Lucia Pieroni is Chanel's new creative makeup director The British makeup artist officially joins the fashion house with her beauty line, which celebrates individuality, radiance, and faces meant to be revealed, not corrected

Chanel has chosen Lucia Pieroni as its new Creative Makeup Director. The makeup artist will officially join the maison in September 2026 and will work alongside the Makeup Creation Studio, reporting to Simona Cattaneo, President of Chanel Fragrance & Beauty. A new chapter for the brand’s beauty universe comes as the French maison redefines its creative language under the direction of Matthieu Blazy. “It is a great honor to have been chosen by Chanel,” Pieroni said, explaining that she looks forward to sharing her artistic vision with the maison’s creative team and opening a new chapter for its makeup. And if Pieroni’s name sounds familiar, that’s because it very much is. She began her career in London before moving to New York in 1995, where the makeup artist built a career across fashion, photography, art and beauty, working with some of the most important names in contemporary photography. Her training as a painter became an integral part of her approach. For her, the face is not a canvas to be corrected until it becomes unrecognizable, but a surface to observe, understand and enhance. From 2006 to 2019, she served as Creative Director of Makeup at Clé de Peau Beauté, part of the Shiseido group, developing a holistic vision of beauty. In the years that followed, she continued to work with photographers and designers, creating beauty looks for international runway shows, editorials and campaigns.

Makeup that starts with the person

Simona Cattaneo describes Pieroni as a creative capable of recognizing what makes each person unique and translating it into intuitive and expressive makeup. Alain Wertheimer and Leena Nair, respectively Global Executive Chairman and Global CEO of Chanel, have also highlighted her experience and intuition as qualities that will bring a new perspective to the maison’s makeup. In Pieroni’s work, makeup is not about constructing a standardized face, identical to the one seen in the previous campaign. Her artistic background is evident in her ability to work through subtraction and observation, bringing out what is already there. Skin, light, proportions, color and individual features become creative material. It is a sophisticated approach with little interest in the polished perfection that has dominated beauty, instead embracing recognizability, differences and imperfections. This is precisely the grammar that aligns with the contemporary idea of beauty as an expression of individuality, and that Pieroni will now bring to Chanel makeup.

The Matthieu Blazy connection

Pieroni already knows Chanel’s new creative direction very well. She has worked with Matthieu Blazy since his first collection as the maison’s Fashion Creative Director, presented in October 2025, creating the show’s beauty look. The result brought together feather-like lashes, glitter, golden pigments and sparkling red lips, creating a universe suspended between fantasy and reality. The looks created by the Blazy-Pieroni duo included fairytale references, marine influences and a wide range of ages and features. Chanel makeup thus became part of the show’s narrative without turning into a mask applied indiscriminately to everyone. From September, this collaboration will take on a new significance within the maison. Pieroni brings experience in photography, painting, fashion and the creation of beauty products, as well as decades of experience in building images and collections. What the first defining mark of her creative direction will be remains to be seen. The premise, however, is clear: Chanel is entrusting its makeup to a creative who places observation, color and individuality at the center of the process.