Aurea Holding, an investment firm that Jatania runs with former UBS Group AG banker Paul Raphael, is in exclusive talks to acquire The Body Shop after beating rival bidders in an auction process, according to the people.

The consortium also includes Charles Denton, who was previously chief executive officer of fragrance and beauty brands Molton Brown and Erno Laszlo, the people said. The new owners plan to retain all of The Body Shop’s UK stores, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

The Body Shop fell into administration in February, three months after private equity firm Aurelius agreed to buy the chain for £207 million ($266 million). Administrators from FRP Advisory closed the retailer’s underperforming stores, leading to hundreds of job losses. FRP blamed the collapse on financial challenges under its previous owners Natura & Co.

A representative for the consortium declined to comment. A spokesperson for FRP couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The Body Shop’s international business in Europe and parts of Asia were sold to a family office before the UK arm declared insolvency. FRP has been running an auction of the remaining business, which includes about 100 outlets, after concluding that an alternative restructuring was not viable.

The Body Shop was founded in 1976 by animal rights activist Anita Roddick, beginning with a small store in Brighton on England’s south coast. It became popular for selling cosmetics and hygiene products that were not tested on animals, but the business has struggled to compete with rivals and has been unprofitable for years.

Jatania built a fortune in cosmetics and sold Lornamead, the owner of personal-care brands including Lypsyl, to rival Li & Fung Ltd. for almost $200 million in 2013. In recent months, Jatania has been trying to sell a Grade I-listed stately home he owns in Denham, Buckinghamshire which previously housed American banker J. P. Morgan.

--With assistance from Irene García Pérez, Sabah Meddings and Damian Shepherd.

This article was written by Dinesh Nair from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.

In the weeks before June’s couture shows, workers in European ateliers hunched over garments carefully sewing and ornamenting them with beads and other decorative flourishes, at times with little more than skilled hands and an eyed needle.

Some 40,000 years ago, a similar scene was taking place, for much the same reasons.

In a new paper that happened to coincide with the couture shows last month, an international team of researchers made the argument that the advent of eyed needles was connected to a “pivotal shift” in clothing and human history. Prior to that point, humans appear to have made the earliest tailored garments — ones that were actually fitted to the body, rather than just animal skins wrapped around it — by scraping hides, puncturing holes in them with bone awls and tying the pieces together with fibres or sinew in order to keep warm in chilly climates. Eyed needles let palaeolithic humans pierce holes and thread fibres simultaneously, which was more efficient and also allowed for more refined stitching.

With this ability, they could have started making underwear for added warmth, and importantly, decorating clothes by attaching fur trims, beads and other adornments, allowing clothing to become a means of expressing everything from group identity to social status.

“Eyed needles mark that transition in the function of clothing from a physical necessity in certain environments at certain times to a necessary social function at all times,” said Dr. Ian Gilligan, a researcher at the University of Sydney and lead author of the paper.

For that reason, eyed needles were a “technological advance” that marked “a tipping point in human prehistory,” Gilligan and the other researchers wrote.

The implication is that fashion and technology have been intertwined from the start. The relationship has often been symbiotic: Fashion in many ways wouldn’t exist as it does without technology, but technology wouldn’t be as it is today without fashion.

The need for faster ways to turn raw cotton into yarns and fabrics, for instance, powered much of the Industrial Revolution. A job that once largely entailed women spinning yarns at home on small wooden wheels or with a distaff and spinning bowl had evolved by 1860 into a mechanised industry where wage workers toiled on spindles powered by steam engines, as historian Sven Beckert detailed in his book “Empire of Cotton.”

“It was in cottons that the new modes of manufacturing first came about,” Beckert wrote. “The factory itself was an invention of the cotton industry.” (And as Beckert also noted, along with improvements in efficiency came problems like new kinds of labour exploitation that continue in much the same form to this day.)

Modern computing even owes a debt to the Jacquard loom, patented by the French weaver Joseph-Marie Jacquard in 1804. To produce his intricately patterned materials, Jacquard used punch cards that acted as a code controlling which threads were raised in the textile. The design inspired Charles Babbage, an English polymath, who borrowed the idea as the basis of his “Analytical Engine,” essentially a steam-powered computer capable of performing calculations. Babbage never built his machine but described its operations in great detail. It was with this framework in mind that Ada Lovelace, a friend and associate, wrote what is often called history’s first computer program.

Other creations such as nylon, used now in toothbrushes, seatbelts and much more, were initially applied to fashion. The material, created by DuPont researcher Wallace Carothers in the 1930s, was the first wholly synthetic fibre used in commercial items. The first product made from it was women’s hosiery. (Some small amounts were also used in toothbrushes.) The term “nylons” became synonymous with stockings.

Fashion isn’t known as the most technologically advanced industry today, but it’s among the fields quickly embracing generative AI (though customers aren’t always happy about it). It has adopted blockchain and augmented reality. It’s even been trying to get robots to sew clothing, though handling floppy fabrics has proved a difficult task for machines.

Against that backdrop we might not immediately think of eyed needles as a form of technology, but from an archaeological perspective, technology is any physical artefact that can be used to perform a function or manipulate objects. “It’s no different from us using a computer to communicate,” Gilligan said.

In that regard, the eyed needle is among humanity’s most enduring technologies. The earliest known examples appeared roughly 40,000 years ago in what’s today Siberia. A couple thousand years later they appear in the Caucasus, then show up in East Asia around 30,000 years ago. They made it to Europe by about 26,000 years ago.

They probably appeared out of necessity, according to Gilligan, as it’s unlikely hunter-gatherers would have spent the time crafting the delicate needles unless they served a useful function. Decoration of the body was vital to these groups. They would alter their appearances for ceremonies and other social purposes.

It was usually their skin that served as the canvas though. They would paint themselves and use tattoos and scarification to add permanent decorations to themselves. Clothes, meanwhile, appear to have come and gone over time. As the climate fluctuated, tools like hide scrapers appear in the archaeological record during glacial cycles when the climate grew colder but then disappear again as it warmed up, suggesting humans shed their clothes once the weather allowed. Then, around the end of the last ice age, something changed: Clothes didn’t go away.

“It was because clothing had acquired this necessary function of dress and that had never happened before,” Gilligan said.

As far as we know, clothes replaced adornment of the naked body. That’s also when eyed needles appeared.

Gilligan said this social function of clothing, which also came to include modesty, is the reason clothing has persisted and why we still wear clothes now. So next time you’re grateful to have clothes and not be delivering a presentation to a group or standing on a crowded bus or train naked, say a little thanks to the eyed needle.

Paris’ Musée des Art Décoratifs announced Wednesday that it will host a “grand ball” to celebrate French fashion and art de vivre, and raise funds for the institution. The ball will be held on July 6, 2025, and mark the centenary of the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts which took place in Paris from April to October 1925.

Unlike the Met Gala in New York, tickets will be sold to individuals or families, and not brands. The evening will be divided into two parts: a smaller, exclusive fete, followed by a larger event that will be open to design and fashion students.

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At the Met Gala, the Fantasy Was Intact

Despite threats of disruption from protests, the Condé Nast union and TikTok’s legal woes, the event continued as planned with attendees dazzling in bespoke and archival ensembles.

Australian sun care line Naked Sundays is gearing up for international expansion.

On July 14, it will debut on Ulta Beauty’s website, and will launch into 800 Ulta Beauty stores in March 2025. The brand is postponing its US brick-and-mortar rollout until next spring so that it can be present for a full summer season for its debut.

Founder Samantha Brett said she was always very sure that the US would be a key market for the brand, and even went to the extent of formulating all the products to meet US requirements for sunscreen — some sun protection filters that are allowed in Australia and the EU are not permitted in the US. It launched into 1,200 Shoppers Drug Mart stores in Canada in June, and over 900 US Target stores at the end of February.

“I always said I wanted to be an international brand and not exclude any markets. I had this idea to make sunscreen accessible and fun and easy to use for everyone, especially younger people that hated sunscreen,” said Brett. Naked Sundays offers unconventional sun protection products such as lip oils, tinted serums and products with iridescent or light-reflecting qualities.

Brett said Naked Sundays was introduced to Ulta Beauty through its Australian retailer, Mecca, and she believes the brand’s format innovation will appeal to US customers. Naked Sundays launches around ten products per year, all with a sun protection factor of 50.

“[We offer products] that are super fun, cool, sexy and good for your skin,” she said.

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What’s Hot in Sunscreen Now

Years into SPF’s beauty-fuelled reinvention, new trends are still emerging, from the growing popularity of foreign formulas to innovations in texture.

From sunscreen to bronzer, classic beauty staples see a seasonal boost each summer. But thanks to product format innovations like sticks and sprays, as well as the impact of influencers such as Alix Earle and Katie Fang, summer-oriented products are evolving. With so many different brands competing in sunscreen, search results are yielding clear trends for SPF in terms of active ingredients. The same can be said of bronzer and tanning products, which are seeing growth this summer. And fragrance continues to be a strong spot not just for brands, but also for consumers, thanks to the ongoing popularity of sweet and tropical scents.

Sugary, Sweet Scents Reign Supreme

There is no denying that Sol de Janeiro has benefited from tweens and teens’ enduring love of sugary and coconut-scented body sprays. Now, competing fragrance labels spanning from masstige to premium and luxury are turning to the sweeter side.

Based on data from consumer data aggregator Spate, Google searches for the “gourmand” fragrance category grew by 77.5 percent year-over-year for the 12 months ending in May 2024, led by notes such as vanilla and caramel. Sol de Janeiro is likely a big part of this: its cult Cheirosa 62 Perfume Mist emphasises its caramel and pistachio notes. “Caramel” fragrance searches surged 78.2 percent year-over-year, and vanilla notes were a top trend for luxury perfume launches in 2023, according to Fragrances of the World’s annual report. This year, vanilla continues to be popular: Kayali has seen growth in searches for its signature vanilla scent Vanilla 28, according to Spate, as does Phlur for its Vanilla Skin line of fragrance products.

Demand for beachy and tropical fragrance notes like coconut is also a trend not limited to Sol de Janeiro. Coconut fragrance searches have grown 43 percent year-over-year, per Spate data. Fragrance influencers have propped up the #islandgirl hashtag on TikTok – which has 1.4 billion views – and have been recommending tropical-themed scents such as Ellis Brooklyn’s Miami Nectar, Ouai’s St. Barts and Snif’s Coco Shimmy.

Fragrance Comes For Hair Care

Ouai’s May 2024 launch of its St. Barts spray points to the rise of another scent-led trend for summer: hair fragrance. Hair fragrance searches are up 16.1 percent year-over-year, according to Spate, with Gisou’s fragrance dominating on TikTok. This comes as launches of specific hair perfumes increase, as well as debuts of multi-purpose scented sprays categorised for both hair and body by brands such as Rare Beauty.

With a growing number of TikTok hairfluencers encouraging their followers to go without washing their hair for a week at a time, the rise of hair fragrance is part of a launch strategy by haircare brands to offer more products for unwashed hair in between blowouts. So far, hair fragrance has shown more growth potential than dry shampoo, a category with a deluge of launches in the past year. (According to Spate, dry shampoo searches last peaked in October 2022, due to a report about dry shampoo in spray bottles containing the carcinogen benzene. The category has declined 66.3 percent year-over-year since then.) One exception has been K18′s new AirWash Dry Shampoo, which sold out after tapping into the hair scent trend through videos with Earle discussing its odour-fixing properties.

Legal or Not, Chemical Sunscreens Win

Thanks to the virality of French pharmacy and K-beauty trends on social media, international sunscreens are having a moment, with Google searches for chemical sunscreen brands outpacing mineral options. While French pharmacy brands can often be found at US drugstores and retailers, consumers are also seeking out harder-to-find K-beauty labels with ingredients not yet legal in the US.

According to Spate’s ranking of the brands with the fastest-growing sunscreen searches through May, L’Oréal-owned La Roche-Posay dominates after seeing viral success on TikTok. The TikTok K-beauty wave is also driving sunscreen interest, as three of the five brands are Korean: Beauty of Joseon, Innisfree and Tocobo. Bemotrizinol, the active ingredient in Beauty of Joseon sunscreen as well as many other K-beauty brands, is also seeing a surge of interest in the US as Google reported that searches for the ingredient were at an all-time high in May. The ingredient is not approved for use in the US, but searches for the ingredient have been on the rise after Dieux co-foudner Charlotte Palermino and US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have been calling for its legalisation. Influencers are a big driver of sunscreen trends, and influencer marketing platform LTK said that the searches for the sunscreen category are up 168 percent in the past 90 days on its platform.

Success of the Spritz

When Tower 28′s five-year-old SOS Spray containing hypochlorous acid went viral on TikTok last year, it was the start of a new obsession with face sprays of all kinds.

In skincare, mist and spray products saw 24 percent year-over-year growth in searches in the first quarter of 2024, according to Spate. The Tower 28 effect is apparent. According to the brand, one is sold every 15 seconds, and the search term “hypochlorous acid spray for face” more than doubled in May, according to Google’s weekly trends report. Recently, a growing number of independent beauty labels such as Prequel, Peace Out and Magic Molecule have launched their own hypochlorous acid sprays, which are marketed to combat acne.

It’s not just one buzzy ingredient driving the spray craze: Kosas’ probiotic spray – another Fang get-ready-with-me favourite – is listed under Sephora’s bestsellers category.

In the makeup category, setting spray is seeing an even faster rise than skincare sprays with 27.8 percent growth in first-quarter searches. Viral TikTok setting sprays such as Patrick Starrr’s One/Size On ‘Til Dawn Mattifying Waterproof Setting Spray and Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray are both listed as Sephora bestsellers.

Bringing Bronzer Back

Brands have been working to encourage a resurgence of all the beauty trends of the 2000s, and self-tanning and bronze faces are no exceptions. Paris Hilton and Miley Cyrus have both partnered with self-tanning startups, Tan-Luxe and Dolce Glow, and influencers are helping boost the category: LTK said self-tanner is a top-searched topic on its platform with 41 percent growth in the past week.

Searches for bronzer, meanwhile, are up 120 percent in the past week. For the face, the all-over-bronzer look that took hold in the early aughts started last year, thanks to Drunk Elephant’s viral D-Bronzi™ Anti-Pollution Bronzing Drops. Since influencers like Fang helped the drops take off, over a dozen brands have launched their own versions, such as Glow Recipe, Innbeauty and Saie. But many of these launches could be too late; Spate reports that searches for bronzing drop have declined in 2024, while face bronzer sticks, however, are seeing 14.7 percent year-over-year growth.

“We’ve seen an explosion of launches, and none of them are catching on quite as much as Drunk Elephant,” said Addison Cain, beauty strategy and innovation manager at Spate, of bronzer drops. “There’s just something to say about being the first mover on a trend.”

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