PARIS — Launching a make-up line simply because the coronavirus pandemic hit may have been a recipe for catastrophe, however Carolina Herrera New York efficiently turned it into a chance.
The model launched the vary in mid-March 2020, proper earlier than the world shut down. Ana Trias Arraut, chief model officer of Carolina Herrera, Dries Van Noten and Nina Ricci at mum or dad firm Puig, didn’t even have the possibility to go to Harrods within the U.Okay., which had launched the gathering of lipsticks and compacts coming in colourful, customizable packaging so sculptural they might double as jewellery.
Carolina Herrera New York Makeup was created to echo the class of the model’s namesake designer in addition to the color-intensive strategy of the home’s present artistic director, Wes Gordon.
“You’ll always find the Herrera woman on a cloudy day standing out in a bright pink coat, when everyone else is in black,” Gordon mentioned in a WWD interview in February 2020. “I wanted to translate that exuberance of our collections into makeup. The idea that a dress or an outfit can lift your mood and bring you happiness is a simple yet powerful concept, and I feel that makeup should be the same.”
Makeup that’s wearable and customizable packaging-wise was on the core from the outset.
Carolina Herrera New York Makeup
Courtesy of Puig
“Because fashion was the starting point, we started to imagine the line as a collection of ready-to-wear pieces, rather than traditional keep-it-in-your-vanity or hidden-inside-your-purse makeup,” Gordon defined. “Mrs. Herrera is a big fan of vintage jewelry and has the most amazing collection, so that in part sparked the idea of mimicking precious objects for the design. We wanted each product to double up as something eye-catching that you could wear and have a conversation piece at the same time.”
The color-cosmetics challenge was a number of years within the making and a mind meld between Gordon and Herrera’s daughter Carolina A. Herrera, who serves as artistic director of Carolina Herrera.
“Carolina A. and I both felt that it was really important to blur the line between makeup and rtw by creating pieces that almost could be mistaken for jewelry,” Gordon continued.
The make-up line was launched on Harrods’ e-commerce web site on March 15, 2020, adopted by the debut on the retailer’s brick-and-mortar location.
Herrera executives rose to the problem of ensuing shutdowns with a pivot to digital.
“This allowed us to have a really strong emotional bond with our consumers,” mentioned Trias Arraut. “We began interacting with our viewers in a really totally different manner, attempting to indicate them what this line is all about — celebrating colour, pleasure, freedom, a humorousness and self-expression.
Carolina Herrera New York Makeup
Courtesy Photo
“The digital world allowed us to express that a lot,” she continued. “It was an energy-booster, even for the team. Good results were coming from somewhere.”
Online buying and selling additionally allowed for fascinating learnings, not least from the make-up model’s personal e-tail, which went stay on carolinaherrera.com in August 2020.
“Particularly in the case of makeup, we’re learning a lot having direct contact with the consumer,” mentioned Trias Arraut.
The thought, she defined, is to transcend simply promoting, making the expertise be about how customers join with and get to know the model, mixing style, perfume and wonder, too.
Once lockdowns began to elevate, the make-up line was launched, as deliberate pre-pandemic, in Spain; some international locations in Latin America, akin to Mexico and Brazil, and the colour cosmetics’ geographic footprint was prolonged within the Middle East.
“I remember the very first visit to Madrid with the team finally to see the makeup products in a door. It was super emotional,” mentioned Trias Arraut.
Even after brick-and-mortar doorways have opened, there’s been no slowdown in Herrera make-up gross sales on-line, which now generate about half of its general colour cosmetics enterprise.
“The digital part is a phenomenal success,” Trias Arrault mentioned, including that displays the development of the make-up class typically.
A Carolina Herrera New York Makeup tassel.
Courtesy Photo
In the bodily doorways the place Carolina Herrera make-up is current, colour cosmetics symbolize 30 % to 40 % of the model’s general gross sales.
“It is really good, plus it’s been a booster for our fragrances,” mentioned Trias Arraut.
The make-up’s revenues have exceeded plan up to now, and a few merchandise have gone out of inventory. (A superb drawback.)
“We’re taking it one step at a time — and it’s fun. It’s bringing a lot of the brand values and allowing us to express other angles of the brand. It resonates very well with the time we’re living,” she mentioned of the Herrera label.
The model dipped into make-up with a decent vary.
“We know it’s a very competitive market, and we want to bring something that stands out, that is a plus for the consumer,” mentioned Trias Arraut. “But little by little we’re going to extend it to new geographies, for sure.”
She sees “amazing” prospects for colour cosmetics in markets such because the U.Okay., which isn’t traditionally core to Carolina Herrera.
“Makeup allows us to get opportunities,” mentioned Trias Arraut.
A secret’s watching the place customers buy. “The consumer today is buying a little bit everywhere, and we need to be where they expect us,” she mentioned.
So far the overarching technique works properly, and Herrera make-up ranks among the many prime six to 10 colour cosmetics manufacturers within the doorways the place it’s been launched.
The model will regularly introduce extra merchandise, because it has already accomplished within the lipstick vary. Up subsequent are two new make-up classes, though Trias Arraut remained mum on additional particulars.
For extra, see:
Puig Secures 200 Million Euro Sustainability-linked Loan
Puig Shakes Up Business Structure, Aims for 3 Billion Euros in 2023 Sales
Carolina Herrera Resort 2022
