The Beijing Trip: Day One

[HI, EVERYONE. I'M IN HONG KONG WHERE I CAN FINALLY ACCESS THE LANCOME BLOG! THANKS FOR ALL THE GREAT COMMENTS. BEIJING WAS AMAZING. IF YOU'RE IN HONG KONG, WE'D LOVE TO SEE YOU THURSDAY NIGHT AT THE LANCOME BOUTIQUE IN FESTIVAL WALK.]



Bye, San Francisco. Michelle sleeps most of the flight, lucky girl. I try to sleep a bit, but wind up reading most of the flight. The movie selection is terrible for a 12-hour international flight! I was hoping to catch up on the 2010 movies I missed. Oh well.



A day later, we arrive at the sprawling Beijing Capital International Airport. I’m scanning the arrivals section for our driver when suddenly we hear, “Hello, Kerry! Hello, Michelle!” It’s Jerome, the head of PR for Lancôme China. He and his team have come all the way to the airport to greet us in person. How lovely. We don’t know this today, but by the end of the trip, we will both adore Jerome and be genuinely sad to say goodbye. Slender, funny and fashionable, Jerome seems to have learned everything he knows about America from “Sex and the City” and “The Amazing Race.” He quickly establishes that his favorite SATC character is Samantha. We pile in our min-van and head to our hotel, The Opposite House.



The Opposite House is so fabulous. If you ever visit Beijing, don’t stay anywhere else. It’s airy, modern, filled with art and populated with fashionable young Beijingese and visiting Westerners. I'm really amazed. I had no idea what to expect in Beijing, but this wasn't it. Maybe this isn't representative of the entire city, but there is a lot of energy here.



Each member of the bell staff has a cool hairdo and wears Adidas Sambas. Fonzi, with his John Mayer hair, is assigned to me and my suitcase. “Fonzi? Like ‘Happy Days’?” I ask. “Yes. It’s my nickname.” I love the hotel, but what blows my mind is opposite Opposite House. An indoor/outdoor luxury shopping mall called The Village. There’s Balenciaga, Balmain and, coming soon, Lanvin and Isabel Marant. Holy high roller. It’s like Vegas. Where is all this money coming from? I knew there was a luxury revolution underway in China, but I didn’t expect this.



Jerome takes us to dinner at China Grill, a restaurant on the 66th floor of the Park Hyatt Beijing hotel with panoramic views of the sprawling city. Dinner is nice, but I feel body slammed by the jet lag. Back in the mini-van, I yawn uncontrollably. Jerome has kindly kitted out my room with Lancôme makeup and skincare, incuding my fave, Secret de Vie. I brush my teeth, wash my face and slather on a luxurious amount of moisturizer. I’m more miserly with it back home because it’s so expensive, but all that airplane air is killer on your complexion. I look at the latest version of our itinerary and see the next four days are PACKED with editor meetings, magazine shoots and a big Teint Miracle event. We are going to be busy, but we’re excited to be here, thousands and thousands of miles from home. I log on for a quick look at Facebook and Twitter and IT’S BLOCKED! Oh my. No social media for a few days. My head hits the pillow and I’m asleep within seconds.



Photos: Michelle at the airport, soda machine, statues in the hotel lobby, Jerome checking on the Teint Miracle event location, The Opposite House lobby.

Remembering Mr. Penn

I was saddened to read that Irving Penn passed away yesterday. For those not familiar with Mr. Penn, as he was called, he was one of the most amazing photographers around. He was a regular contributor to Vogue for decades and was known for both his engaging portraits and elegant still-life work. I loved seeing his pictures that accompanied the beauty articles in Vogue. (In fact, if I remember correctly, the bee-stung lip photo above accompanied an article about lip injections written by pre-"Sex and the City" Candace Bushnell. And I think the makeup was by Kevyn Aucoin. Please post a comment if this isn't correct or if you know who the model was!)

Our Sandy Linter worked with Mr. Penn on dozens of shoots with several supermodels, including Janice Dickinson, Kim Alexis, Patti Hansen, Kelly LeBrock and even Gia Carangi. Her favorite assignment with him was a rare trip to Paris (Mr. Penn prefered shooting in his studio over traveling to locations) with model Rosie Vela to photograph the Paris collections. "It was hot, no air-conditioning. I remember his wife, Lisa Fonssagrives, visiting the studio. She was tall, gray hair. Gorgeous."

Mr. Penn could be tough on models. "He wanted visually to get the girl off guard, but to catch her at her most beautiful," recalls Sandy. "He was hard on them because they had to hold the pose. They always had to be thinking. If they went vacant, he knew it."

"He did everything he wanted to on his own terms," said Sandy. "He was an artist."