Need to Know
17 : 04 : 23

US – The Italian luxury megabrand hash opened the Gucci Salon in Los Angeles, a lavish retail haven geared towards select VICs.

Gucci’s new retail space takes luxury stores to the next level with an experimental boutique imagined like a salon and only accessible by appointment to a small subset of top clients who will enjoy the ‘true one-off’ transformative and creative space. In the Gucci Salon, VICs will experience bespoke service and access limited editions of apparel, footwear, accessories and jewellery.

The next-gen store occupies a vine-covered building on the prestigious Melrose Place. It celebrates the local culture of Hollywood, with more locations around the world to be announced this year. ‘Disrupting the conventional language and experience of a boutique, each Salon proposes a personal universe, offering intimacy and discretion, for clientele invited by appointment,’ Gucci said in a statement. ‘It is a space for creative conversation, for exploration and indulgence.’

Gucci’s re-invention of the store as a guilded shopping haven taps into the Gated Retail microtrend, centred on exclusivity and immersive in-store experiences.

US – Good Weird is a newly launched brand based on a simple idea – beauty doesn’t have to be intimidating, complicated or gendered.

You won’t find 10-step tutorials and complex active ingredient lists on Good Weird’s social media. The brand is all about functional and genderless beauty, accessible and inclusive so anyone can feel confident to walk into the beauty aisle regardless of their identity, gender or beauty skills. Good Weird was launched in 2023 with three hybrid products at the intersection of skincare and cosmetics: the Back From Vacay cream bronzer, the Balmy Weather tinted face moisturising stick and the Cold Brew de-puffing eye serum. The products are intentionally multi-purpose, subtle and simple to apply.

Good Weird encourages its audience to be unapologetically themselves, embrace their quirks, and be more playful with wellness and beauty routines. It also enlisted Gen Z poster boy, actor, model and skateboarder Evan Mock as creative director.

From the genderless approach to the functional products and playful visual identity, Good Weird epitomises how Gen Z are re-inventing the beauty industry.

US – After surveying a representative sample of 6,610 US adults for its State of Workers 2023 report, business intelligence company Morning Consult revealed that 81% of Gen Z workers say they always, often or sometimes feel too tired after work to enjoy their personal life. Some 73% of all US workers surveyed share the same views, which means the youngest workers feel more fatigued after work than their elders.

The report also reveals that Gen Z workers are more likely than the average American worker to embellish how long it takes to complete tasks, use their phone or a work device for pleasure, leave or log off early, take longer breaks or call in sick when not unwell.

In our Work States Futures report, we examined how work-life balance is a priority for Gen Z employees who, for instance, prefer hybrid and remote working over any perks or opportunities to socialise at the office.