Seoul - The Retail Creative Hub

All aboard the Seoul Train!

In July we were finally able to resume our Seoul Inspiration Tour - our expert-curated guide to the beauty capital, created in partnership with South Korean retail experts, Latitude37.

We couldn’t have been happier to guide clients through a packed itinerary that covered K-beauty hot spots, pop-ups, cult brands, cool cafes, must-see exhibitions and the trendiest bars. Every single destination was selected by us, along with Latitude 37, with the sole aim to fire inspiration.

Below, is just a small taster of the type of retail hot spots you can expect from a week’s itinerary in the K-beauty capital.

1/ Dior Pop-Up - Luxury Redefined

Photo Credit: Dior

location: 7, Yeonmujang 5-gil, Seongsu-dong

product: RTW, accessories, cafe

dates: Until 2025

dior.com

Redefining the very idea of a pop-up, Dior goes BIG for Seoul, with a three-year plan to bring experiential luxury retail to the city’s trendy Seongsu-dong district. The facade of the vast 1,700 sqm building features a metal mesh structure with a glass roof, recalling the company’s newly renovated headquarters at 30 Avenue Montaigne. The multi-storey boutique also features a cafe, where visitors can sup in front of a large digital screen that reproduces a trompe l’oeil replica of the gardens of Christian Dior’s childhood home in Granville, Normandy.

 

2/ Ader Space 3.0 - Sci-fi leap into the future

Ader Space - Photo by Latitude 37 for Cosmetics IC

location: 518-11 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu

product: contemporary streetwear, accessories , cafe

adererror.com


Known for bold and ultra-creative in-store experiences and conceptual fashions, Ader’s latest store, in the Sinsa-dong area of Gangnam district, takes a sci-fi leap into the future of multi-reality store design. Part retail store, part art gallery, Ader Error 3.0 is dedicated to the brand’s progressive vision and challenges customers to interact with their surroundings. A changing room can double as a noraebang singing room, another opens to a room with a bunk bed, fixtures and fittings move on demand, and to reach the cafe, visitors have to walk through a hotel-like hallway.

 3/ Uncommon - Cashless redesigned

Credit: Uncommon store - Photo Yongjoon Choi

location: The Hyundai Seoul, 108 Yeoui-daero, Sixth Floor

product: convenience store

@uncommonstore_official

 The ultimate convenience store- cashless, staffless and all app-controlled, Uncommon comes from local architecture and design studio Archi@Mosphere. Before entering the store, consumers download an app, and then scan their phones at the entrance. They can then shop snacks, drinks, fresh fruits and a selection of toiletries with the app taking control of all payments. The store interior is a mash-up of minimalist futurism with retro signage.

Our Inspiration Tours

We tailor every Inspiration Tour to our client’s exacting needs, so drop us a line today to take the next step on your inspiration journey.

Every tour is guided and comes with a complete book with description, addresses and inspiration seeds.

 

PARIS BEAUTY TOUR: 3 INDIE RETAIL SPOTS

Photo credits: Seasonly / Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation

Photo credits: Seasonly / Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation

While recent events have accelerated the digitalization of our lives, retail is still alive as consumers have not totally shifted to e-commerce. According to a recent survey Yougov for the French retail magazine LSA, close to 60 % of French consumers have modified their purchase habits since the quarantine. They are also privileging more local, neighborhood stores.

In Paris, new spaces are flourishing as the wave of Indie French Touch keeps blowing on the market. Discover three must-see spots in “la Capitale” that our team have enjoyed visiting:

SEASONLY - CLEAN AND CUSTOMIZATION

Photo credits: Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation

Photo credits: Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation

Ingredients, yes, but seasonal! A very “French Potager” approach for the latest indie brand Seasonly, born in 2018, with a range of “clean, healthy, seasonal” cosmetics. The brand is one of the more emblematic brands of “Indie French Touch”, with an uncompromising philosophy of “short formulas, with a blacklisted no-list of ingredients, all actives and sourced, in recycled and recyclable packaging.”

At the Galeries Lafayette d'Hausmann, this is the very first corner for the brand. Services include 15 to 60 minutes skincare sessions inspired by face gym in “Seasonly Skin Studio in bubble-cabins” with head massages, Gua Sha, and “Extras” for neck and décolleté. The corner also includes star products like the Huile de Nuit, a botanical concentrate of 14 super-ingredients, or the Anti-Grisaille Sérum.

❤️: Special mention to a very indie, pastel, cocooning approach.

Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann, 2nd floor - 40, Boulevard Haussmann, 75008 Paris

Rendez-vous sur place ou par téléphone au 01 42 93 20 28

https://seasonly.fr/

Horace - Frenchy Male Care

Photo credits: Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation

Photo credits: Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation

This is the first permanent store for the male skincare brand at the heart of the Marais, after promising beginnings in 2015. Pre and post-shaving care, high-end toothpaste, natural deodorants, male skincare … Horace is one of the pioneer French XY brands on the market, with 95% sourced from “natural ingredients”. In-store, service is truly made-to-measure for each skin type.

❤️: a sober yet high-end masculine decor, with the opportunity to try the brand’s very first perfume.

Horace 

68, rue Vieille du Temple, 75003 Paris

 L:A BRUKET - HYGGHE IN PARIS

Photo credits: Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation

Photo credits: Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation

After a first store in Saint Sulpice, the Swedish skincare brand is opening this second 50 square-meters location in the Marais. According to its name ( « Lilla Bruket » means “Little Workshop"), the store adopts a Scandinavian warm look, yet extremely minimalistic, to better reflect the sustainable philosophy of the brand: non-gendered, 100% organic and Swedish skincare.

❤️ : a millennial yet minimalistic architecture to best express sustainability, naturality, and no-waste.

L:A BRUKET

77 rue Vieille-du-Temple, 75003 Paris

www.labruket.com

Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation organizes Beauty Tours à Paris, and created a special Indie French Touch report book. Contact the agency for more information.
Follow the agency on Twitter ou Instagram: @cosmeticseeds

Photo credits: Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation