Hermès Debuts Cosmetics Line with Expensive Lipstick
Luxury accessories and fashion brand Hermès is coming out the gate swinging for exactly the customer they want to buy their beauty products. The house of Hermès dubs this upcoming launch the sixteenth métier, Beauty, with its first collection, Rouge Hermès, devoted to the beauty of the lips. The man or woman that can afford a $67 tube of lipstick even if she/he can’t get on a Birkin waitlist or even afford an Hermes scarf, or can. WSJ dubbed it the Birkin Bag of Lipstick. This will be Hermès’ first foray into the competitive world of luxury beauty even though they already produce a perfume range.
The Rouge Hermès lipsticks collection produced in 24 shades will be available starting March 4 in selected Hermès stores and retail outlets in 35 countries. Hermès jewellery and Hermès shoes’ creative director Pierre Hardy designed the lipstick in collaboration with other creative directors under the Hermès organization umbrella. Just like its different leather finishes, the Rouge Hermès shades come in two textures: satin finish like its smooth calf leather bags, and matte finish. Rouge Hermès lipstick collection is created from noble materials – lacquered, brushed and polished metal in black, white or permabrass gold. In another nod to separate it from the luxury pack, the lipsticks are assembled by hand as well as being rechargeable (refillable). The inspiration for the Rouge Hermès lipsticks according to Bali Barret, artistic director of the women’s universe and creative director of women’s silk, was the brand’s métiers of Silk, archives of 900 leather shades and 75,000 infinite richness of its shades of colour references. Not interested in color? The line also includes lip care balm, universal lip pencil, Poppy lip shine and a lip brush.
“We approach this new métier in our own way, and with a great deal of pleasure. Hermès Beauty is part of who we are: a house where everything comes from creation, driven by artisans who seek to accompany the men and women of today with elegance, and with the integrity and authenticity that we represent. It is the quintessence of our affection for surprise and wonder, which embraces the object, its design, and the desire to be useful while inspiring dreams.” -Axel Dumas, CEO of Hermès
Hermès, one of the top and biggest luxury brands globally and makes most of its money from leather accessories, will rollout its beauty ambitions with a range of lipsticks, adding other products over time. In the luxury beauty/cosmetics category Hermès competition includes Chanel, Tom Ford, YSL, Sisley , Givenchy, Guerlain, La Prairie.
The fruit of design, research and development work initiated more than five years ago and directed by Agnès de Villers, CEO of Hermès Perfume & Beauty, in the spirit of excellence and the integration of know-how that characterises Hermès, Hermès Beauty is a collaborative creation under the aegis of Pierre-Alexis Dumas, artistic director of Hermès. The emblematic collection is accompanied by a twice-yearly limited edition of three colours. As beautiful inside as they are on the outside, Rouge Hermès objects cultivate sensory appeal and attention to detail, right down to a miniature version of the famous orange box.
Hermès Beauty will be enhanced with other objects, to be revealed every six months from September 2020, until a complete line of make-up is created.
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