Past Special Exhibitions

The Excitement of Lipstick
— Color, Form, Spirit

September 4th (Tue), 2012 to March 24th (Sun), 2013

This exhibition highlighted the exciting appeal of lipstick. Lipstick can be considered the most striking and important element of women's makeup. Even just a little bit of lip coloring can lend an “adult” sophistication to the face of a child, make an otherwise ordinary day a little more special, bring diverse expressions to a woman's face, and even embolden her spirit. This exhibition presented these appealing aspects of lipstick visually, through displays designed to be reminiscent of shop display windows. Organized around the three themes of Lipstick Colors, Lipstick Shapes, and Lipstick & Spirit, it focused on the beauty of lipstick itself, but also explored some of the unseen relationships women have with their lip colorings. It also included hands-on displays where visitors could explore the pleasures of lipstick experientially, including a corner for trying on various lipstick shades and computerized tablet stations for simulating different makeup approaches.

With the Beauties of
Those Years, In Those Times

May 8th (Tue) to September 2 (Sun), 2012

Over the years Shiseido has created so many images of female beauty.

Celebrating its 140th anniversary this year, Shiseido can look back on all that has happened in the world over those many decades. In the years from the Great Kanto Earthquake to the late 1920s, women's lives changed radically as their range of activities broadened and many joined the workforce. Shiseido stepped up to meet these changes, offering such innovations as “speed makeup,” which could be applied quickly before leaving the house, and “three-dimensioning” makeup.

Having moved past the difficult post-war years, by the 1960s the world was changing conspicuously again, and with it women embraced new hopes and new vitality in their lives as they looked outward and forward more than ever. As Japan marched steadily toward renewal and prosperity, Shiseido was there again promoting new lifestyles, fashions, and makeup for the new era.

This exhibition reproduced women's styles from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s and brought many of the brilliant female figures of those times into striking relief.