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Why does the appetite for fashion, beauty and luxury thrive despite economic, social and political volatility? And how should brands navigate the new needs of consumers in an increasingly digital-first world? Speakers and guests braved the Parisian traffic jams to attend the Vogue Business and Citi afternoon conference, ‘The future of luxury innovation’, to discuss these questions and more on 21 September. It was a busy day in the French capital, with the event being held at Philanthro-Lab behind Cathédrale Notre-Dame, which was hosting King Charles the same day.
The event opened with some brief remarks from Stephen Morgan, managing director at Vogue Business; Cécile Ratcliffe, chief country officer and head of corporate banking at Citi; and Anusha Couttigane, head of advisory at Vogue Business. The agenda then kicked off with the first panel discussion, ‘Raising the bar on beauty’, moderated by Couttigane in conversation with Timicka C Anderson, global industry head of consumer and retail at Citi Commercial Bank; Noelly Michoux, founder and CEO of skincare brand 456 Skin; Nevbahar Cuhadar, e-commerce expert; and Baptiste Bouygues, president and co-founder of French fragrance brand Ormaie.
During the discussion, Bouygues crystalised a core challenge when it comes to sustainability in the beauty space: “I don’t think sustainability is that important for [all] customers, so I think it’s our job to make sustainability cooler,” he said. “We just patented a new refill. You can break on both sides. It’s 100 per cent glass. We’re selling a lot now because people are excited to do it and put on TikTok, which is amazing.”
456 Skin’s Michoux then spoke about the science of skin tones, and the processes that go into creating a brand and a range of products for BIPOC consumers who are often underserved by the industry: “The skincare-racial equity gap is not a unicorn. It’s real and it’s been there for a long time,” Michoux said. “We started as a research project, then the brand 456 Skin came after. We had the clear intention to tackle the needs of darker skin tones and we were coming from a place of a glaring lack of data.” She spoke about the “profound purpose” and “personal empathy” she had with consumers who were being neglected by the beauty industry, and their work with the LVMH research centre in the French city of Orléans, eventually leading to the creation of their own lab unit so they could own the manufacturing process for the product range. “From having that independence, we were actually able to design a new formulation philosophy on the physiology of darker skin tones, which is our foundation — to research, develop and test high performance products for darker skin tones.”
Citi’s Anderson, offering her analytical view on the industry, touched on new tools the industry is using to improve standards and product ranges — for example, the use of AI to analyse the impact of climate and other environmental factors on skin, resulting in new product solutions for different geographies. Thinking about other opportunities, she added: “One of the things I’m seeing is an increased opportunity for partnership and collaboration,” and went on to cite collaborations during the release of Disney’s live action film, The Little Mermaid, which featured a Black actress in the title role. Anderson linked this to the impact of cultural nuances on the expansion prospects of brands, as well as distribution strategies. “Any time you’re talking about going into a new market, there has to be that demand for the product… We often talk about the travel retail channel, which has often been a carrier of brands from one region to the next.”
E-commerce expert Cuhadar, who has spent time leading digital retail or several major fashion and beauty brands, expanded on these regional nuances. “There’s an amplified interest in understanding the types of consumers in different regions,” she said. “Starting with APAC… We see the demand still for skincare, and skincare for the APAC consumers is not necessarily the representation of a product, but the representation of a ritual, which has been inherited through traditions, so hence it is a multi-step routine.” Given this specific behaviour, she added that brands therefore need to ensure that omnichannel journeys support these routines to make it easy for consumers to embed products into their habits. Looking to North America and other more established regions, she said: “Here the consumer is more adventurous and curious to try something new.” Therefore, demonstrating that novelty within the discovery path is important.
In our keynote, in conversation with Vogue Business Paris correspondent Laure Guilbault, Stéphane Rinderknech, chairman and CEO of hospitality excellence (which includes Belmond and Cheval Blanc) and beauty at LVMH (including Parfums Christian Dior, Guerlain, Givenchy and Kenzo) spoke about beauty’s resilience in the current economic climate marked by inflation, the rise of ultra premiumisation, and negotiating the market in China. “Beauty is a very resilient category. Sometimes, it does not hit the roof in terms of growth but it’s very consistent. Beauty is probably the last thing you’re going to cut,” he said. “Luxury beauty is booming”, he said, citing high-end fragrances as an example of the ultra premiumisation of the sector. “It’s really about the quality of the raw materials that you use and how you showcase the product. There is definitely a big trend.” But, he cautioned, “I think that we need to be careful not to do premiumisation for the sake of premiumisation. We always need to go back to the consumer and think what’s in it for her or for him because at the end, they are the ultimate judges.”
Rinderknech also remarked on the Chinese market specifically and how it “changes so fast”, and the nuances of leadership in the region. “Usually, in leadership, you teach people how to do things because you’ve done it yourself. It’s the principle of seniority as you grow. In China, you can’t lead like that because it’s all new and you’ve not done it yourself. So, it’s all about empowerment, giving direction and the mission.”
The second panel discussion focused on investing in innovation and strategies for success. A cross-section of experts participated, with Geoffrey Perez, global head of luxury at Snapchat;
Saurabh R Gupta, global sales head for healthcare, consumer and wellness group, treasury and trade solutions, Citi; and Adam Nait, digital and social media director at Courrèges. Citi’s Gupta started by saying that when it comes to innovation, there are two key changes: one is around the delivery of channel innovation and the way consumers are able to access fashion and beauty in the new world of e-commerce, social commerce and fast moving to metaverse commerce. The second is in core product innovation, for example the rise of biotextiles such as Pinatex (pineapple leather) and Mylo (mushroom leather), that would materially change the supply chain in the future.
Thinking about how shoppers are discovering products, Perez spoke about the evolution of augmented reality in the last three to five years: “Today, you can see Dior’s website, Chanel’s website, Balenciaga’s website — most of them have AR try-on available for accessories, eyewear, makeup.” He also spoke about the challenges of Covid and how hard luxury brands were hit — already playing catch-up in a Web2 environment, and now needing to catch up with what’s coming next. “In the middle of the pandemic… we launched the first sneaker try-on on Snapchat. The first sneaker try-on was with Gucci and it reached 19 million people across the globe,” he said. “How much time would it take to get 19 million people into the Gucci stores to try on sneakers? It took us a couple of weeks. So, this is what’s powerful about augmented reality.”
Meanwhile, Nait, who recently joined Courrèges from Saint Laurent, spoke about the agility of working with a smaller luxury brand that is scaling up and going through transformation, and also the resources needing to drive innovation. “Opening TikTok, opening Snapchat — were not part of the conversation when I joined, because there were not enough people, there was not enough time to work on engaging audiences with other platforms,” he said. “[But,] there’s a new director-level structure in place to keep the brand and the momentum going towards digital innovation.” Now that the infrastructure is there, the brand is rolling out innovative technologies across its ranges that elevate the customer experience: “Since Nicolas [Di Felice, creative director of Courrèges] joined [in September 2020] and started his first collection, every single piece that we are selling is equipped with an NFT allowing you to create a digital passport. So, any piece that you buy from Courrèges will not only allow you to see if it’s a fake when you buy it later on, but will also allow you to see the lifecycle of the product, understanding when it was first bought, resold or repurchased.” The brand is also experimenting with AR/VR and tools offered by social platforms in China.
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The event concluded with a fireside chat with Adrian Corsin, managing director of Mugler fashion. Corsin touched on the return of Mugler to the Paris fashion week calendar (the Mugler show is on 2 October) after switching to a see-now-buy-now model during the pandemic. “When there was strong acceleration on digital during Covid, it really made sense to adopt a see-now-buy-now model. Fast forward, there are very few brands I think that have continued with the model,” he said. “For us, it came down to really one big thing: creativity. When you're developing a see-now-buy-now collection, the creative director is working on that collection six months to a year even before. When so much is about capturing the zeitgeist, it’s really hard for a creative team. Also, just as you scale, the regular fashion [business] model just helps to make sure that you’re serving clients in a really effective way. So, it was natural for us to make that move at this stage of development of the house.”
Corsin also revealed that the brand will launch its first connected handbag in October. “We’re launching these new smart bags that will be linked on the blockchain, that are reinventing certification but also completely the CRM part. It’s really easy and simple; I can explain it to my mum or my grandmother.”
The event ended with networking over cocktails and canapés and the announcement of the Vogue Business Beauty Index, which will be published in October.
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