Story of MECCA
From one store to a global community. Here’s where you’ll find the story behind the story – the turning points, the bold leaps, and the brilliant humans who made MECCA what it is today.
2013: The beginning of an artful relationship
‘Melbourne Now’ – a landmark NGV exhibition celebrating contemporary Melbourne art, design and culture – marked the start of a long and beautiful partnership with the NGV. From there, came Gaultier-inspired windows that were bold, disruptive, and done on a shoestring.
Our windows became a canvas for creativity and culture, and the first Holiday Artist collaboration followed.
2013: The beginning of an artful relationship
‘Melbourne Now’ – a landmark NGV exhibition celebrating contemporary Melbourne art, design and culture – marked the start of a long and beautiful partnership with the NGV. From there, came Gaultier-inspired windows that were bold, disruptive, and done on a shoestring.
Our windows became a canvas for creativity and culture, and the first Holiday Artist collaboration followed.
2014: Expanding beauty and impact
We relocate our warehouse, tripling its size. We open our first Mecca Cosmetica flagship, relaunch MECCA COSMETICA Signature Line and launch mecca.com.au, bringing our three concept sites onto one with over 7,000 products and 100 brands!
We partnered with The Hunger Project (THP) to help women in the developing world become agents of change within their communities. Team members fundraised in stores. We sold bracelets made by the women we were supporting.
And as the cherry on top of an eventful year, Jo becomes the only Australian to feature in WWD’s 50 Most Influential People in Global Beauty.
2014: Expanding beauty and impact
We relocate our warehouse, tripling its size. We open our first Mecca Cosmetica flagship, relaunch MECCA COSMETICA Signature Line and launch mecca.com.au, bringing our three concept sites onto one with over 7,000 products and 100 brands!
We partnered with The Hunger Project (THP) to help women in the developing world become agents of change within their communities. Team members fundraised in stores. We sold bracelets made by the women we were supporting.
And as the cherry on top of an eventful year, Jo becomes the only Australian to feature in WWD’s 50 Most Influential People in Global Beauty.
2015: Queues for days!
10 stores open in six weeks.
And, we’re blown away by our customers’ love for Urban Decay. On launch day, the line wrapped around the block. Some queued for days, armed with folding chairs and playlists, just to get their hands on a Naked Palette.
Jo makes the WWD Beauty Inc’s 25 Most Innovative Beauty Executives list - bringing recognition beyond our shores.
2015: Queues for days!
10 stores open in six weeks.
And, we’re blown away by our customers’ love for Urban Decay. On launch day, the line wrapped around the block. Some queued for days, armed with folding chairs and playlists, just to get their hands on a Naked Palette.
Jo makes the WWD Beauty Inc’s 25 Most Innovative Beauty Executives list - bringing recognition beyond our shores.
Watch as Tanya Schultz (Pip & Pop) brings her kaleidoscopic artwork to life
2016: A continued collaboration
We collaborate with the NGV to elevate and spotlight the work of women artists, supporting their work within the gallery and bringing it to millions outside it through our bespoke Holiday packaging. Since 2016, this partnership has seen MECCA packaging transformed each year by the vision of remarkable women artists — from kaleidoscopic colour to bold textiles – always reminding us that beauty belongs in culture.
“Art, fashion and design have long been synonymous with beauty, inspiring so much of what we do at MECCA. Yet contemporary female artists are extraordinarily under-represented globally. Our MECCA x NGV holiday packaging partnership is about changing that. It's such a win-win-win situation - we can give our customers a visual treat, promote female artist's work, and raise awareness of their under-representation.” Jo Horgan
Watch as Tanya Schultz (Pip & Pop) brings her kaleidoscopic artwork to life
2016: A continued collaboration
We collaborate with the NGV to elevate and spotlight the work of women artists, supporting their work within the gallery and bringing it to millions outside it through our bespoke Holiday packaging. Since 2016, this partnership has seen MECCA packaging transformed each year by the vision of remarkable women artists — from kaleidoscopic colour to bold textiles – always reminding us that beauty belongs in culture.
“Art, fashion and design have long been synonymous with beauty, inspiring so much of what we do at MECCA. Yet contemporary female artists are extraordinarily under-represented globally. Our MECCA x NGV holiday packaging partnership is about changing that. It's such a win-win-win situation - we can give our customers a visual treat, promote female artist's work, and raise awareness of their under-representation.” Jo Horgan
The MECCA Memo goes live, bringing customers behind the scenes to hear from the best in beauty.
The first Aotearoa (New Zealand) MECCA MAXIMA opens in Christchurch.
2017: 20 years of beauty know-how bottled!
MECCA MAX, our signature makeup brand, debuts. We turn 20, and brands create MECCA20 exclusives. We also open our first standalone MECCA retail concept store, uniting our full brand line-up under one roof in a space designed to delight and inspire. Alongside this, we opened many more MAXIMA stores and our first Beauty Lab, bringing education right into the heart of our stores.
MECCA M-POWER launches, with a goal of supporting the secondary education of 10,000 girls by 2022.
From MECCA’s earliest days, Jo has been quietly supported by mentors - Mickey Drexler, Steve Bennett, Leonard Lauder. Inspired by their guidance, MECCA Mentors was born: a year‑long program nurturing young women across disciplines - from engineering and the arts to social impact and academia.
In 2017, emerging artist Atong Atem joined the program as a mentee, spotlighting MECCA’s belief in lifting voices across creative and community fields.
2017: 20 years of beauty know-how bottled!
MECCA MAX, our signature makeup brand, debuts. We turn 20, and brands create MECCA20 exclusives. We also open our first standalone MECCA retail concept store, uniting our full brand line-up under one roof in a space designed to delight and inspire. Alongside this, we opened many more MAXIMA stores and our first Beauty Lab, bringing education right into the heart of our stores.
MECCA M-POWER launches, with a goal of supporting the secondary education of 10,000 girls by 2022.
From MECCA’s earliest days, Jo has been quietly supported by mentors - Mickey Drexler, Steve Bennett, Leonard Lauder. Inspired by their guidance, MECCA Mentors was born: a year‑long program nurturing young women across disciplines - from engineering and the arts to social impact and academia.
In 2017, emerging artist Atong Atem joined the program as a mentee, spotlighting MECCA’s belief in lifting voices across creative and community fields.
