Estée Lauder partners with Balmain to launch new beauty line

By Alessandro Carrara 26-Sep-2022

Retail

The beauty range from Estée Lauder and luxury French fashion house Balmain is expected to launch globally in autumn 2024

Guillaume Jese has been promoted to President of Global Brands and will oversee Balmain

The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) has partnered with Balmain to create a range of beauty products for the French luxury fashion house.

The Balmain Beauty collaboration is expected to launch globally in autumn 2024, but exact details about the collection have not yet been revealed.

ELC said its goal with the partnership is to “transform the luxury and couture beauty world” through “exceptional design” and “singular craftsmanship”.

Balmain was founded in 1945 by Pierre Balmain, and operates stores in New York City, London, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami and in Milan.

The company’s Creative Director, Olivier Rousteing, will work closely with ELC on the new collaboration.

“For over ten years, my Balmain team and I have been pushing the boundaries of what is possible in fashion,” said Rousteing.

“From the very beginning, the team at The Estée Lauder Companies made it very clear that they support Balmain’s distinctive vision, as well as our goal of disrupting the global luxury beauty paradigm.

“Knowing that — and knowing that Estée Lauder is the paragon of excellence — well, I can’t wait to start working with them.”

Guillaume Jesel has also been promoted to President of Global Brands effective immediately.

She will oversee both US luxury fashion brand Tom Ford Beauty, as well as Balmain Beauty, and will report to Jane Hertzmark Hudis, Executive Group President.

Guillaume will continue to play a key role in prospective acquisitions and investment strategy for ELC’s luxury business development.

“Balmain and Olivier Rousteing are visionary forces in global fashion,” said Jesel.

“We look forward to working with them to expand the Balmain universe and forge a new space in luxury beauty that clearly reflects the strong, inclusive, and fearless spirit of the brand.”

ELC’s collaboration with another fashion luxury brand comes after rumours emerged that it was in talks to acquire Tom Ford, in a potential US$3bn deal.

The acquisition would mark ELC’s first foray into the world of fashion, after primarily focusing on pure beauty throughout its existence.

An unnamed source informed The Wall Street Journal about discussions for the sale, which come after the fashion brand was placed on the market earlier this year.

Investment banking company Goldman Sachs was brought on at the time to handle the sale of the company, Bloomberg reported in July.

The owner of MAC and Clinique also reported sales of $4.25bn for its third quarter 2022 results in May, putting it in a strong position to acquire the business.