I half expected to receive an emergency alert when the embargo lifted at 12:05 pm on Monday afternoon for the launch of Rhode’s Pocket Blush. The brand’s first entry into colour cosmetics is a mini stick blush that is meant to be used on-the-go and debuts in six shades such as Piggy (baby pink) and Spicy Marg (bright coral). The product won’t be available for purchase on the brand’s website until June 20, but a spate of outlets from consumer sites (Vogue, Grazia, Cosmopolitan) to trade (WWD, Glossy) fervently published the news within minutes of the press release.

Hailey Bieber’s last major category expansion, a cleanser called Pineapple Refresh, received similarly fanatical attention in January.

Since launching in 2022, beauty’s obsession with Rhode and its founder has only grown. While the initial assortment — a serum, a moisturiser and peptide lip balms — led with Bieber’s skincare-first, doughnut glazed ethos — its her subsequent teases into makeup, tinted versions of her peptide lip treatments and now, blush, that confirm Bieber’s stickiness with beauty trends and online fandom.

A-list talent can typically guarantee a big launch, but celebrities have a relatively short window to prove their validity once a line hits the market. Otherwise, these brands quickly fade away; even Jennifer Lopez, universally known for her body, can’t seem to sell body cream.

Whatever your opinion on the role of glazed doughnuts is in beauty, it’s undeniable that, to her many fans, Bieber has credibility to spare.

Since pivoting from her Covid-era “Who’s in My Bathroom” YouTube series, where she invited celebrity friends into her bathroom to cook, Bieber has gone all-in on beauty. Her content either starts beauty trends (i.e. strawberry makeup) or she is able to make viral trends her own (think: the clean girl aesthetic, or latte makeup). She also talks about and uses beauty products that cool girls love, from Summer Fridays sunscreen and Make Up For Ever lip liners to Kosas concealer.

That she is seemingly as obsessed with beauty as real beauty enthusiasts seems to be her secret weapon, said Kirbie Johnson, host of the beauty podcast Gloss Angeles.

“Hailey has proven that she is a beauty girl,” said Johnson. “She was doing skincare ‘get ready with me,’ makeup videos long before her brand launch. When you have a celebrity brand launching every single day … it [can be] hard to believe that they actually use these products regularly and believe in them.”

Consumer data firm Spate found that monthly Google searches for Rhode Beauty have grown by 66.9 percent from a year ago. The most popular searches for her label are the “Rhode Lip Balm” and “Rhode Phone Case” which have also increased to 40,500 and 14,800 monthly searches, respectively. According to those close to the company, the brand is expected to hit $100 million in revenue this year. And that’s without major wholesale presence, though that’s said to be coming in 2025.

Right now, there may be bigger names in celebrity beauty – Fenty, Rare – but blush might be the product that vaults Rhode into a higher echelon. It is the right and most obvious way for Rhode to enter colour cosmetics, given that Bieber’s long made heavy use of the product to achieve her signature all-over healthy glow. If you go back to the launch of Rhode’s Krispy Kreme collaboration in August 2023, she was flushed with strawberry glaze cheeks on social and throughout campaign images.

Multiple executives at The Business of Beauty Global Forum hyped up Rhode’s marketing prowess to me in side conversations. And they’re not wrong; in many ways, beauty hasn’t seen marketing this savvy since E.l.f.

Bieber has said she is taking a skincare-first approach to beauty, which could be a hurdle since legitimacy in one category doesn’t guarantee it for another. But some of the best new foundations and lipsticks have “skincare benefits” and you could even argue that mascara could fall into Rhode’s purview, given that whole “skinification of hair” conversation brands keep pushing on. If anything, being skincare-first doesn’t exclude her from extending Rhode into most cosmetics products.

I expect Bieber to ride the blush wave, likely introducing more shades and possibly, even new formats. Just last week, Bieber teased a pink shade of her viral phone case. With a 200,000-plus waitlist for the grey version, Bieber has become adept at giving people want before they even know it.

Plus, hear from inaugural class of The Business of Beauty Global Awards winners

1. Conserving Beauty Shows Sheet Masks Don’t Have to End up in a Landfill

With Elle Macpherson on its board, Conserving Beauty has brought sheet masks and zit stickers into the push to combat beauty product waste.

2. D’you Shakes Up India’s Beauty Start-Up Scene

The India-based brand targets premium shoppers with science-based skincare.

3. Fara Homidi Elevates the Artistry-Led Makeup Brand

Balancing ease of use with professional-grade formulas, Fara Homidi Beauty creates formulas that can go the distance, without compromising on clean credentials.

GRENCHEN, Switzerland — In a downturn, business leaders often talk of continued investments in innovation as keys to unlocking future growth. But as the luxury watch industry’s slowdown continues, Breitling’s chief executive is closing the door on that idea. “We’re going to do more of the same,” says Georges Kern, who has run the private-equity-backed Swiss watchmaker since 2017.

“It doesn’t sound very exciting, but we have a proven concept,” he continues. “Over the last five or six years, the goal was to become relevant because the brand wasn’t relevant anymore. We’ve become a generalist brand that’s cool and relevant and we’ve been growing tremendously.”

Like most Swiss watch companies, Breitling does not publish its results, but according to Morgan Stanley estimates, the company has more than doubled its turnover since Kern’s appointment, growing revenues to 870 million Swiss francs ($976 million) last year. Kern won’t confirm those figures, but points to Morgan Stanley’s report when asked about his company’s performance.

Growth in the Swiss watch sector, however, has since slowed. In 2023, export values reached an all-time high of 26.7 billion Swiss francs, but according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, values have fallen 2.6 percent and volumes 8.7 percent year-on-year to the end of April.

Kern urges perspective. “Of course, turnover slowed down versus post-Covid,” he says. “But it’s still much, much higher than pre-Covid. Revenge spending after Covid was totally abnormal, not only for the watch industry but for the whole luxury industry. What are we complaining about? We should be very happy about what we have.”

The next step for Breitling, he says, is to build what he calls “esteem” by focusing on the company’s history and its manufacturing capabilities, which he says he is planning to expand. “These elements give reassurance to the consumer, who knows we’re a cool brand but maybe isn’t aware of our manufacturing,” he says.

Kern’s appointment seven years ago surprised the watch industry. He had just been promoted to Richemont’s head of watchmaking, marketing and digital after a successful 15-year stint as IWC’s chief executive and was due to stand for election to the group’s board but was lured away by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners to head up Breitling. Partners Group is now the 140-year-old watchmaker’s largest shareholder.

Breitling, says Kern, had become stuck in a rut, too focused on aviation and pilot’s watches that were pitched with outdated, often borderline misogynistic messaging. In the years that followed, Breitling invested heavily in a rebrand that positioned it as what Kern calls “a casual, inclusive and sustainable” luxury company, and launched an advertising campaign that featured Hollywood A-listers Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron and Adam Driver. Only Theron remains.

“Brad Pitt helped us a lot in changing perceptions of the brand and giving it a more modern touch,” explains Kern. “But after a while the brand had that growth and you don’t need that [Pitt] anymore. With maturity you dress in a different way.”

Kern says a lot of his advertising investment is now in retail following an aggressive boutique opening programme. “This is the biggest marketing tool you can imagine,” he offers. Breitling now has a global network of around 300 monobrand boutiques, many of them franchised, an increase from around 50 seven years ago. Employee numbers have spiked too, rising from 750 staff in 2017 to 1,900 in 2024.

“People want a physical experience,” says Kern. “They can buy sneakers online because they know their size.”

Despite the industry wobble, Breitling is still growing, Kern insists. The pinch, he says, is affecting smaller Swiss watch companies. “Some [smaller] brands enjoyed growth after Covid because there was no stock,” he says, referring to the supply and demand imbalance created by the pandemic, particularly at Rolex. “But now there is stock available, and these smaller brands are suffering much more than the bigger brands. The slowdown is mainly for the smaller and less solid brands.”

The FHS’ figures support the theory. In its most recent report published at the end of May, it indicated that watches with an export value (roughly half retail) of between 500 and 3,000 Swiss francs fell by 10 percent in April, while watches with an export value above 3,000 francs, where most of the big players operate, increased by 7.8 percent. Kern says most of the watches he sells are in the “sweet spot” between 5,000 and 15,000 Swiss francs.

Breitling has been reliant on a strong US economy for years, and Kern says that 20 percent of his sales today are done stateside, making it the company’s number one territory. Even with the uncertainty of the presidential election in November, he says he’s confident the US will continue to prop up Breitling’s business. “Analysts have been talking about a recession in the US for years, but it never happens,” he says. “It’s a very resilient, entrepreneurial, dynamic economy.”

He identifies China as a growth territory for Breitling, and says that, while less than 10 percent of the company’s sales are in the country today, he believes the figure should be 10 to 15 times higher before they “reach our fair share of market.”

Previously, Kern has commented on the industry’s need to invest in the entry-level watch category, beginning around 2,000 Swiss francs, where first-time watch buyers once found household name brands, such as Omega and TAG Heuer, as well as Breitling. But well documented price hikes have lifted Breitling out of this bracket, leaving a big-name brand vacuum.

Kern admits Breitling’s average price point has climbed significantly since his arrival, rising from $5,000 to $7,000. The increase, he says, is down to replacing off-the-shelf third-party mechanical movements with in-house calibres that offer higher performance, the continuing strength of the Swiss franc and inflation. But he concedes that the industry has been guilty of inflating prices.

“I know brands in the watch industry that have been increasing prices dramatically for the same product, and that’s a problem,” he says, without adding a name.

He alludes again to a project that will come to fruition next year and that will give him leverage in a lower price category he believes is still critical to the future success of Swiss watchmaking. “People say all the brands are moving up and there is no business in the lower price points,” he says. “But I don’t believe in this.”

He points to India’s population of 1.4 billion people. “Income levels will grow steadily and many people, before becoming rich, will be first middle class,” he says. “There will be more and more middle class in the world, everywhere. These people might want to buy an analogue watch and not an Apple Watch, but they will start with 2,000 Swiss francs.”

He won’t be drawn on what shape the project will take but says that despite Breitling’s acquisition of the heritage dial name Universal Genève last year, the company’s investors — of which he is one — “don’t have that ambition to become a group.” Instead, they will look to IPO or sell.

As for Kern himself, he says Breitling’s tailwind means he has no intention of hanging up his wings just yet. “Seven years ago, there was no expectation on Breitling and people said I was going to drive it into a wall,” he says. “But what we have from Breitling today is only 20 percent of what I imagined seven years ago.”

FLORENCE — Fashion is on a dangerous trajectory: ideas are scarcer and quality keeps falling while prices continue to soar. There is only so much that marketing pyrotechnics can cover up. Indeed, it was telling that what was most compelling at the 103rd edition of Pitti Uomo, which ended on Thursday, was the Vintage Hub section: a tiny laboratory where visionaries such as Maurizio Donadi of Transnomadica, Roberto Lonoce of Re_javu and Luca Sartor of Riedizione Sartoria keep accumulating and reinventing cherished things from the past.

Upcycling and repurposing are nothing new in fashion and the output of its practitioners is often homogeneous in a crafty and patchy sort of way. But what set those featured at Pitti apart is, on the one side, the streamlined, taut approach to repurposing, and the sense of lived-in elegance that comes out of that; and on the other side, the contagious passion they ooze for clothing, not an ounce of cynicism or thirst for personal overexposure in sight.

In the case of Donadi, a vintage lover and hoarder with a blue-chip resume that includes long stints in product development at both Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani, Pitti served as a showcase for cherry-picked, rare pieces that are not even meant to be sold: the indigo-dyed smocks favoured by Henri Matisse and the fauves when painting. Donadi is also the curator behind the very interesting project Fay Archive, which was presented once again in the Fortezza da Basso: faithful reproductions of archive garments from the Diego Della Valle-owned workwear brand, meant as a reconnection to the original spirit of the label, which was born in the early 1980s when Della Valle discovered the jackets worn by a fire department in the US.

Archive feelings are all the rage at the moment. In discombobulating times, fashion becomes more nostalgic than ever. There is a decisive and widespread movement towards the easy elegance of the 1950s and early 1960s: think “The Talented Mr Ripley” and an insouciant brand of spontaneously put together masculinity. Rovi Lucca, a small yet perfectly formed line that caught my attention last season for its gardening ethos mixed with mild informality, went for cheerful visions of Tuscan countryside bliss and rustic elegance. DeNobiliaryParticle, the brainchild of communication wunderkind Paolo De Vivo, exudes a nostalgic and well-to-do feeling too, but it does so with uttermost concentration: the line is all about ribbed crewneck jumpers that look like a cherished family inheritance.

But it was at Paul Smith, who was back at Pitti after 15 years with an atelier-style presentation held in the gilded splendour of Villa Favard, complete with a makeshift Paul’s Bar, that the 50s feelings reached a peak, in a feast of lightness, multipurposeness, pale colours and just a tiny bit of floral embroideries. In other words, it was a playful take on effortless dress up: a quintessentially Paul Smith endeavour, and deliciously so, with the added bonus of Sir Paul himself explaining the looks as the models stood around him in a painter’s atelier situation. The cosy situation amplified the authenticity of the message, and it was a relief.

Pitti has become the occasion for a sort of mini fashion week in Florence, with collateral events added to the traditional calendar. There was nothing small-scaled to the graduation show held by Polimoda, one of Italy’s prominent fashion schools, in the marvellous scenery of the garden of Villa Palmieri. No means were spared, but the show was disappointing in the sense that, although perfectly executed, the collections — 18 in total — all looked cunningly redolent of what fashion is currently offering, with way too many homages to Rick Owens and Vivienne Westwood. Massimiliano Giornetti, formerly at Ferragamo and now dean of Polimoda, is doing a terrific job, but the school needs to divert the attention of the students away from what’s currently in fashion and widen their perspective. The other big fashion school in town, IED, ditched its fashion show in favour of an exhibition curated by photographer Michel Comte whose high concept was as discombobulating as it was stimulating.

With the best thing at Pitti being vintage and upcycling, Marine Serre’s turn as guest designer was well timed. Serre was an early champion of couture-worthy upcycling, but what started a few years ago as a layered exercise in utopian/dystopian dressing for a multicultural world has evolved into a chaotic puzzle of this and that with too little flavour and too much branding. This is a problem many small brands that grow too quickly face: the creative burst gives way to marketing. This was supposed to be Serre’s official debut in menswear, but the show was a co-ed thing as usual, with an emphasis on sartorial men’s pieces with a brashness à la Gianni Versace to them. The setting, however, was fantastic: the decadent Villa di Maiano in Fiesole, with a magnificent view of Florence. The show ended in total white in a plea for peace: a much needed message that nonetheless felt too easy.

More uplifting were those for whom dressing is closer to a form of art — more as an outward expression of inner sentiments than to grab attention — such as Mauro Simionato of Vitelli, an ebullient creative with a brilliant sense of colour, whose use of recycled cashmere fibres is outstanding, and Pierre-Louis Mascia, whose 15-years old label got its very first catwalk exposure at Pitti in the magical spaces of the Tepidarium del Roster.

A former illustrator, Mascia has been an early champion of the eclectic, multi-print look, but he has been very calm in reclaiming it from the copycats. This is why the show, albeit emotional and energetic, felt a bit déjà vu. It was a pity as Mascia’s sense of print is truly singular. Working it all into a different look would have made things fresher.

Paul Smith Spring/Summer 2025

Marine Serre Spring/Summer 2025