On Sept. 17, “Byrdie Beauty Lab—a daylong celebration of beauty—offered soothing options like Skin Gym facial massages and Stretch’d body work, gratis full-sized products, baby hair styling with Baby Tress and Rëzo, and tons of insightful panels and masterclasses," said Gould. "It really did feel like there was something for everyone."Photo: Sean T. Smith/David Nicholas
NEW YORK—The content platform Byrdie is all about empowering its readers to find confidence, community, and joy through beauty and style—and as in-person gatherings return, the time was right for the brand to go from "URL to IRL," explained Hallie Gould, the website's senior editorial director.
“Put simply, we love connecting with the Byrdie community in real life," she said about the brand's recent Byrdie Beauty & Style Lab, which was held at New York’s Chelsea Industrial from Sept. 16-17. Gould described the two-part event series as "an immersive experience for our beauty and fashion super fans, [where] they all had the chance to meet, learn, and have genuine fun with beauty and clothing.”
The multilayered event, produced by Stoelt Productions, transformed the 22,000-square-foot venue into a beauty- and fashion-lover's paradise. It kicked off with an evening Style Lab, a VIP cocktail party featuring curated looks situated on a 30-foot floral runway, along with closets featuring fashion picks from Byrdie's editors. Day two, meanwhile, was the consumer-focused Beauty Lab, boasting 12 exclusive experiences and services from brands. The seven-hour event took on a hybrid format, with livestreams of the day's five panel discussions.
"We wanted Byrdie readers to come for the free products, and stay for the connection with other beauty and style obsessives—to feel happy, seen, and whole," Gould said. "Our readers are interesting, fun, thoughtful, and diverse, and we wanted to meet them and for each one of them to meet each other—while sipping and dancing or massaging and candle-making.”
Gould advised other event professionals in the beauty and fashion space to remember that, while everyone is eager to connect in-person again, hosts should also be conscious that consumers have gotten used to not attending events. "Event hosts should definitely take that into consideration," she said. "Every event should be fun and offer some kind of lasting takeaway, whether it’s a media-only launch or fully public experience."
Stoelt Productions CEO Matt Stoelt, meanwhile, sees the industries leaning heavily into digital media and experiential right now. "With the recent explosion of beauty and fashion trends on TikTok, Instagram, and other social media platforms, consumers are eager to get their hands on these brands and try them out for themselves," he noted. "More than ever, sampling and providing access to these brands and their creators have immense value. Both masterclasses and 'how to' sessions seem to resonate both IRL and in the virtual space."
Scroll down to see inside the photo-friendly, two-part event, along with more smart insights from Gould and Stoelt.
He added, “With this being a fall event, we knew we wanted to do something unique, exciting, and aligned with the event's creative, leaning into a somewhat ombre palette with deeply saturated colors and a mix of bright pops of color. This approach allowed us to use not only the florals across both events, but also throughout the activations as well."
Added Stoelt, “DJ Niks played for the duration of the event, and Pinch Catering took care of food and beverage."
Since the gathering came on the heels of New York Fashion Week, the team wasn’t able to take over the venue until the first day of the event—which led to what Stoelt called a “daunting scenario” with same-day load-in. “To overcome this challenge, we split the venue into three main areas, utilizing two of the three for the Friday event, allowing us to continue setup in the third space throughout the day and late into the night to be prepared for Saturday morning,” he noted.
One example of that creative collaboration was StriVectin's activation, which utilized "the very popular, Instagram-centric, midcentury, pink ‘ultrafragola’ mirror with a decal quote, 'You are more than your reflection,'" said Stoelt, adding the guests could take a picture and get a full-sized product sample.
“The livestream was viewed as an extension of the IRL event, giving those unable to attend the event in New York an opportunity to participate. The four-camera setup was utilized for the livestream, image, and content capture,” he explained. “I think brands learned during the pandemic about the value of offering a livestream option and capturing and repurposing this content for social channels and future use.”
"Long before the pandemic, we’ve always encouraged our clients to offer not only a livestream option but also rich and robust content capture,” Stoelt continued. “As the industry continues to emerge from virtual to IRL, brands are conscious about offering a virtual option. The Byrdie team always does an incredible job of putting together exciting and insightful panels, and I think that, without question, it’s a miss not to offer a virtual option.”
