Retail Unwrapped from The Robin Report

Big Beauty Bets: Louis Vuitton and Old Navy

Dana Wood — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 04:01:00 +0000

If ever we were at a high-low inflection point, it would be now. To unpack that, let’s start high and then go low. While it doesn’t get more bougie than Vuitton’s new venture – just check out the monogram “accessories,” like the pint-size double-zipper lipstick bag for $870 – it’s also easy to see how its unique positioning could give it a leg up on the competition and help capture a piece of the $450 billion global beauty pie. This isn’t just luxury, it’s “ultra luxury,” and it was crafted to be collectible.

We should not normalize these LV prices. Whether we can afford it or not, it’s makeup. It’s not a bag that lasts for decades. We put it on, wash it off, and then it expires. Hermès doesn’t even charge this much. Absolutely insane.

Keepsake, Monogrammed & “Un-Dupable” Beauty

With its stratospheric price points (even the lip balms are $160), Vuitton is raising the bar on luxury beauty and hoping to push the new collection into keepsake territory. Adding to its staying power – not to mention sustainability? It’s all refillable, doubling down on the notion of keepsake beauty.

Developed in collaboration with British mega makeup artist Dame Pat McGrath, who holds the title of Creative Director for this venture, the collection is centered around lips and eyes. Why? According to McGrath, a legend in the editorial, runway and advertising sectors, lips and eyes help consumers “create the full character.” Well, ok.

There are 55 LV Rouge lipsticks — 27 satin finish, 28 matte finish – all broken out by color categories: Nudes, Roses, Pinks, Plums, Reds and Oranges. The names, at least in the ones in English on the French powerhouse’s U.S. site, feel a little all over the place. Though some are descriptive, à la Tonic Orange and Rose Eugénie, others, like Rumbling Storm and Chasing Dreams, are more nebulous.

The wildly expensive LV Baume lip balms, 10 shades in total, range from clear to a dark burgundy brown. Infused with a raspberry mint scent developed by Vuitton master perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, they’re pumped with hyaluronic acid and shea butter and deliver benefits like 48-hour hydration and a “smoothing effect.”

What can I say about the eyeshadow quads besides the fact that they’re available in eight colorways and are straight-up stunning? For that price, they should be. And did I mention the five-piece lip and eye brush set for $1140? Now those are some tools of the trade.

While the entire LV collection landed with a splash, the biggest buzz has emerged around the insanely adorable “Beauty Accessories.” Launched in both the house’s famous Monogram and Damier patterns, the mini cosmetics LV trunks were also launched in limited edition hues like Tender Bliss (a bubblegum pink), Monogram Rouge (a rich burgundy) and Rouge Louis (a fiery red). As testament to the power of LV reinventing beauty keepsakes, the more brightly colored items have already sold out on the U.S. website.

These cosmetics keepsake social media superstars, which have been all over TikTok and Instagram since the collection’s August debut, range in price from a Mattifying Paper Case for $560 to a Trunk Lipstick Case for $2990. If the Trunk Lipstick Case houses a single lippie and clocks in at nearly three grand, one shudders to think how much the five-lipstick number would cost.

The Other End of the Spectrum: Old Navy

How do we know Gap Inc. CEO Richard Dickson is dead serious about getting Old Navy’s new beauty venture off to a flying start? He’s tapped John Demsey as an advisor. The ultimate finger-on-the-pulse guy, Demsey, who was pushed out of an illustrious, multi-decade career at Estée Lauder Companies over one questionable Instagram post, has a recognized knack for knowing what people want exactly when they want it. Is Demsey several decades older than the Gen Z and millennial core target Old Navy is targeting with this new master plan? Yes. Does it matter? Not in the slightest.

Old Navy’s merchandising mantra, “Affordable But Curated,” seems to be leading the new beauty venture, to be launched this fall. According to a statement released in early September, here’s what we do know: A mix of Old Navy-branded merchandise and a curation of under $25 SKUs from Gen Z beloved brands like E.l.f., Mario Badescu and Tony Moly, will kick off with a “test-and-learn” roll-out to 150 Old Navy doors this fall.

As a deeper way to gauge feedback, a handful of those 150 doors will have dedicated shops-in-shop manned by dedicated Beauty Associates. If all goes well, Old Navy will expand the beauty program to its 1100+ doors throughout 2026.

For what it’s worth, I polled my informal focus group, aka my 19-year-old daughter and her fellow hyper-groomed Florida State University sorority sisters, about whether they might be lured into Old Navy’s new beauty department. The consensus? Probably not. They don’t shop there for clothes, and unless Old Navy will be serving up something they can’t find at Sephora or Ulta, they’re guessing it won’t be carving time out of their packed schedules. On my end, I’ll be on standby at the Old Navy at Tyrone Mall in St. Petersburg. After all, I love an elevated beauty bargain as much as the next savvy consumer.

What These New Ventures Reveal

Unless you’re in management or on the boards of these two publicly traded companies, it’s impossible to know for sure the true rationales behind these new beauty ventures. But here’s what we can tell you about the business behind these beauty launches.

Vuitton is worried about how viable and covetable mass market makeup is becoming and wants to plant a stake in the luxury sand with ultra-high quality, design-forward and refillable products that will ostensibly last for years.
Vuitton is anxious to provide more entry level price points for aspirational consumers and is piggy-backing on the strength of its massive small leather goods category.
Old Navy CEO Richard Dickson is keen on boosting the retailer’s lagging relevancy. By tasking well-regarded designer Zac Posen (Executive VP and Creative Director for Gap Inc. and Chief Creative Officer for Old Navy) to craft a sharp new handbag collection, Dickson took the first step in that direction. Now, with Demsey adding his expert two cents, it’s on to cosmetics.
Old Navy is hoping to steal a slice of the beauty-curation pie essentially owned by Urban Outfitters in the last decade-plus.

Closing Thoughts & Parting Shots

As luck would have it, one of my colleagues at The Robin Report, Glyn Atwal, tasked his students at Burgundy School of Business with diving into an in-depth case study of Louis Vuitton La Beauté.

A fascinating read, the report doesn’t shy away from laying out the hard truths. In a section dubbed “Negative Consumer Commentary About Louis Vuitton La Beauté,” Atwal’s students corralled a handful of brutal soundbites from Reddit.

Here’s just one: “We should not normalize these prices. Whether we can afford it or not, it’s makeup. It’s not a bag that lasts for decades. We put it on, wash it off, and then it expires. Hermès doesn’t even charge this much. Absolutely insane.”

As Atwal’s students sum it up, “Ultimately, Louis Vuitton’s expansion into the beauty market is a risky move to diversify its offerings and establish a foothold in a growing, resilient industry. By leveraging its brand recognition, partnering with industry leaders like Pat McGrath, and prioritizing product innovation, Louis Vuitton seeks to challenge traditional notions of luxury. However, it faces the tough challenge of justifying its ultra-luxury prices at a time when consumers increasingly question the true value of brands, placing greater emphasis on authenticity and quality beyond just a well-known name.”

Personally, I find myself more intrigued by the Old Navy beauty venture, especially given the oceans of ink spilled recently on Dickson’s latest moves across not only that brand, but Gap as a whole. From The Hollywood Reporter and Vogue Business to Puck and Business of Fashion, industry-watchers are tracking Dickson’s every move. So are we.

Lensing out from Old Navy to Gap Inc. more broadly, Dickson will be leaning on Demsey to provide beauty insight across all brands. Demsey’s counterpart in accessories? None other than Coach turnaround king Reed Krakoff. By bringing Krakoff and his impeccable, design-forward taste into the equation, I have zero doubt the merch will look incredible.

But will it sell? That remains to be seen.

Dove Takes an Anti-AI Oath

Dana Wood — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 04:01:00 +0000

Of all the people to lead me down the Big Beauty AI rabbit hole, I wasn’t expecting Malcolm Gladwell. But then he swung by the global IBM Research headquarters in Yorktown Heights, New York, to de-brief with two major L’Oréal honchos – Matthieu Cassier and Gabriel Bertoli – about the 1.5-year-old AI collaboration between the two corporate giants, and then it was off to the races.

In its new ad campaign, “The Code,” Dove explores the explosive impact of AI in shaping perception and estimates that up to a whopping 90 percent of the content consumers currently engage with is generated by AI. And with AI-generated imagery in particular, the depiction of beauty is obviously skewed toward an unobtainable level of perfection. Dove is renewing its vow to champion real beauty, with a commitment to never use AI to create or distort women’s images.

AI’s Beauty Play

Cassier and Bertoli, both long-time L’Oréal guys, hold similar sounding but slightly different titles. Cassier is VP Research & Innovation, Chief Transformation & Digital Officer. Bertoli is Chief Digital Transformation Officer, Research & Innovation, and is also an AI professor at the Paris-based ESCP Business School. In other words, Cassier and Bertoli already had their fingers on the pulse before Gladwell came knocking for the latest episode of the podcast Smart Talks With IBM.

Dubbed “L’Oréal and IBM: AI-Powered Beauty,“ the episode is a fun, sometimes playful peek into the way the world’s biggest beauty company has been harnessing the power of AI. As the three men toggle between serious business and bravely applying long-wearing Maybelline hits like Vinyl Ink lipstick and Superstay 24-hour compact powder foundation to their faces, it becomes instantly clear that legacy beauty companies have a massive leg up on even the hottest digital-native brands.

The legacy superpower? Data. Decades and decades of information about not only their proprietary product formulations and the ingredients that fuel them, but their also customers as well. Sure, Rhode may gotten itself acquired for a cool billion, but it hasn’t been in business for 116 years like L’Oréal.

Eschewing One-Size-Fits-All AI

Of course, L’Oréal is not alone in recognizing that treasure troves of company-specific info bytes can be paired with powerful AI tools to shape future business. Take Estée Lauder Cos. for example. Although it’s pairing with Microsoft and not IBM, it too is deploying AI to shorten the timeline of getting personalized, customer-specific products to market, as well as streamlining internal ops.

Though she recently stepped down from her roles as Chief Data Officer and Executive VP Enterprise Marketing, Jane Lauder was a major catalyst in helping EL Cos. leverage the power of AI. At a conference staged last year by The Next Web — “Beyond Skin Deep: AI’s Impact on Beauty and Bias” — Lauder told the crowd that while she knows people don’t readily associate the 75-year-old EL Cos. with technology, in fact it drives every product it makes. “Beauty is one of the most personal [consumer goods] categories,” she said. “And personalization is driven by data. That’s how we bring AI into this whole equation.”

After studying how other industries work with AI, Lauder developed what she calls “The 5 Ts” – five takeaways that can help companies integrate the constantly changing technology:

Create an internal task force to ensure all employees stay on the same page in terms of AI use
Ensure trust that all company data remains secure and protected
Hire the most AI-savvy talent
Train senior leaders so they know the right questions to ask
Trial, i.e., keep iterating with AI until the desired outcome is achieved

For massive global beauty conglomerates, off-the-shelf AI offerings won’t cut it. They demand – and can pay for – custom technology shaped by their own unique needs.

Fulfilling Both Current and Future Needs

In an extremely in-depth January 2025 article on its website, McKinsey & Company guesstimated that GenAI could bolster the global economy by up to $10 billion through adaptation by the beauty industry alone. While the research firm didn’t pinpoint a timeframe, no matter when it happens, it’s still a lot of coin, even for a consumer goods sector that’s already expected to garner approximately $677 billion this year.

Dividing AI-fluent beauty companies into two camps – “Takers” that buy off-the-shelf technology and “Shapers” that bake in their own proprietary data – McKinsey rattled off multiple ways in which AI can change the game. Here are just a few:

Trend identification and social listening
Micro-segmentation based on consumer data
Summarized customer information for retail sales associates
Creative content versioning
Media optimization
Rapid package-concept development
Store design and planning
Code automation

As for internal ops, McKinsey says AI can help with all of that, including talent search, recruiting, performance analytics, onboarding and sales and customer support.

Core Ways Beauty Consumers Are Tapping AI Tools

When it comes to product purchases, there are three main ways beauty retailers are already deploying AI: virtual try on, skin analysis, and product personalization.

Virtual Try On: Since it’s largely confined to makeup shade selection, virtual try on has its limitations. But for anyone who has wasted hard-earned cash on a lipstick or blush that looked great in the clear package or box shade swatch, but god awful in real life, having the option to “try before you buy” has its benefits.

Of course, consumers can’t assess texture via virtual try on, or how well a particular makeup product performs. But they can at least get a sense of whether a color works with their skin tone. And in doing so, possibly save themselves a few bucks. Not surprisingly, Gen Zers, who are no fans of in-store “shade-matching” by beauty advisors, are especially keen on virtual try on.

Skin Analysis: According to Precedence Research, the global AI skin analysis market is sitting at roughly $1.8 billion right now and is expected to jump to a not inconsiderable $7 billion by 2034. Evidently, AI skin analysis helps consumers not only assess the condition of their complexion, but also serves up product recommendations to address whatever it is that ails them: fine lines, dark spots, acne, etc. In addition, some AI tools can help consumers track progress over time.

Like so many other professionals, I’m sure dermatologists are positively thrilled that AI tools are performing tasks that have long been their bread and butter.

But guess what the more forward-thinking and tech-savvy skin docs are now doing? Incorporating AI skin analysis tools into their practices. After all, if these tech platforms can save time and “recommend” more and more products sold in the retail area of a derm’s office, why not?

Product Personalization: Brands like Prose and Function Of Beauty have shaped their entire business models around having consumers fill out extensive online questionnaires prior to purchase. From preferences around shade, fragrance and product texture to specific ingredients that target a consumer’s precise needs and beauty goals, if executed well, personalization not only helps stem the overwhelm attached to the sheer size of the market it also instills loyalty. Talk about a win-win for brand and consumer alike. After all, who doesn’t love a bespoke experience? And from a brand perspective, who doesn’t love a repeat purchase?

How Dove Is Still Keeping It Real

In its decades-long quest to celebrate “real” women – curves, freckles, frizzy hair and all – Dove has made it its mission to help beauty consumers learn to love themselves exactly as they are. In its new ad campaign, “The Code,” the beauty giant explores the explosive impact of AI in shaping perception and estimates that up to a whopping 90 percent of the content consumers currently engage with is generated by AI.

And with AI-generated imagery in particular, the depiction of beauty is obviously skewed toward an unobtainable level of perfection. This isn’t sitting well with Dove, nor, one assumes, its multinational parent, Unilever. “The rise of AI poses one of the greatest threats to real beauty in the last 20 years, meaning representation is more important than ever,” reads some of The Code copy. “That’s why Dove is renewing its vow to champion real beauty, with a commitment to never using AI to create or distort women’s images.”

To help like-minded brands and consumers turn back the AI bias tide, Dove has generously supplied a 72-page PDF of its “Real Beauty Prompt Playbook” on its website. Targeted to “creators of any kind, plus parents, guardians and anyone interested in learning more about prompting,” the playbook is an anti-AI manifesto of sorts, and a much needed one at that.

Taking Cues From Next Gens

No matter how laudable Dove’s efforts are to turn back the beauty bias tide, the fact is, AI isn’t going anywhere. And rather than try to resist it, beauty brands and retailers should probably take a closer look at how Gen Z is deploying it.

Digital-savvy to the nth degree, Gen Z gathers its lengthy list of product recommendations from TikTok and Snapchat and then dives right into AI for custom-fitting. According to beauty-tech purveyors Revieve, 58 percent of Gen Z relies on selfie-based AI product try ons, such as its industry-first digital hair color experience or its makeup advisor. And it’s not just a lip or eyeshadow shade; in many cases, it’s an entire “look” crafted from multiple makeup products.

Personalized skin analysis is another fixation for younger beauty savants. Because they’re highly unlikely to head to a dermatologist at the first sign of skin issues, they’re tapping AI for complexion help and to research ingredients and formats they’re wary about, such as face oils.

While beauty mega-retailers Sephora and Ulta have had solid AI games for years now, and Revieve already has a lengthy list of brands and merchants using its technologies (Shiseido, Murad, Living Proof and Walgreens, to name just a few), it’s probably time that every single player in the space to step up to the AI plate. Take a cue from Gen Z: we’re never going back to a time when the customer was completely disempowered; tap into the AI technology that’s literally at our fingertips.

Ulta Beauty Scales Internationally with Space NK

Mark Faithfull — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 04:01:00 +0000

Ulta Beauty’s acquisition of U.K. retailer Space NK from its private equity owner Manzanita Capital not only looks like a great fit for both parties but heats up a global beauty market that is increasingly the domain of a few major players.

It also suggests that Ulta Beauty is not in the mood to just hang around in the States. Not only does the acquisition boost Ulta Beauty’s ability to challenge Sephora, Amazon, TikTok Shop, and U.K. player and Walgreens subsidiary Boots in international markets, it brings the brand to the global table in one deft move.

Space NK is still growing at pace. Last year, its earnings increased 34 percent to $265 million, powered by growth in its under-25 consumer cohort, the retailer’s fastest-growing demographic. Even with the return of Sephora in the U.K., and the growth of Boots, the domestic Walgreens-owned chain, which has also pivoted hard into beauty, Space NK has retained customers with its loyalty program and differentiated offer.

Expansionist Aspirations

Indeed, Ulta Beauty has long eyed international expansion, but the company was only too aware that establishing its presence outside the U.S. from scratch could be slow and expensive. In Space NK, founded with a store in London’s Covent Garden in 1993 by Nicky Kinnaird, Ulta Beauty inherits a current base of 83 U.K. and Ireland stores, with 10 more slated to open, plus a strong online presence offering an immediate and scalable platform.

At the same time, the two brands neatly complement each other. Space NK has built its reputation on curating innovative, primarily high-end labels and offers a blend of global and indie products. That caché has largely eluded Ulta Beauty, despite all its success with a primarily mass‑market portfolio. Space NK has also achieved a strong brand following among younger shoppers, giving Ulta Beauty access to a new demographic.

Space NK Niche

Indeed, Space NK excels in executing hyper-local, personalized in-store experiences alongside digital integration, and Ulta Beauty will no doubt seek any operational and experiential learnings it can import from its new subsidiary. For its part, Space NK will be allowed to continue operating independently under its existing management with CEO Andy Lightfoot and maintain its brand and customer experience ethos.

That’s good news for shoppers, as Space NK has proven that it can excel at high-touch, localized selling, and operates stores in prominent locations like Battersea Power Station in London and will soon open on Oxford Street adjacent to the new IKEA urban store at Oxford Circus. Many of Space NK’s stores are located in smaller, upscale towns around the U.K. or in upscale London postcodes. With its reputation as a curator of products and services. Space NK also has strong relationships with some of beauty’s coolest up-and-coming brands.

Buying Space NK gives Ulta Beauty immediate access to the U.K. beauty community, plus an established distribution network and rich customer data. In reciprocity, some smaller brands from the U.K. might get the chance to launch in the U.S. through the deal, giving Ulta Beauty a point of differentiation and some much-needed international credibility.

Integrating supply chains, ecommerce, data analytics and brand relationships positions both firms to scale faster, with Space NK benefiting from Ulta Beauty’s far deeper pockets. Ulta Beauty will gain instant reach with new consumers, and its well-oiled operations will support Space NK’s store rollout, loyalty program and ecommerce growth. Space NK’s personalization tools could feed back to improve Ulta Beauty’s domestic offerings, helping reinvigorate its underwhelming collaboration with Target.

Ulta Beauty Goes Global

Ulta Beauty President and CEO Kecia Steelman, who was only appointed to the top job in January 2025, has attempted to reinvigorate the beauty giant by launching a strategy emphasizing U.S. consolidation, an experiential in-store focus, plus international growth.

Meantime rumors that Space NK was courting buyers had gathered pace for more than a year and the company had already refocused its operations, selling off its U.S. operations to distribution firm PCA Companies in 2024, while also investing in new stores in the U.K. Steelman cited Space NK’s brand strength and established team, plus Ulta Beauty’s need to enter the region through an established banner, as she stressed that the company was eager to learn from Space NK’s success in the U.K. as it seeks formulas to expand its international presence.

And she has wasted little time in widening its global scope, following a joint venture with Grupo Axo in Mexico slated to launch in August and a licensing agreement with franchise giant Alshaya Group in the Middle East, with stores expected to open in Dubai and Kuwait by the end of the year. The acquisition of Space NK could be used as a platform into continental Europe, tapping adjacent markets once U.K. integration is established.

Ulta Beauty also plans to launch an Amazon-style marketplace this year despite a cooling market. Indie brands – not traditionally Ulta Beauty’s strong suit – might just attract shoppers into its stores if it can leverage Space NK’s prestige to plug an important gap. “International expansion is an integral part of our ‘Ulta Beauty Unleashed’ plan, and the acquisition of Space NK offers a unique and strategically compelling opportunity to enter the growing U.K. market with a successful and growing brand. Along with our initiatives in Mexico and the Middle East, we are creating a broader platform for Ulta Beauty to unlock long-term, profitable growth,” said Steelman at the announcement.

Ulta Beauty Reset

The acquisition also comes in the midst of a major management shift: Steelman, previously President and Chief Operating Officer, took the top CEO job; Lauren Brindley, formerly of the U.K.’s Revolution Beauty was appointed Chief Merchandising and Digital Officer; Kelly Mahoney was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer; Amiee Bayer-Thomas took the newly-created role of Chief Retail Officer; and Chris Lialos recently took over from Paula Oyibo as CFO.

The management shakeup came after slowing market share gains, prompting Steelman to announce in April that the retailer had paused opening new shop-in-shops in Target. That deal, inked in 2020, has seemingly failed to deliver on expected revenues, especially compared with the success of Sephora within Kohl’s. Despite rolling out in over 600 Target stores, both retailers announced that, for the time being, they are focusing on leveraging those locations rather than expanding them any further.

Fiscal Red Flags

Ulta Beauty is the largest specialty U.S. beauty retailer and operates 1,451 retail stores across 50 states. But for its fiscal year, it is expecting at best 1.5 percent sales growth. That is a warning flag reflecting tightening consumer belts and supply chain disruptions as a result of the on/off U.S. trade tariffs. Steelman’s recent moves are an attempt to kickstart growth and increase its competitive advantage against rivals Sephora and Amazon.

Despite its small geographical footprint, the U.K. is a pivotal beauty market, and Ulta Beauty’s choice to buy an existing operation mirrors the re-entry of Sephora into the U.K. through the acquisition of local e-tailer Feelunique in 2023 after a 17-year absence, following its ignominious exit in 2005, having opened just six stores in five years.

Space NK is still growing at pace. Last year, its earnings increased 34 percent to $265 million, powered by growth in its under-25 consumer cohort, the retailer’s fastest-growing demographic. Even with the return of Sephora in the U.K., and the growth of Boots, the domestic Walgreens-owned chain, which has also pivoted hard into beauty, Space NK has retained customers with its loyalty program and differentiated offer.

Buying an 83-strong chain, which is minuscule to the point that Ulta Beauty’s stock price hardly budged a notch on the news, is more than the sum of its parts. Space NK could be the springboard for Ulta Beauty to take on the likes of Sephora, Boots, Amazon and the slew of expansionist Korean brands. The question is how far it can leap.

Leonard Lauder, Requiem for a Gentleman

Dana Wood — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 04:01:00 +0000

Heard. Seen. Respected. Valued. If there’s truth to the oft-quoted Maya Angelou adage that people remember you more for how you made them feel than what you said or did, all the loving tributes to Leonard Lauder posted and shared in recent weeks support this observation in spades. The elder son of Estée Lauder was not merely excellent at deeply, thoughtfully listening to people from all walks of life, he shaped the entire beauty industry over the course of his multi-decade career.

People who dealt with Lauder day-in and day-out give testament to the fact that his old school, respect-based management style is a true rarity. There are some who met Leonard Lauder only on a single occasion but their memories help flesh out the bigger picture of this once-in-a-lifetime guy.

Before diving into what some of the biggest players in the business had to say about Leonard Lauder, let’s look at the highlight reel of what he achieved for the brand and company his mother established back in 1946.

After a boyhood spent helping pack Estée Lauder boxes, Leonard, a native New Yorker, did a stint in the U.S. Navy followed by attendance at Columbia University, where he scooped up a business degree.
Landing at Mom’s company in 1958 with the then-grand notion of taking the U.S.-based business global, Lauder spent the next four decades doing precisely that.
Steadily rising through the ranks as President, CEO and Chairman, he is widely credited with the EL Co’s move into Europe and Asia, is viewed as the mastermind of one of its biggest brands – Clinique – and, with the acquisitions of Aveda, MAC, Bobbi Brown and La Mer, crafted the blueprint of the modern prestige beauty conglomerate.
On the money front, Lauder took the company public in 1995 and saw the coffers build from less than $1 million when he officially joined to a recent market cap of $24.3 billion.

Is EL Cos on a somewhat shakier fiscal ground today? Yes, which we’ve fully covered here, in this look-see at family succession drama. Will that matter to Leonard Lauder’s legacy? Not in the slightest.

Heard About Town

Since his passing on June 14 at age 92, some of the biggest titans in the beauty industry have shared the impact Lauder had on their careers. While the cynic in me is rolling her eyes at some of the blatant relevancy bids attached to a few of these tributes (even the most cursory of encounters with Lauder are being served up as earth-shaking, changed-my-life events), plenty of people who dealt with Lauder day-in and day-out give testament to the fact that his old school, respect-based management style is a true rarity. And yes, there are some who met Leonard Lauder only on a single occasion but their memories help flesh out the bigger picture of this once-in-a-lifetime guy.

Bobbi Brown

Bobbi Brown thanks Lauder for teaching her “everything” (and for her boat). To say Leonard Lauder changed Bobbi Brown’s life is a massive understatement. In 1995, just four years after the successful but not yet ultra-well-known makeup artist had created her line of 10 neutral lipsticks, Lauder saw promise in the venture and snapped it up.

I think we all know what happened next: staggering global success for the Lauder-owned Bobbi Brown brand. As one of the few founders who stuck around after the acquisition ink was dry, Brown eventually became disenchanted with the way her brand was being run by EL Companies. And as soon as her non-compete expired, Brown couldn’t launch her edgy, inclusive and already wildly successful Jones Road brand fast enough. Still, as her memorial Instagram post attests, Brown holds a special place for Leonard Lauder in her heart.

“I’m gutted but grateful,” she wrote. “I learned everything about growing and nurturing a brand from him. He gave me permission to be myself and told me to never ask for permission but to beg for forgiveness, which I often did. Steven [Plofker, Brown’s real estate developer husband] and I built the first freestanding store in Montclair NJ without permission and asked him to come and bless it and he did that with a smile on his face of pride.”

In the handful of images Brown used to illustrate her post, she included one of her sailboat christened TYLL (short for “Thank You, Leonard Lauder”) and ended by saying how grateful she was for the recent three-hour lunch she’d had with the famous makeup mogul and art patron.

Yes, Brown could leave her Lauder-acquired namesake brand and launch a new one that is somehow making her even more famous and successful, and the great man would still make plenty of time for her.

John Demsey

John Demsey applauds Lauder for helping create, “The Greatest Prestige Beauty Company of All Time.” As a former executive group president who exited EL Companies under not-so-great circumstances (code: after 31 years at the corporation, he was forced out after higher-ups freaked out at one of his social media posts), John Demsey could have easily taken a pass at weighing in on Lauder’s legacy.

But given how he felt about the man, there was no way Demsey was letting that happen. “Leonard Lauder was the most brilliant and cultured man I have ever met,” Demsey told Beauty Inc. “He leaves a legacy of vision, creativity, passion, humanity and kindness. We would not have the beauty industry we have today without the foundation he created for over 60 years.”

Ron Robinson

Ron Robinson spotlights Lauder’s massive prescience with Clinique. Long before creating his own thriving and award-winning BeautyStat Cosmetics brand, product formulator Ron Robinson spent years toiling in the development labs at some of the biggest conglomerates in the beauty business.

And in a pretty adorable post on LinkedIn, Robinson recently shared an early 1990s picture of himself, clad in an Estée Lauder Companies T-shirt, hard at work. “As a cosmetic chemist who had the privilege of working with Clinique, I want to express my heartfelt admiration for his legacy,” he wrote. “Leonard Lauder’s vision for Clinique revolutionized the beauty industry, and I feel fortunate to have been a part of it. I was so very, very proud to work for his company.”

Michele Shakeshaft

A makeup artist dubs Lauder a, “People-First Leader.” Yes, lots of industry-famous (and legitimately famous, too) people have shared their thoughts about Lauder in the past month. But I wanted to wrap up by giving a platform to someone who isn’t quite as well-known.

I hadn’t heard of makeup artist Michele Shakeshaft prior to researching this piece, but after punching “Leonard Lauder” into the Instagram search bar, her page – The Style Shakeup – popped up. Here, Shakeshaft, who is affiliated with the Bobbi Brown brand, shared a cherished memory with her 4300 followers. She had the self-expressed “honor” of prepping Lauder for an onscreen appearance in Washington, DC, and loved every minute of it. “I was nervous when I arrived, but my nerves were calmed as soon as I walked in,” Shakeshaft recalled on Instagram. “He wouldn’t let me ask questions about him. He said, ‘You know enough about me, I want to learn about you.’ He was kind, funny, curious and gracious. The world has lost a people-first leader.”

An Anomaly In a Cutthroat World

Having had the good fortune to have interacted with Lauder on many occasions throughout my journalism career, I throw my own two cents in here. He was generous with his time and attention when meeting with me and my fellow beauty editors; at public events his deep love, admiration and delight for his first wife, Evelyn, was palpable.

But what matters, at the end of the day, is that Leonard Lauder may have broken the mold. In a business that’s not known for being especially warm and fuzzy, he was a wildly empathetic leader who nurtured both people and brands alike. Every CEO in America – make that the world – should take a page from his book.