Chanel’s lipstick range grew from 12 colors to 55, then shrank

A study of archived color charts traces how Chanel’s lipstick shades changed from 1960 to 2020.

Editorial illustration — not from the study.

Researchers analyzed complete archival charts covering 513 Chanel lipstick colors from 1960 to 2020. The range grew from 12 colors in 1960 to 55 in 2005, then became smaller; darker shades, including near-black colors, became prominent between 1995 and 2010.

The charts showed a continuing emphasis on yellowish reds, recurring highly vivid reds and relatively few bluish reds. Differences in shimmer, opacity and finish also helped distinguish lipsticks, but those features were not captured by the color-chart analysis.

How the shades changed

The study found that Chanel’s documented lipstick range expanded from 12 colors in 1960 to 55 in 2005 before contracting. Yellowish-red shades remained predominant across the period, with recurring highly vivid reds and comparatively few bluish reds. Color darkness generally increased after 1972, and near-black shades became prominent from 1995 to 2010.

Researchers analyzed 513 colors from the archival charts and assigned each a notation in the Natural Color System, a way of describing colors by hue, darkness and vividness. To assess whether the charts could represent the original products, they compared 146 surviving lipstick samples with their printed chart representations. The average color difference was 3.12, and 64.4% of the comparisons had a difference of 3 or less, while 85.6% had a difference of 5 or less.

Why the timeline matters

The work provides a Chanel-specific timeline of lipstick color and shows how archival commercial charts can support long-term studies of changing product ranges. It also identifies what such charts leave out: shimmer, opacity and finish can differentiate lipsticks even when their chart colors are similar.

Evidence and limits

This was an analysis of archival color charts, supported by measurements of 146 surviving lipstick samples and their corresponding printed representations. Some early lipstick specimens were no longer preserved, so the charts were used as proxies rather than direct measurements of every original product. The comparison found that the chart colors generally represented the surviving samples with limited to moderate differences, but the range was wide. The analysis also did not capture pearlescence, opacity or finish.

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