also described as resembling a small ‘hand grenade’. Its packaging is more luxurious and features a solid ‘coffret’ complete with padded satin cushion. The bottle’s lid is weighted to feel heavier and less ‘machine-made’, Austin explains.

‘It is designed so that you can keep the bottle after you’ve finished with the perfume. I wanted the perfume coffret to be like a jewellery box,’ McCartney says.

Made Thought’s work grew from the group’s specialist graphics for McCartney’s London store.

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