Luxe lippies
Dab on a touch of luxury with Hermes' new lipsticks, as the French brand joins a growing list of fashion houses that have branched out into beauty.
Owning a piece of Hermes just got a lot more affordable. You will have to flaunt it on your lips and not your arm, though.
On March 4, the French luxury house, which got its beginnings in 1837 crafting leather harnesses, launched its first beauty line worldwide. Five years in the making, Hermes Beauty debuted with a line of sleek $103 lipsticks in 24 shades.
Also included in the lip range, called Rouge Hermes, are a lip balm ($103), lip shine ($103), lip pencil ($57), lip brush ($120) and three limited-edition 2020 Spring-Summer lipsticks ($111).
Compared with the brand's iconic Birkin bag, whose price tag can go into hundreds of thousands, it is almost a steal.
The hotly anticipated launch comes almost 200 years after Hermes' founding. But, "in a way, beauty has always been there", creative director Jerome Touron, 42, tells The Straits Times in an e-mail interview.
Beauty can be found in all other aspects of the brand - from the bags to silk accessories to shoes, he says. "So to me, make-up is a natural continuation, a new expression of Hermes' idea of beauty."
Behind Hermes Beauty is a collective comprising Mr Touron; Mr Pierre Hardy, creative director of Hermes Jewellery and shoes; Ms Bali Barret, artistic director of the brand's women's universe; and Ms Christine Nagel, the house's perfumer.
The collective is supervised by Mr Pierre-Alexis Dumas, artistic director of Hermes.
Mr Hardy designed the weighted metal lipstick tubes, Ms Barret lent her understanding of femininity and colour, and Ms Nagel created the slight fragrance scenting each lipstick.
"I am the 'eye' - my role is to shape the vision of this new territory and create the colours, textures and gestures of make-up to reflect the spirit of Hermes Beauty," adds Mr Touron, who previously worked for the make-up creation studios at Chanel and Dior.
They chose to debut with the lipstick because it has the ability to reveal personality in a few seconds, or just one application, he says. "In a way, it exemplifies our conception of beauty: to reveal, not to transform."
The 24 lipstick shades were handpicked from 75,000 existing colour swatches from Hermes' silk library. Mr Touron then imagined the two finishes of the lipsticks "in resonance with certain finishes of leather" - matte lippies evoking the soft, velvety feel of Doblis calfskin; the satin ones inspired by luminous box leather.
"An Hermes object is as beautiful inside as outside," he adds.
Certainly, the lacquered lipstick tubes the brand calls "objects" are collectibles in themselves. Topped with the house's seal and designed to be sustainable, they contain refillable twist-up bullets that cost $62 apiece.
Seasonal shades, with their distinct colour-blocking, will receive new special packaging.
Hermes is among the latest in a growing list of luxury fashion brands branching out into cosmetics.
In the same week, British high fashion house Jimmy Choo debuted a capsule of lipsticks, nail polishes and fragrances exclusively at London's luxury department store Harrods.
Retail experts believe that beauty lines boost awareness of a luxury brand, offering an entry point that will help build future brand loyalty.
Dr Lynda Wee, adjunct associate professor at Nanyang Technological University's Nanyang Business School, notes that luxury houses diversify into diffusion lines with the aim of becoming a lifestyle brand - to sell more to the same customers.
"It goes beyond a mere category such as leather goods. Since customers trust and enjoy using the brand, it makes sense to dress them from head to toe, meeting their lifestyle needs."
Offering products with different purchasing cycles also keeps customers going back. "One may not buy a handbag every month, but lipstick is a more frequent purchase," says Dr Wee.
It also attracts a new target market. For example, younger customers who might not be able to afford the brand's core offerings may still want to try its other products, says Associate Professor Li Xiuping from the National University of Singapore Business School.
Hermes Beauty's launch includes three leather accessories made by Hermes artisans - a lipstick case with mirror ($790), a pop-up lipstick case ($3,050) and a mirror accessory ($1,100).
Prof Li adds: "Over time, they can become loyal to the brand and gradually buy up. This is a way for brands to be connected to their customers earlier."
In Singapore, Hermes Beauty joins the other luxury beauty lines like Chanel Beauty and Burberry Beauty. While the beauty industry, too, has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the launch of Hermes Beauty seems to have proceeded with few bumps.
The lip products are sold out on the Singapore website, with some shades still available in stores.
When The Straits Times visited the Liat Towers store on March 11, make-up tables had hand sanitisers, denatured alcohol and disposable lip brushes. It seemed to be business as usual, with customers asking to test lipsticks on the back of their hands.
But such brand extensions can be a double-edged sword, says Prof Li. "If anything negative happens to the new product, the well-established original brand image will be jeopardised."
Brands must also not lose focus of their flagship product category when branching into others, warns Dr Wee, or they risk losing brand integrity. "Whatever the luxury brand promises in their spirit, all their products should reflect that same spirit," she adds.
Asked how the collective might ensure that Hermes Beauty does not become just another luxury beauty line, Mr Touron says: "I believe that the way we work and the way we imagine (Hermes) Beauty is different, and that it shows in our creations. Our singularity doesn't follow fashion."
Instead, they take inspiration from avenues like art movements and scientific theories. For example, the colour-blocked Spring-Summer lipstick cases were inspired by a theory of colour from pioneer French chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul, which "developed the idea of simultaneous colour contrast and interaction",
adds Mr Touron.
Hermes already has plans for a full line of make-up and accompanying accessories, with a new collection every half a year. It will eventually add skincare to its offerings, though that will take time, Mr Touron says.
"Skincare involves mastering new areas of expertise and significant investment in research and development and time. It will follow make-up, giving us time to think about it and, more importantly, time to do it right, the way we want."
Hermes Beauty is available at the four Hermes stores and counters and online at hermes.com/sg/en.
The lipsticks by Hermes Beauty come in 24 shades and are housed in lacquered tubes topped with the house's seal. In the line are also leather accessories made by Hermes artisans, such as a lipstick case with mirror (right).
Source: The Straits Times, 20 March 2020