Beauty by Design

MAKEUP INSPIRED BY COCO'S PALACE

Karl isn't the only genius making women beautiful chez Chanel. For 25 years, the house's maquillage dream team has shared both the same business card and the same vision for the future of cosmetics. Dominique Moncourtois, international director of Chanel makeup creation, was trained by Coco herself when he joined Chanel, in 1969; Heidi Morawetz, director of the makeup studio (now housed in a new, light-filled aerie on the Place Vendome), has a background in art and design. Together, they are responsible for Star Products, the company's limited-edition gems that fuse high technology and haute couture. Entering what they call the age of "makeup fiction," they borrow techniques from the food, automobile, and aerospace industries to mimic iconic Chanel textiles, from interwoven satin ribbons to nubby tweed. The Coromandel lacquer screens that decorated Mile. Chanel's apartment have lent their chinoiserie motifs to exquisite, oneof-a-kind compacts, available now, featuring gold, black, and scarlet powders laser-cut into an elaborate scroll design. "It's a timeless pattern," says Morawetz, "but without modern technology and engineering, it would have been impossible. Having that allows us to dream."

CHRISTINE MUHLKE