Bottling Up Sunshine: Jacquemus Said in Beauty Deal With Puig
Simon Porte Jacquemus, the fashion designer who paints a tantalizing picture of the Provençale lifestyle, is bringing his sun-kissed brand vision to the beauty universe, WWD has learned.
And he is partnering with Puig, the Spanish fragrance and fashion house renowned for its storytelling approach and brand-building prowess, according to market sources.
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Contacted by WWD about the new venture and business tie-up, Jacquemus had no comment.
It is understood the project is slated for introduction sometime in 2022. Details about the first product volley could not immediately be learned.
Given the heat of the Jacquemus fashion business, his fervent social media following and such famous devotees as Kendall Jenner, Rihanna and the Hadid sisters, the designer’s foray into beauty is likely to attract widespread interest.
The French designer boasts 3.8 million followers on Instagram, reminding them recently that he founded his brand in 2009 with a photo of an oval-shaped block of butter stamped with his logo.
His mantra on the photo-sharing platform is direct and simple — “I like blue and white, stripes, the sun, fruit, life, poetry, Marseille and the 1980s” — all elements amenable to a unique perspective on fragrance and other beauty categories.
The designer has staged runway shows in lavender and wheat fields, made jewelry with blocks of Marseille soap, and opened a flower shop in Paris during pandemic lockdowns, dispatching country-quaint bouquets wrapped in fabric remnants from previous collections.
His aesthetic vision is a warm, homespun and inclusive one, his Instagram a jumble of folk art, rustic French produce and cuisine, gobsacking Mediterranean landscapes, and amorous couples alongside his lingerie-like fashions for women, uber cute or supersized handbags — plus his handsome, bearded mug.
Kuba Dabrowski/WWD
The Jacquemus product universe spans men’s and women’s ready-to-wear, bags, shoes, eyewear, hats and jewelry.
The designer has dabbled in such lifestyle products as ceramics. He also partnered with Caviar Kaspia to create Citron, a popular Provençal-style café at the Galeries Lafayette flagship on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, for which he devised everything from the menu to the napkins.
In Puig, he has chosen a partner with a strong track record of building fragrance businesses for a swath of famous brands.
Courtesy
Its Beauty and Fashion Division is comprised of Paco Rabanne, Carolina Herrera, Jean Paul Gaultier, Nina Ricci, Dries Van Noten, Penhaligon’s and L’Artisan Parfumeur; the Christian Louboutin and Comme des Garçons Parfums’ beauty product licenses, and the lifestyle brands Adolfo Dominguez, Antonio Banderas, Shakira and Benetton.
The division’s fragrances have made Puig the world’s fifth-largest selective perfume-maker, with almost 10 percent market share. Three of the company’s brands figure in the top 20 — Paco Rabanne, Carolina Herrera and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Overall profits and sales were down in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the family-owned firm expects its business to amp up and is aiming to surpass 3 billion euros in sales in 2023 and reach 4.5 billion euros in revenues in 2025.
Puig’s net sales last year totaled 1.54 billion euros, a 24 percent decline in reported terms, partially offset by Charlotte Tilbury, the digitally native British color-cosmetics business incorporated in June 2020.
The company continues to expand its brand universe, often through acquisitions.
Last month, Puig revealed an investment in Scent Library, a Chinese fragrance brand. Terms were not disclosed. Puig also has a minority stake in Granado, Brazil’s oldest pharmacy brand.
It invests in fashion brands less frequently, though in 2018 it took a majority stake in Belgian fashion house Dries Van Noten, where a fragrance project is also said to be in the works.
SEE ALSO:
Jacquemus Shifts to In-Season Model With Coed Show
Dries Van Noten Acquired by Puig
Puig Profits, Sales Decline in 2020 Due to the Pandemic
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