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After decades of supplying makeup artists backstage, Mac Cosmetics emerged onto the runway this season with its own show during London Fashion Week. A few weeks later, L’Oréal Paris hosted its annual runway show under the Eiffel Tower during Paris Fashion Week. Much of the focus was on those walking the shows — Twiggy and new internet sensation Tube Girl at Mac; model Kendall Jenner and actors Viola Davis and Eva Longoria at L’Oréal Paris – and, inevitably, on the clothes they were wearing. Were people paying attention to the beauty?
“Brands benefit from showing during fashion week because of the swell it creates,” says Cassie Cowman, co-founder of beauty consultancy firm View From 32. “[But] fashion week is still about fashion.”
Not everyone agrees. L’Oréal Paris launched its annual showcase in 2017 to spotlight its broad spectrum of products, says Delphine Viguier-Hovasse, global president of L’Oréal Paris. Before that, the brand was too hidden backstage. “We want to show what we do because it was not visible that L’Oréal Paris is a good hair and makeup brand for the people looking at [fashion designers’] défilés [runway shows],” she explains.
The show generated $27.8 million in media impact value (MIV), according to data and analytics firm Launchmetrics, which uses an algorithm to assess the quality and reach of content. This is higher than 98 per cent of Paris Fashion Week shows during the Spring/Summer 2023 season (SS24 data is not available yet). Mac’s generated $1.1 million in MIV — also higher than the London Fashion Week average for SS23.
“Makeup artistry is synonymous with fashion weeks and with their star-studded ambassador lists boasting global visibility, it’s only natural that [beauty brands] are seizing this opportunity to carve their own path with standalone shows,” says Alison Bringé, CMO of Launchmetrics. “Not only does partnering with the voices that resonate give them the opportunity to create compelling content for their owned media channels, but it also positions the brand for maximum visibility thanks to their guest list that ranges from A-listers, to influencers, to the press. This strategic fusion of beauty and fashion amplifies their presence.”
The B2B model has its limitations and is forcing brands to move into the B2C space, argues Thomai Serdari, director of the fashion and luxury MBA at NYU Stern School of Business. “There are many more people analysing the shows and they’re not necessarily doing it backstage,” she says. “As a supplier and B2B business, you’re missing out on creating visibility for the brand. The end consumer, who was looking at fashion shows, didn’t necessarily register that Mac or L’Oréal Paris, etc, was the beauty provider for that particular fashion show. You miss the opportunity to make the brand more visible and to register it in the awareness of the consumer.”
Mac and L’Oréal Paris are not alone in experimenting with their marketing strategies to find new ways to connect with beauty consumers via in-person events. Earlier this year, Sephora announced the return of its beauty festival, Sephoria, which took place in New York in September and in Paris during fashion week. The event featured brands such as Gen Z favourite Sol de Janeiro, Huda Beauty and Charlotte Tilbury. Australian beauty retailer Mecca holds a similar festival, Meccaland, which has previously taken place in Sydney and Melbourne.
However, while these ticketed events are intended to create a buzz, drive sales and form commercial partnerships with the brands who operate booths at the festival, runway shows bring a unique energy by applying the fashion playbook to beauty events, says NYU Stern’s Serdari.
Keeping the beauty in focus
To bring beauty to the forefront of its show, L’Oréal Paris trained cameras on the model’s faces, which were then projected onto a big screen. The show was broadcast live on Instagram as well as YouTube, where it had 1.5 million live views, and has since amassed over 50 million replays. L’Oréal Paris created content backstage during the show featuring its celebrity ambassadors showcasing one or more products used for their makeup and/or hair look, including its Telescopic Mascara (£12) and Color Riche Lipstick 377 ‘Perfect Red’ (£9). This will be used across social channels, to keep momentum going and drive sales.
For the first time this year, L’Oréal Paris also partnered with the online gaming platform Roblox to stream the show, in a bid to connect with younger consumers on the platform.
Viguier-Hovasse notes a spike in sales across China, Thailand, Indonesia and India on the day the latest show was broadcast. “The show sells — we know this — especially in Asia where live stream, e-commerce and social commerce is a large portion of the business.” L’Oréal Paris declined to provide sales figures linked to the show, or comment on how much it cost.
Mac’s London Fashion Week show was timed to the launch of its new Studio Radiance Serum-Powered Foundation (£39), which was the star of the show alongside Mac’s DNA as a brand favoured by makeup artists. “We had every range from minimal looks to high glam, and one thing everybody had in common was [they were wearing] Studio Radiance,” says Aïda Moudachirou-Rébois, SVP of global marketing at Mac Cosmetics.
Over 450 people attended, including musician Charli XCX and influencer Jordyn Woods, and Mac says the show served as a platform to drive engagement and awareness for its first liquid foundation in over a decade. The hashtag #MacStudioRadiance has garnered more than 500 million views on TikTok. “We live streamed the show across our social media channels, and we got so many reactions, people felt like they were a part of it,” says Moudachirou-Rébois. “I think we unlocked backstage and gave a front row seat to all our consumers around the world for them to witness what the brand actually does backstage.”
Presenting a beauty brand’s wider vision and DNA is a smart marketing move, says NYU Stern’s Serdari. “Brands need to create that excitement about a product and also communicate a greater creative vision. I’d say this is where the beauty industry has suffered. This is one of the reasons why it’s so competitive, because we see beauty products precisely as products. We don’t think about the greater creator vision and we don’t think about the brand as a whole. So, it’s really hard for the customer to remain loyal to one particular brand,” she says.
Beauty and fashion: Natural bedfellows
The beauty brands point out that the dual focus on the clothes is intentional, and mutually beneficial. Jenner closed L’Oréal Paris’s show in a custom Ludovic de Saint Sernin dress, featuring over 150,000 Swarovski crystals. L’Oréal Paris has also collaborated with French designers, including Ami, AZ Factory and Coperni.
Doing this allows L’Oréal Paris to align with luxury, despite its accessible price point, says Viguier-Hovasse. “It shows that the brand is both luxury by showing during Paris Fashion Week on the official calendar, and at the same time we are open to the public and our products are super accessible in price.” (L’Oréal Paris is also an official partner of Paris Fashion Week.)
For de Saint Sernin, it was an opportunity to dress a high profile celebrity. “[Kendall Jenner] is one of the greatest models of her generation, so naturally when L’Oréal Paris approached me to dress her for their annual show under the Eiffel Tower, the first thing that came to mind was: ‘We have to do a custom [look],’” he says. “Creating an exclusive look for a moment like this is natural to me because I want it to be memorable. Kendall is rare on the runway, she carefully selects which shows she’s walking, so it’s only fair that I give back that same attention by creating a dress that’s never been seen before.”
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Mac used its show to highlight British designers. Models wore archival pieces from designers such as Harri, David Koma and Chet Lo, among others. “For us it was only natural to use the stage, and moment, of London Fashion Week to bring to life this innovation [Studio Radiance] and have everybody wear it in addition to the amazing clothes that we’re featuring on the runway from our fashion partners,” says Moudachirou-Rébois.
Whether Mac will do another show in the future is still to be determined. “Are we going to do more of this? I don’t know because we like to surprise. We always have to be authentic. We felt like for this foundation it was meeting the moment,” says Moudachirou-Rébois. “It was perfect for that point in time. Who knows what we will do next.”
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