Jonathan Anderson’s second Dior Men’s show on January 21 might have been one of the most talked-about moments of Paris Fashion Week Men’s. But a day later, across town in LVMH’s Avenue Montaigne HQ, a very different kind of event took place: the sophomore Dior Beauty Reverse Aging Board conference. Bringing together 19 global experts (12 biologists, four dermatologists, two botanists, and a social scientist) and key Dior executives, the event outlined the research and innovations Dior Beauty is focusing on through 2026 and beyond.
Launched in 2023, the Reverse Aging Board works with 600 researchers from across the world, to dive into the science of aging and inform future product innovations across the Dior Beauty product portfolio. The objective is to stay ahead of the beauty innovation cycle, as luxury consumers become increasingly interested in longevity and aware of innovations to slow down aging, from exosomes to NAD+. The first product using innovations inspired by the research will launch sometime this year.
“The objective [of the board] is to have the best of science that enables us to make products that will be the most performant for our clients. But on top of that, we’re also contributing to science that goes far beyond just cosmetics, by publishing and sharing our research with the medical community and bringing in experts that are not in the field of science,” says Marie Videau, research and innovation director for LVMH’s beauty division, speaking to Vogue Business exclusively during the event.
The programming also featured presentations from Dior Beauty president Véronique Courtois and Reverse Aging Board members including Vadim Gladyshev, professor at Harvard Medical School, and Karl Pays, global research director at LVMH Recherche, which conducts scientific research across topics from environmental impact to packaging innovation.
It’s not the first time LVMH has invested in anti-aging research. The group partnered with research firm Integrated Biosciences in 2024, to inform product innovation across its brands using biological research and AI to source chemical compounds that could modify age-related gene expression. But now, Dior Beauty — LVMH’s biggest beauty brand — has taken the research in-house, to focus on the specific needs of its consumers and focus on innovations that align with Dior Beauty’s product offering.
“For Dior Beauty, maintaining a leading position is a strategic priority, even with the proven success of its perfume and makeup businesses. Staying at the forefront of skincare research is essential to maintaining our scientific leadership, building lasting trust with our clients, and ensuring future growth, complementing our successes in other business segments,” says a Christian Dior Parfums and LVMH export.
The investment makes sense. A luxury name and a heritage status is not enough to stay ahead in today’s beauty market, as increasingly discerning consumers seek visible results through cutting-edge innovations, and as science-first challengers like Medik8 and SkinCeuticals capture market share. According to McKinsey, “scientifically tested and clinically proven results” and “approved by medical professionals” are the third and fourth most popular claims consumers look for, after “natural ingredients” and “no toxic/harmful ingredients”. Anti-aging is a priority: 97% of consumers surveyed by Vogue Business in March 2025 said they are concerned about aging. And as hyper-connected consumers become increasingly aware of the innovations available on social media, brands have to stay on top of what’s next.
“What our clients are looking for is real performance, but the idea for the Reverse Aging Board wasn’t born out of a marketing strategy. In order to make products to try to improve signs of aging, we first need to understand it,” Karl Pays, global research director at LVMH Recherche, tells Vogue Business.
The innovation push could help LVMH’s beauty division rebound, after a challenging period amid the broader luxury slowdown. In LVMH’s fourth-quarter earnings for fiscal 2025, perfumes and cosmetics sales fell 1%, as the group slowly rebounds. Investing in innovation will be crucial to drive growth looking ahead, analysts agree.
Other heritage brands are already tapping the opportunity. Armani Beauty and Chanel Beauty have also invested in scientific research in the last five years, to future-proof their brands and meaningfully enter the longevity conversation through new product development (NPD).
As part of its research, the Reverse Aging Board has established the “Skin Longevity Compass”, a case study that has used over 300,000 human cells and 12,000 genes to examine the factors of aging. The compass is made up of three categories: skin communication, skin infrastructure, and skin cell function, with respective sub-categories that focus on DNA damage, microbiome imbalance, inflammation acceleration, and cell communication alteration. Dior Beauty will use the findings to create or tweak formulas across its three skincare lines: Dior Capture (starts from £71), Dior Prestige (from £93), and L’Or De Vie (from £560).
Despite the buzz around the word longevity, using “reverse aging” was intentional. “Longevity is what we aim for and it’s the result, but reverse aging is how we do it, which is more about action. We want to be very precise about how we are going to do things, and we’re looking at reverse aging at a cellular, molecular, and tissular level,” says Videau.
The Dior Beauty Reverse Aging Board has established three hallmarks on aging in the skin. The first is circadian rhythms, the body’s 24-hour internal biological clock; the second is oxidative stress, a lack of antioxidants that can damage the skin; and the third is dermal matrix, which gives the skin collagen, elastic fibers and hyaluronic acid, these cells gradually lose their synthesis capacity over time. To reverse the process of aging, the board has found 39 markers that can start this process and will be added to any NPD coming out of Dior Beauty.
Science matters
The Reverse Aging board scientists have carried out tests on donors aged 25 to 80, analyzing more than 12,000 genes. Dior Beauty identified aging with four pillars: a chronological age, which is linked to the date of birth; subject age, how we feel inside; perceived age, the age that we reflect and people perceive us to be; and lastly, biological age, the age and health of our cells.
The Reverse Aging Board has also surveyed 5,000 women from across the world to supplement its research. The findings show that four out of five accept their age, but at the same time, 95% of women “feel younger than their appearance” and 73% admit to “prioritizing quality of life over just lifespan”. This means there’s still a strong appetite for anti-aging products and innovations from a consumer that’s aware of beauty market trends, but the messaging should be around self-acceptance and quality of life, over optimization at all costs.
“I believe what people really want is to age beautifully and our goal is not only to correct [existing] signs of aging, but also to slow down and even push to reverse the aging process. We’re in the development of creating active ingredients and disruptive formulas. Many people we spoke to said they don’t want to be betrayed by their physical appearance, and the age they have in their mind is not the same as their chronological age,” says Videau.
“Consumers are increasingly adopting long-term wellness and longevity strategies, reframing traditional notions of age from deficit-led ageism to empowered, positive aging. The Dior Reverse Aging Board reflects and informs the more holistic and proactive understanding of aging that extends beyond aesthetics,” says Fflur Roberts, head of luxury at Euromonitor International. “The Dior Reverse Aging Board sits at the intersection of beauty, science and health, supporting a more integrated skin-body-mind ecosystem.”
Communicating with consumers
The challenge for the Reverse Aging board — and any luxury beauty research lab — is keeping up with today’s consumer, while fighting misinformation online. “[Consumers] are more and more knowledgeable with social media networks, and there’s OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, meaning knowledge is just at our fingertips,” says Videau. “That has a major impact on our clients because sometimes that information is not correct. It’s very important for us to bring education into the products.” The brand also plans on making the Reverse Aging Board conference a recurring event, to share findings, NPD and insights with press and stakeholders.
Looking ahead, Dior Beauty’s research won’t just stop at skincare. Eventually, the research will be used across categories such as fragrances and makeup, Videau says. Longevity remains an umbrella for the experts to play with new ideas. “In longevity, there are some other dimensions that are very important, like psychological and social relationships, which have an impact on your longevity and are very important to us, because cosmetics act not only on the biology and the physiology of the skin, but also on your wellbeing and how you feel globally. This is an area that we need to dig into,” says Videau.
