Designers are Expanding Past Just Clothing

Words Uyi Ilenbs

Dior

Many luxury designers have expanded their product lines past clothing over the years, with beauty at the forefront. Fashion and beauty are synonymous industries, so it’s no surprise when fashion labels began introducing cosmetics to their roster. The last decade has seen a spike in this movement but even with esteemed brands such as Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Givenchy, Valentino are only now joining this new-age style of the designer brand. Although, this delay to conform could have possibly positioned Valentino at an advantage with front row seats watching the evolution of the Fashion X Beauty movement prior to jumping on board. 

Competitors Competing
High street brands have picked up on the move and have become a one-stop-shop for all things fashion beauty and lifestyle. Brands such as Zara recently announced they are adding beauty to their product lines, going head to head in the race to the height of the all-inclusive shopping experience. Arguably the comparison of luxury fashion brands and high street retailers would usually be a far cry but in the world of cosmetics, products that meet customer needs usually are the brands that get the purchase. With these new lines, a lot of luxury designer brands are not producing their own cosmetics, using beauty conglomerates such as L’Oréal, COTY, or Estee Lauder to produce their products. Luxury brands using these companies to produce their cosmetics works as an equaliser in the realm of cosmetics. Customers slowly started noticing that many of the luxury cosmetics, high street retailers and drugstore products have similar to identical formulas. 

Diffusions
So why do these luxury brands still see a high volume of purchases? Well, the focus for these luxury brands becomes how do they build brand loyalty. For luxury fashion labels, a cosmetic line can be used as a form of diffusion brand. Ultimately offering the luxury experience, designer fashion labels are able to share their brand identity across cosmetic product lines without the weighty price tag their fashion apparel comes with. Dior is popular for merging its cosmetics and fashion apparel. They feature their cosmetic bags with the latest and trendiest Dior prints and logo. The internet has introduced online trends consisting of DIY hacks for turning designer cosmetics gift packages into luxury designer handbags. Customers are purchasing the latest Dior lipstick collection that comes in a luxury designer bag, this is a two-for- one deal that the fashion labels could not offer by themselves. 

Cosmetics open a new audience for these designer fashion labels, for these high- priced brands the exclusivity factor isn’t one they would like to reject. This becomes difficult in the cosmetics industry where ingredient lists are on show and conglomerates are producing competing products and brands. Similar to fashion apparel the ocean is vast and shopping habits differ for each customer's needs. The new age Luxury designer brand will have multiple arms covering fashion beauty and lifestyle. Brands that do not adapt are more susceptible to reduced brand possibilities and will fall behind the ever-growing industry.