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Beauty has moved firmly into the luxury realm. Designer fashion brands see an opportunity to delve deeper into the category, and industry stalwarts are tapping into their highest-spending customers with more elevated products. What comes next?
The Vogue Business Executive Summit invited two leaders from different corners of beauty to discuss their visions for the next chapter of a dynamic and fast-growing industry.
Estée Lauder’s senior VP of luxury brands group Kendal Ascher: Leaning into ultra-luxe
Kendal Ascher, Estée Lauder’s senior vice president of luxury brands group and general manager of La Mer and Darphin Paris, North America, sees an opportunity to lean further into products and services that promote better health, especially as consumers view wellness through a more sophisticated lens that encompasses not just physical appearance but also mental health. “Luxury products are about feeling good from the inside out,” he says in conversation with senior retail, marketing and beauty editor Kati Chitrakorn.
Physical retail spaces are rebounding post-lockdown and consumers are looking for services beyond just the product. Fragrance label Frédéric Malle, owned by the Estée Lauder Companies, offers hour-long consultations at its freestanding stores, where consumers can create their own fragrance, while skincare brand La Mer now offers facials in some stores, although a majority remain off-site. These experiences require “commitment”, and it’s one that the luxury shopper is willing to make, he says.
Fragrance is emerging as a high-growth driver across beauty, and ELC is well placed to tap into the opportunity across all of its brands, says Ascher. He cites Jo Malone, whose unique proposition of fragrance mixing, matching and layering is “spiking growth”, as well as Tom Ford’s ability to create the most expensive fragrances on the market, because of the rare ingredients used and its alignment with luxury fashion, which is driving “great momentum”.
Ultra-luxe skincare, priced between $500 and $900, is another area of growth going into 2024, Ascher forecasts. La Mer was among the first to put a $1,000 cream on the market, he says, but there’s room for more brands to play in this space. “Consumers have done their homework. They know the research that’s involved. They’re interested in the long-term health of their skin and they’re buying these products.”
Regardless of pricing, the key is to build an authentic connection with consumers. ELC-owned premium fragrance brand Kilian, founded by Kilian Hennessy, stands out by showing up at “some of the coolest places” such as the Cannes Film Festival or Paris Fashion Week, says Ascher. “While it may not be at the fashion show, it’s at the afterparty, [which] is where you have a lot of the younger generation [who] want to get [past] that red velvet rope. Kilian shows up in a nightlife scene, at music events, in New Orleans, in LA — if there’s something cool happening, Kilian will be there.”
That aligns with Kilian’s DNA of “owning the night”, he explains, emphasising the importance of staying true to one’s self. “A brand can’t be everything to everybody. Those in the know will find the brand because it’s where it’s supposed to be. Anyone can have access to the brand, but it’s specific. You almost have to find it, in the right moment, in the right place.”
Victoria Beckham Beauty CEO Katia Beauchamp: Beauty born from luxury fashion
When Victoria Beckham decided to take her fashion brand’s fledgling beauty business to the next level, she tapped Katia Beauchamp, the co-founder of beauty subscription service Birchbox. Beauchamp joined as CEO of the brand in 2022, three years into Beckham’s beauty launch.
“I started looking at what were opportunities to build the business faster,” Beauchamp tells Paris correspondent Laure Guilbault during the summit. “And there were just so many, it was so clear that we could really step on the gas, which is actually a term Victoria likes to say a lot. I think we are both just incredibly ambitious and also incredibly competitive. So, it’s a good match. But the thing that I really like about it is this guardrail of never going fast at a compromise. ‘We can execute it excellently’ is the guardrail that calibrates how fast we can go.”
The pair have certainly not wasted any time. After makeup and skincare, the brand has just launched its fragrance category, which Beauchamp spearheaded in record time. “We decided that we were going to make it happen this year, and that’s something as an independent company we could decide.”
The launch coincided with the brand’s Spring/Summer 2024 show, underscoring the bridge between beauty and fashion within the brand. “Victoria Beckham has had a fashion house now for 14 years,” says Beauchamp. “Victoria is not a makeup artist so it’s so critical that we showcase that this idea, these concepts, this inspiration is being born from luxury fashion,” Beauchamp says.
As co-founder of Birchbox, which delivers a monthly batch of beauty samples, Beauchamp revolutionised the way beauty products are discovered. (Beauchamp exited the company in 2021; the company has since changed ownership hands several times.) Is sampling an important part of Victoria Beckham Beauty’s strategy?
“The first time we had the opportunity to really make a plan for sampling was with fragrance. We have an internal KPI that we call ‘scent reach’, that you can accomplish from so many different ways like gorilla scenting, the show, hotels and sampling is a massive part of it. Knowing that our distribution is extremely selective we have to lower the barrier to get you to smell the fragrance... Because of my background, of course, my focus is conversion.”
The executive told Vogue Business earlier this year that the brand is eyeing $100 million in sales. What’s the timeline? “That was earlier this year and it s been an incredible year. Like I said, it’s well within reach, which continues to be exciting and surreal but trust me when I say that is not the end. We are very much in the early days.”
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