Fashion bloggers are creating new brands and changing the rules of the game. Capitalizing on a popularity acquired on, or amplified by, social networks, a new generation of brand creators is emerging. Fashion phenomenon or new trend?
Glossier, individual beauty.
Glossier is a beauty start-up that has become so popular it can count up to 10,000 people in a queue for lipstick. Emily Weiss started her blog Into The Gloss to talk about beauty as an expression of everyone's individuality, like fashion. However, in talking to women around her, she identified the diktats of beauty, and so the idea came to her to found Glossier. Today, Glossier is a high-profile American cosmetics brand, renowned for the quality of its products, the intelligence of its positioning and its talent for getting people talking.
Huda Beauty, the fashion blogger from Dubai.
Another woman has put Dubai on the global beauty map. Fashion blogger Huda Kattan has gone from a personal blog, launched in 2010, to an international beauty empire that now includes an extensive YouTube catalog and a cosmetics brand, Huda Beauty, whose products are used in make-up tutorials around the world.
Kat Von D, from tattoo artist to cosmetics designer.
Katherine von Drachenberg, much better known as Kat Von D is an American tattoo artist, model, musician, author, entrepreneur and reality TV personality. She first came to prominence with her work as a tattoo artist on TLC's reality show LA Ink, which premiered in the U.S. in August 2007 and ran for four seasons. She has since also made a name for herself with her cosmetics line, launched in 2008. Kat Von D created and launched a make-up line for Sephora that year. In June 2016, she announced in her husky voice that all products in the line would be reformulated to be vegan. The ultimate provocation, she launched a limited-edition lipstick named Project Chimps, of which 20 % of sales were donated to Project Chimps, an organization dedicated to the care of chimpanzees.
Fad or new trend? Whatever the case may be, bloggers are showing how to convert notoriety acquired via social networks into hard cash. Will bloggers outlast the products they launch?
Article written by Bertrand JouvenotProfessor of Fashion Marketing at ISAL Paris.
