If you’ve been paying close attention to Chanel lately, chances are you’ve already admired Lucia Pieroni’s work.
The makeup artist has been behind the beauty accompanying Matthieu Blazy’s new vision for the house since his much-anticipated Chanel debut in October 2025. Now, Chanel has announced that Pieroni will officially join the house as Creative Makeup Director from September 2026, working alongside the Makeup Creation Studio and reporting to Simona Cattaneo, President of Fragrance & Beauty.
In other words, this isn’t so much our introduction to Pieroni’s Chanel as confirmation that we’re going to be seeing a lot more of it.
And that feels particularly exciting. As Blazy has begun writing a new chapter for one of fashion’s most recognisable houses, beauty has been part of establishing what his Chanel woman looks like, too. Pieroni has been instrumental in the process, creating makeup that feels in conversation with the clothes without ever competing with them.
There’s an ease to much of it. Skin remains skin, faces retain their character and colour feels considered rather than overly prescribed. But there’s room for play, too—a reminder that Chanel’s beauty codes may be storied, but they’ve never been static. It doesn’t get much more playful than the “sea urchin lashes” Pieroni crafted for Chanel Cruise 26/27.
Pieroni has spent decades working at the highest levels of fashion and beauty, beginning her career in London before moving to New York in 1995 and establishing long-running creative relationships with some of the industry’s leading photographers and designers.
Before makeup, however, there was painting. Pieroni trained as a painter, and that background offers an interesting lens through which to view her work: faces aren’t blank canvases to be perfected into uniformity, but individual studies in colour, texture, light and proportion.
It’s difficult to reduce her work to a single recognisable ‘look’, and that may be precisely the point. There’s an instinctive quality to the way Pieroni approaches beauty, with the person wearing the makeup remaining visible beneath it.
It’s a quality Chanel itself highlighted in announcing her appointment.
“Lucia possesses an extraordinary instinct for beauty,” Simona Cattaneo, President of Fragrance & Beauty at Chanel, said in a statement. “She perceives the individuality in every face and understands with precision how to reveal it, creating makeup that feels intuitive and expressive, while always celebrating singularity.”
Of course, Pieroni isn’t walking into a house without an established beauty language. Chanel makeup comes with some of the most recognisable signatures in beauty: red lipstick, luminous skin, elegantly defined eyes and colour used with confidence. Part of the intrigue surrounding her appointment is seeing how an artist with such an individualistic approach will interpret those signatures—and what new ones she might introduce.
Another example of the classic-with-a-twist balance Pieroni executes so well? A cherry red pout cloaked in finely-milled glitter.
“Being chosen to join CHANEL is a great honour,” Pieroni said. “I am thrilled at the opportunity to share my artistic vision with this unrivalled creative team at such a particularly exciting juncture in Chanel’s journey. I am excited to work with the teams to bring to fruition a new chapter in makeup for this iconic brand.”
Exactly what that chapter will look like remains to be seen. But Pieroni’s Chanel work so far gives us our first clue: beauty that feels considered without being overly controlled, expressive without obscuring individuality and intrinsically connected to the new creative language taking shape across the house.
We’ve already seen—and loved—the beginnings of it. Now, we’ll be watching closely for what comes next.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
We Put The Innovative Clarins Double Serum Foundation To The Test
Native ad body.
