New Nudes

The beauty sector is forcefully reinventing itself in terms of representativeness and inclusiveness. Under the influence of the Body Positivism movement (deciphered in the Pretty Women moodboard): L’Oréal patents a « Chromosphere » that determines the exact tone of a woman’s skin on a chart of 66 different colours. Tesco, for its part, has extended its colour palette for plasters, which are usually only beige.

Faithful to Christian Louboutin’s values, the Nudes collection is an ode to inclusiveness, regardless of skin colour and now gender. Originally launched with 5 shades in 2013, the collection now extends to 8 shades to match all tones.

The lingerie world soon followed this trend. Heist-studios, the tights brand, launched ‘The Nude Project’: a big survey inviting their community to describe how they feel ‘When I’m nude …’ and to send in photos. Valuable data was collected to enrich their nude range. In the same vein, Aerie launched a collection called « Real Me » in which the nude cameo is enriched with 5 new shades. The Nubian Skin brand was also created with the same objective in mind, with the slogan « Skin tone lingerie for women of colour ».

« Nude is not beige » is a concept that artists have been working on for years and which is gradually becoming more and more popular among brands. The Brazilian artist Adriana Varejao presented her « Polvo » (« Octopus ») series in 2014 where she echoes the capacity of the octopus to change colour, for camouflage or survival purposes, by altering its own skin colour with paint. She thus questions the representation of people of colour in Brazil and the country’s colonial history.

The second-skin effect is also noticeable on wall decorations and even in leather objects. This is the work of Studiofoam’s creations presented at Archik in Marseille as part of their exhibition Carnations.  The studio has collected scraps of leather whose « irregularities, scars, wrinkles or natural veins make the beauty and uniqueness of each object ».

Guided by their love of leather and marquetry, the publisher and craftsman Cuir au Carré orientates its know-how by designing wall coverings. For its part, Arte international presented the Velveteen collection and a wide range of 3D wallpapers with a second skin feel.

Sensual patterns as if sketched by hand in soft powdery tones, the blush palettes are declined on Kelly Wearstler’s or Fromental’s latest wallpapers and on Sacrée Frangine’s illustrations.

The terracotta trend remains and extends to natural colour palettes: work of texture, refined grain that evokes earth, sand, powder, lava…Formafantasma, Fornance Brioni or Tina Frey’s Go nude collection juggle with a thousand and one shades of nude, mineral or sensual.

The ultimate trend spotted for this winter: shades of cocoa, powder brown and dark terracotta breathe a warm and sunny atmosphere into interiors. A style that can be found at Apparatus as well as on Jaime Hayon’s wet brown glossy effect tables, without forgetting the latest AD Interiors designs mixing raw and natural materials.