The golden hour in the crown of the alps – Captivating, enthralling, the soaring majesty of the Swiss Alps awes. Their ancient minerality, their eternal snowy mantel, their lofty summits all conspire to strike with wonder the hearts of those who have the fortune to gaze upon them.
And yet this beauty reaches even greater heights when the sun begins to sink low in the sky, when its rays stretch and sweep across the mountain face. It is a moment when beauty imposes itself – undeniable. It is an instant that emits an understated resplendence – a radiance like no other. Fleeting, it is the hour when beauty is elevated to grace – the grace of the golden hour in the crown of the Alps.
THE PURE GOLD DIFFUSION SYSTEM
Inspired by this eeting moment, La Prairie seeks to recreate its unique radiance and impart it to theskin. The house aspires to imbue skin with resplendence, as if lit from within.
One precious, rare ingredient can transmit this undeniable beauty: gold. A noble metal, its warm,attering lustre withstands the passage of time, steadfast, persisting. It bestows its radiance in glowingpeaks.
Gold is endowed with unique properties found in no other mineral. Its incomparable hue is due to its electrons that absorb energy-rich blue light and re ect complementary yellow light as a warm tone,similar to that found in radiant skin.
Yet gold’s lustre is not only re ective. At the submicron scale, a large fraction of gold atoms areconcentrated at the gold particle’s surface, allowing for the attachment of active ingredients. These active ingredients are then released from the gold particles in a time-controlled manner when they interact with the skin, providing a steady diffusion of actives particularly well-suited to devitalised skin– skin that is fragile, thin, dry, rough and dull, de cient in nutrients. Both environmental conditions andphysiological changes can contribute to this delicate state. When skin is devitalised, it becomes less receptive to nutrients, leading to a slowing down of renewal processes.
To address this particularity of devitalised skin, La Prairie has developed a new and exclusive Pure Gold Diffusion System, designed to provide immediate radiance and sustained delivery of two key replenishing ingredients to help compensate for the loss of receptiveness of the skin. The Pure GoldDiffusion System works in a three-peak action sequence. First comes the immediate deposition of goldparticles on the skin’s surface to offer the look of instant radiance. An intense infusion of replenishing active ingredients in the free form follows.
Upon application, they immediately penetrate the skin and initiate skin nourishment and revitalisation. Finally, a steady release of the replenishing active ingredients attached to submicron gold particlescompletes the sequence. Once released, they penetrate into the skin in a delayed infusion to ensurethat optimal levels are maintained in the skin and further support long term skin reconstruction.
Skin is left feeling revitalised, replenished, enriched.
THE PURE GOLD RITUAL
The multi-sensory experience of the Pure Gold Collection begins with the scintillating formula of thePure Gold Radiance Concentrate. A rich uid, it glistens with the promise of the sumptuous sensationto come. Drop by drop, it melts into the skin, leaving the slightest hint of pure gold resplendence. The snowy opalescence of the Pure Gold Radiance Cream and Pure Gold Radiance Eye Cream undulates in soft peaks, hinting at the richness contained within. Each Pure Gold Collection creation is imbued witha delicate scent conceived to capture the unique fragrance of Switzerland’s soaring summits at dusk.
The delicate signature fragrance of the Pure Gold Collection sets the tone for a resplendent experience,while the Pure Gold ritual provides both an immediate glow and long-term skin bene ts, with threedistinctive formulas designed to infuse the grace of the golden hour. The skin is instantly imbued with the look of healthy youthful resplendence, as if lit from within. Over time, its overall structure is improved. Splendour is restored and the impact of environmental and physiological changes is mitigated.
With the Pure Gold Collection, the skin appears revitalised, replenished and enriched – diffusing the grace of the golden hour.
AN ARTISTIC CONTEMPLATION OF TIME AND SPACE
Between abstraction and guration, Hong Kong born artist Carla Chan creates escapist experiences,projecting the spectator into a sensorial world in which movement predominates. The artist’s subjectof predilection – nature – is for her an in nite source of inspiration that she brings to life in installationsthat oscillate from real to imaginary. To achieve this, she plays with the notion of time, the essential component of her artistic practice.
On the occasion of her collaboration with La Prairie, Carla Chan was invited for a unique artist residency – the rst of its kind for the Swiss luxury house – amidst the pristine Swiss landscapes facing the magni cent Matterhorn: The Monte Rosa Hut.
An architectural jewel in the heart of the Swiss Alps, the hut welcomed Carla to re ect on this majesticenvironment, the theatre of countless variations of landscapes living with the rhythm of nature and thecycles of light. Named ‘Rock crystal’ for its re ective aluminium exterior walls, the hut subtly blends its modernist lines with the alpine peaks. This fascinating edi ce designed by ETH Zurich – which La Prairie has supported since 2019 – is energy self-suf cient, making it a symbol of environmentalism.
For La Prairie, the artist captured and recreated the golden hour: that moment that signals the close of day, in which light transcends the landscape in a glowing choreography of colours. The idea was to capture the movement of time, revealed by the curve of the light. By turns gentle, revealing, radiant, and all-encompassing, it simmers to a golden glow just before sunset. Simultaneously, shadows dance andrede ne the space before disappearing.
It is this moment when all lines are trans gured by the golden beams of light that Carla Chan showcasesin her installation commissioned by La Prairie: Space between the Light Glows. By recreating the golden hour, Carla Chan offers a moment of profound beauty that invites contemplation. Time and space merge, providing a sense of the eternal.
Photos: ©La Prairie