1.) Could Designer Maxime Simoens Be Headed for Dior?:
“After designing for the house of Leonard for a mere (one) season, designer Maxime Simoens is already headed for something new — though it’s not clear yet what that “something new” could be . . . However, if you believe the rumors, Simoens has also been in talks with Dior for the top spot as designer (currently, former Galliano collaborator Bill Gaytten is running the show.) That means he joins Raf Simons and Haider Ackermann in the long list of possible contenders for one of the most coveted positions in fashion.”
Mr. Simoens is the youngest member of the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture, the official trade body that governs the French haute couture industry — though Simoens is presently listed as a “guest” member and not yet an “official” member of the Chambre).
*NOTE 1: A guest member is invited by the Chambre to show on the haute couture schedule (though they’re not designated as a grand couturier), and if, after at least two years of bi-annual shows, the Chambre agrees that the guest member exhibits a sufficient level of consistent quality and execution, he/she can be elected to grand couturier (or so says Wikipedia).
Mr. Simoens was hired as creative director for French fashion brand Leonard in only October of last year, which is kind of a new speed-record for a designer to come and go from a label.
Maxime Simoens for Leonard Fall 2012 — a one-shot deal
Simoens insists that he left Leonard to concentrate on his own brand, which was already in existence when he signed on with Leonard, so it seems safe to assume that the rapid hello-goodbye act with Leonard wouldn’t be happening if there weren’t something larger on Simoens’ horizon — such as getting hired by Dior.
Adding fuel to the rumor fire, Fashionista.com reported that Dior will announce a new head designer by the time of the Fall 2012 haute couture shows in Paris this July.
2.) Marc Jacobs Wants to Make Money from Makeup:
“Marc Jacobs already takes care of all of our clothing, jewelry, scent, and handbag needs, we might as well let him take care of our faces too because that’s exactly what the fashion designer plans to do. Expanding his already far-reaching fashion empire, the designer is in the beginning stages of adding one more aspect into his design mix: a cosmetics line.”
Jacobs is in early talks with cosmetics chain Sephora to produce the line. Sephora is owned by French luxury conglomerate LVMH, which also owns a 96% stake in Marc Jacobs International, so the two brands are a natural, corporate fit.
But why a Marc Jacobs makeup collection now, especially after so many years without one? Probably because makeup collections are the new cash cows — especially nail polish and skincare, with WWD reporting that beauty retailers are launching their own branded lines of skincare in order to capture market share from already existing customers, with the NYTimes stating that department store brands have seen a 67% jump in sales of nail polish over the past year.
So why let that kind of business just pass you by?
Marc Jacobs Fall 2012 — equal parts whimsy and chutzpah
Besides, all the cool kids on the block are doing it — Burberry, Armani, Chanel, Dior, YSL, Tom Ford, Dolce & Gabbana. The Jacobs brand, with its global clout and world-recognized name, was looking increasingly like a less than big name player by comparison, especially after Ford — a much smaller though far more expensive and exclusive brand — so successfully (and only recently) expanded its small lipstick line into a full-on range of color cosmetics.
This could also be a test-case for how well an American fashion brand can penetrate the world of color cosmetics. All the existing fashion-designer brand ranges are French and Italian (well, except for Tom Ford, but he made his name at Italian brand Gucci, so he’s kind of an anomaly in that respect).
*NOTE 2: Prada had a limited skincare and color cosmetics line that launched in 2000 but eventually folded in 2007 due to lack of consumer interest. Which makes sense, because when I hear the name Prada, I don’t think “hydrating gel!”
I’m curious as to how the global cosmetics market will respond to an American color brand that doesn’t have the history and “heritage” of its French and Italian counterparts. But because Jacobs is so very distinctly American in his aesthetic, maybe that will be enough to help set his color cosmetics brand apart in what’s already a *very* crowded playing field at all price levels.
But with Sephora and LVMH at his back, it’s hard to see how such a project can fail, especially if he keeps his youthful Marc by Marc Jacobs clientele in mind and offers a subversively trendy cosmetics range at a lower price-point than the more staidly glamorous French and Italian competition.
If I were MAC, I’d be feeling a little nervous.
*RELATED: But you know who’s not feeling nervous about makeup competition? Dolly Parton, that’s who: “‘Someday I hope to have my own line of makeup and my own perfume. I would love to do that, that’s one of the things I have planned for the future,’ Dolly told CountryWeekly.com . . . ‘I’d like to get back into the wigs again, too/”
*NOTE 3: I almost kind of wish Marc Jacobs and Dolly Parton would collaborate on a joint cosmetics release. I can only imagine the whacked-out kind of Gay-Male New York + Big-Hair Nashville hybrid that would result.
Yeah, I don’t know why the Disney characters are in there, either
*In other Big Brand Beauty News: Coty tries to buy Avon — “When on Monday Avon Products Inc. rejected a $10 billion buyout offer from Coty Inc., it was more than just the latest hot news from the Street. The story resonates on multiple levels as, once again, another icon of American business culture may face extinction. Coty’s offer is just another reminder of how time-honored companies must somehow find a way to transform fabled legacies – a catalogue for Sears, a lady ringing a doorbell for Avon – in a world where people shop online, and where working women aren’t at home to answer that doorbell.”
Avon has been doing poorly for the last several years, losing millions in revenue and its stock price plunging, but 80% of its sales revenue comes from overseas markets, and Coty sees that as a very desirable foot in the international door-to-door (if you know what I mean).
Coty is known mostly for its celebrity perfumes (Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Madonna, David and Victoria Beckham) but it’s been buying up smaller skincare and color cosmetics companies lately, and while 90% of Coty’s sales presently come from Europe and the US, Coty views the purchase of Avon as a means to expand their product offering away from an over-reliance on perfume sales while also breaking into lucrative markets like Brazil and China.
*NOTE 4: Perfume is still a profitable market, but it’s good business sense not to put all of your eggs in just one basket. See: Perfume chain’s survival at risk as sales evaporate
Here’s some more information about the mutual benefit of a partnership between Coty and Avon from the Businessweek article, Coty Prefers Closely Held Structure for Avon Turnaround: “Coty and Avon agreed that a combination makes some strategic sense, with Avon bringing skin care and make-up to Coty’s perfume-focused offerings, along with an entry into Brazil and other developing markets, the people said. Coty sells to a range of retailers including upscale department stores and mass merchants. Avon would get access to Coty’s marketing and research and development resources, along with some higher-end Coty products its representatives could sell.”
Another surprisingly big perfume and skincare player in Brazil is Tupperware — yes, you read that right, I said Tupperware: “After realizing about a decade ago that consumers in the region spent more than 20 times on beauty products than they did on containers for leftovers, Tupperware altered its strategy. In 2005, it bought six beauty brands, spending $557 million. Since then, the beauty business has quietly grown to account for 26% of Tupperware’s total revenue . . . about half of Tupperware’s $711 million in sales in Latin America alone came from the beauty products category.”
The article points out that the direct-sales model of companies like Avon and Tupperware is the most successful for Brazil because #1) there’s a lack of retail space outside of major urban areas, and #2) the country’s women are looking for ways to earn an income.
Classic Avon commercial from 1962
*Since we mentioned perfume: Thar she spews! Synthetic whale vomit could shake perfume industry — “Researchers at the University of British Columbia identified a gene in balsam fir trees that could eliminate the need for ambergris — a strong perfume fixative created from a regurgitated mixture of seashells, fish bones and a sticky inner-stomach substance that turns into a rock-like object once it reacts with sea water.”
To be frank, synthetic ambergris substitutions are old news, with synthesized ingredients like ambrettolide, ambrinol, ambroxan and ambroxide already seeing well-established use in perfumery. What’s interesting here is the isolate compounding from the balsam fir tree, which means there could (potentially?) be a substitute for the rare and expensive ambergris that’s still natural but much less expensive (if I’m reading the article right).
But the article linked above makes some weird scare-quote points about whales being in danger from the insatiable desire for natural ambergris in perfumes — which hasn’t been a concern in decades (at least).
Natural ambergris is, as previously noted, much too rare and expensive to be used in any mass-market sense (plus there’s already plenty of synthesized substitutes), so only independent perfumers with limited market penetration use the real thing.
And since the majority of genuine ambergris is harvested once it washes up on beaches instead of being taken directly from the animal (ambergris has also been called floating gold because it can be found floating in the ocean, too — in fact, it’s only after “weathering” in the sunshine and ocean water for months to years that ambergris “matures” and becomes valuable), I’m not exactly certain why the headlines for this discovery are as weirdly “SAVE THE WHALES!” as they are.
Maybe because most journalists don’t know how to use Google . . . ?
*UPDATE: Tania Sanchez (of Perfumes: The A-Z Guide) weighed in on the matter with an appropriately frustrated tone:
*Sperm Whaling: “Sperm whaling is the hunting of sperm whales for a substance called spermaceti which was used in cosmetics, leatherworking, and lubricants . . . By the early 1740s, with the advent of spermaceti candles (before 1743), American vessels appear to have begun to take sperm whales in earnest . . . Sperm whaling increased until the mid-19th century, as spermaceti oil was important in public lighting (for example, in lighthouses, where it was used in the United States until 1862, when it was replaced by lard oil, which was quickly replaced by petroleum) and for lubricating the machines (such as those used in cotton mills) of the Industrial Revolution. Sperm whaling declined in the second half of the 19th century, as petroleum and other products began to replace spermaceti.”
*Spermaceti: “Spermaceti forms brilliant white crystals that are hard but oily to the touch, and are devoid of taste or smell, making it very useful as an ingredient in cosmetics, leatherworking, and lubricants. The substance was also used in making candles of a standard photometric value, in the dressing of fabrics, and as a pharmaceutical excipient, especially in cerates and ointments.”
So this mild journalistic freakout (57 articles in three days, by my count) about a new substance to replace ambergris in perfumes (which is barely used anymore except by very small brands and independent perfumers) that can stop the evil sperm whaling industry in its tracks (an industry already well into kaput-land, and which didn’t thrive on the trade of ambergris in the first place) is, as Sanchez stated, exceptionally lazy.