When we broke the news earlier this week that Hedi Slimane was launching Celine Beauté, my inbox, text messages and DMs were immediately flooded:

“Have you seen any of the product?” “Bring all the comps tomorrow,” “Who is doing the PR?” The comments on The Business of Beauty’s social media pages were equally fervent.

At a time when nearly every fashion business is hoping to launch a beauty enterprise of their own — Dolce & Gabbana, Kering, Richemont — or partner with a licensing company for a makeup or skincare collection — Prada, Miu Miu, Marni, Etro — I wondered why the response for Celine’s offering was so … enthusiastic.

First off, it seems as though Celine is taking more of the curated Hermès route with coordinated, pulsed collections than launching everything at once. The house is starting with a single red lipstick, Rouge Triomphe, this autumn before offering a complete, 15-piece lineup of satin lipsticks in January 2025. Each season that follows will be dedicated to a category from lip balms and mascaras to loose powders and eye pencils, and will tie back to runway collections.

That last bit is critical to why people are so excited. The runway connection ensures each drop will evoke Slimane. Since he became artistic, creative and image director at the French house, the designer has launched menswear (2018) and fragrances (2019), filling out the Celine universe. And it has become a megabrand in the making. According to sources, Celine is closing in on €3 billion ($3.27 billion) in annual revenue. Beauty is an extension of that, and we can already see touches of the fashion line, including Celine’s interlocked Cs, imprinted on the upcoming Rouge Triomphe lipstick and eye pencil caps.

That approach will draw a distinction between Celine’s beauty offerings and lines from rival fashion brands, as products from licensing partners often lack cohesion. Prada’s new and improved Prada Beauty line with L’Oréal looks almost as clinical as L’Oréal Paris’ products versus the covetable collections that Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons present on the runway. Meanwhile, since Alessandro Michele left Gucci, Gucci’s makeup line, which was created with Coty, feels dated and disjointed from Sabato De Sarno’s designs.

But that doesn’t mean every fashion label can successfully pull off their own in-house beauty brand.

L’Oréal, Coty, Interparfums and the like are experts at beauty — they have decades of product development experience and marketing knowhow. No matter how much fashion executives want to say beauty and fashion are the same, selling a lipstick is far different from selling a bag or a couture dress. Fashion labels that are entering beauty on their own must assemble the right team, with the right experience and, crucially, the right amount of investment.

That’s why sources have told me Kering is taking its time putting its infrastructure in place to better incubate its own beauty labels, and why its first move in the space was an acquisition (Creed) versus an in-house line.

Celine is intent on creating a world for its customers across fashion, fragrance and now cosmetics. So far, Slimane’s vision across the house is working. And LVMH has plenty of beauty expertise, with learnings from Dior Beauty, Benefit and Sephora right at its fingertips. The luxury group also has a new secret weapon in beauty as former L’Oréal USA chief executive Stéphane Rinderknech was named chairman and CEO of the beauty division at LVMH last year.

Here’s betting a rush for Rouge Triomphe come September.

Here are my top picks from our insight and analysis on beauty and wellness this week:

1. Lightning in a Bottle: Tapping Into the Niche Fragrance Boom

With independent perfume on a hot streak for investments and acquisitions, the fragrance market is only growing larger — and more competitive. Here’s what steps emerging brands need to take as they expand.

2. Can Matilda Djerf’s Influence Translate to Beauty Sales?

The Scandinavian influencer known for setting global hair trends unveils her first beauty venture.

3. What Blink-And-You’ll-Miss-It Beauty Trends Mean in the Long Term

Beauty trends are getting more ephemeral, and much, much weirder. But behind these fleeting moments might be more macro movements.

THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY NEWS IN BRIEF

Hedi Slimane launches Celine beauty line. The designer is making a foray into cosmetics at the LVMH-owned megabrand-in-making. Celine’s Rouge Triomphe lipstick will debut in the autumn, with a full range of 15 satin-finished colours slated for January 2025.

The Body Shop files for bankruptcy in the US and Canada. The company filed for Chapter 7 insolvency putting about 400 jobs at risk including those in a distribution centre that still holds millions of dollars-worth of stock. In Canada, 33 of the 105 shops have closed, with the loss of more than 200 jobs.

CVC’s beauty chain Douglas sets terms for a $991 million IPO. The shares are being marketed at €26 to €30 each. The offering seeks to raise about €850 million for the company through the sale of new stock.

Lilly partners with Amazon to deliver Zepbound and other drugs. The drugmaker said prescriptions sent to LillyDirect Pharmacy Solutions would now be delivered by either Amazon Pharmacy or Truepill, depending on the patient’s insurance coverage and other factors.

LVMH is part of a group of investors who, together, hold a minority interest in The Business of Fashion. All investors have signed shareholders’ documentation guaranteeing BoF’s complete editorial independence.

From a mansion in a San Diego suburb, Michelle Mack allegedly oversaw a retail theft ring that stole $8 million in cosmetics from stores such as Ulta Beauty and Sephora, which she then sold on Amazon.

In December, police arrested the 53-year-old along with her husband, Kenneth, taking the pair into custody on their sprawling property, according to footage taken by CNBC and published this week. Their teen daughters watched nearby, the outlet reported.

The couple was arrested along with seven people who allegedly participated in the thefts after an investigation by state and federal agencies and teams from Sephora and Ulta Beauty, the California attorney general’s office announced in a statement last month.

“Organised retail crime has significant financial and safety implications for businesses, retailers and consumers,” said Rob Bonta, the state’s attorney general. “Today, we are addressing an audacious instance of organised retail theft and making it clear that such criminal activity will not be accepted in California.”

The arrest comes as lawmakers and officials have pledged to crack down on retail theft. Major companies from Walgreens to Ulta to Walmart have said thefts are rising and cutting their profits while high-profile “smash and grab” robberies in California have made headlines nationwide. But the actual extent of the impact is unclear and some experts have suggested retailers may be exaggerating the effects.

Walgreens reported that thefts surged in 2022, even forcing it to close some stores in San Francisco, but later indicated it may have overstated the problem. In December, the National Retail Federation, a powerful lobbying group, retracted a claim that half of the industry’s $94.5 billion inventory losses in 2021 was due “organised retail crime”.

The scale of Mack’s alleged crime ring appears to be substantial with participants allegedly paid to steal items from stores in 21 counties from Sacramento to Los Angeles. The arrests followed an investigation by the California department of justice, California highway patrol, Department of Homeland Security, US Postal Inspection Service and representatives from Sephora and Ulta, the attorney general’s office said.

Mack allegedly operated the ring from her 4,500-sq-ft home, which had a vineyard and chapel that she and her husband rented out for weddings. She is accused of recruiting women to go to retail stores and “commit bulk thefts of specific high-demand makeup product” that she would sell on her Amazon store.

Her store sold goods at almost 50 percent less than retail price and brought in almost $2 million in 2022.

Authorities found large amounts of still-packaged makeup “organised and prepped for shipping” at Mack’s home, according to the complaint. With assistance from Ulta Beauty and Sephora, they recovered an estimated $400,000 in products from residences.

Mack and her husband have pleaded not guilty.

By Dani Anguiano

Learn more:

The Organised Retail Crime Phenomenon, Explained

Reports of large-scale theft rings are driving US lawmakers to explore tough-on-crime policies. Data on whether there is a crime wave paints a more ambiguous picture. BoF unpacks the murky situation.

France’s lower house of parliament on Thursday approved a bill seeking penalties on ultra-fast fashion products, sold by companies like China’s Shein, aimed at helping to offset their environmental impact.

The bill calls for gradually increasing penalties of up to 10 euros per individual item of clothing by 2030, as well for a ban on advertising for such products.

All voting lawmakers unanimously approved the bill, which will head to the senate before it can become law.

The popularity of fashion retailers Shein and Temu - which scale up orders based on demand thanks to ultra-flexible supply chains - have disrupted the retail sector while established players like Zara and H&M continue to largely rely on predicting shoppers’ preferences.

Shein said in a statement to Reuters that the clothes it produces meet an existing demand, which allows its rate of unsold garments to remain consistently in low single digits, whereas traditional players can have up to 40 percent waste.

It added that the only impact of the bill would be to “worsen the purchasing power of French consumers, at a time when they are already feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.”

The bill comes as the French environmental ministry said it would propose a European Union ban on exports of used clothes, in a bid to tackle the worsening problem of textile waste.

By Mimosa Spencer and Corentin Chappron; Editing by GV De Clercq

Learn more:

Fast Fashion Firms Prepare for EU Crackdown on Waste Mountain

Within a year, the sorting centre run by garment re-use and recycling charity Moda Re plans to double the volume it handles to 40,000 metric tonnes annually.

British Vogue’s new head of editorial contnet Chioma Nnadi unveiled her first issue on Thursday, starring British actress and singer FKA Twigs.

The cover, shot by Johnny Dufort, features Twigs, wearing Loewe, atop a black taxi cab, with additional images shot in British landmarks and locations, including a red phone box. The shoot was styled by Dazed magazine editor-in-chief Ib Kamara. Nnadi herself wrote the accompanying cover story, a profile of the musician.

Nnadi joined the Condé Nast title November 2023, succeeding Edward Enninful. She previously served as editor of Vogue.com in the US.

”I knew my first cover star needed to be someone who defined that inimitable spirit,” said Nnadi in her editor’s letter. “FKA Twigs is an artist who represents the ideal of the modern British eccentric: she is a shape-shifter who rejects conformity and takes real joy in clothes.”

The issue will be available via digital download and will be on newsstands beginning March 19.

Learn more:

Edward Enninful’s Final British Vogue Cover Features 40 Former Cover Stars

In his final issue as editor-in-chief of British Vogue, Edward Enninful chose to honour the women who have shaped the title’s history as well as his tenure at the publication.