Givenchy embraces its Born Couture heritage as the guiding principle for its beauty story

Following the very successful launch and rollout of last year’s star fragrance Givenchy L’Interdit EDP, which the company says enjoyed an “impeccable execution” in terms of aligning with the couture, the LVMH brand is now extending its momentum with two major product introductions.

This September, Givenchy launches L’Interdit EDT, the continuation to last year’s fragrance success, L’interdit EDP. Givenchy is also relaunching its iconic Le Rouge lipstick, extending the range to include a velvet matte, Le Rouge Deep Velvet, and a sparkling sheer, Le Rouge Night Noir

Both launches reflect the couture legacy behind the DNA and guiding principal of the brand, says Edouard Mariotti, Director Travel Retail Americas at LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics in Miami.

“‘Born Couture’ is our story to share. This is the story that sets us aside from our competitors and highlights our uniqueness, because Givenchy has something that only a handful of beauty brands can bring—being that it is a true couture brand,” says Mariotti.

“This story is our guiding principal at the point of sale, in training our staff, in the creation of our products and in the execution of our launches.

“Central to our ‘Born Couture’ strategy, our biggest story teller, who launched the brand, is of course, Hubert de Givenchy. He is the original writer of this novel. Now the story is continuing to be told by Clare Waight Keller, the current artistic director (who designed Meghan Markle’s wedding dress among other masterpieces). She is doing an unbelievable job of reinterpreting and keeping the essence of Hubert de Givenchy’s original ideas and designs, which really embraced that natural femininity of a woman. At the same time, Clare Waight Keller is bringing a little bit of newness to the beautiful designs that we had before,” says Mariotti.

Enhanced by this exceptional legacy– Hubert de Givenchy was born an aristocrat and originally began by creating designs for royal gatherings – Givenchy is incorporating its authentic story to elevate the image of the beauty brand.

Givenchy is focused on bringing the couture codes into beauty, as it did first with the L’Interdit EDP last year. The brand is now extending these codes into lips and skin, says Mariotti.

The Givenchy L’Interdit EDT delivers the softer side of the flowers in last year’s EDP, with poppy, white flowers, and a warm dry down. In the campaign, Rooney Mara continues the story begun in the launch of the EDP, where she escapes into a mysterious room in the Paris metro. In the EDT campaign, she exits the metro into a sunny day with a smirk that leaves us all wondering.

Givenchy says that the launch in Travel Retail Americas will follow the same strategy as last year’s major launch for the L’Interdit EDP, with similar animations at the point of sale, trainings and investment, as the company looks on this as the ideal way to recruit new consumers.

Daniella Caballero, Senior Marketing Manager of Givenchy P&C confirms:

“There will also be a thrilling relaunch for Givenchy’s iconic Le Rouge lipsticks. Le Rouge Deep Velvet, a powdery matte texture beautifully encased within a unique red velvet case, will be one of the additions to this iconic range. This extension will also include Givenchy’s Le Rouge Night Noir, a sparkling sheer-finish lipstick presented in an eye catching glittery case that will certainly stop traffic. The classic Le Rouge, known by all for its intense pigmentation, long duration, and genuine black leather case, will introduce seven new shades.”

Givenchy will be creating more cross animations between makeup and fragrances, says Caballero. “It makes sense for us to be creating cohesive storytelling in everything we are presenting to the customer. Wherever we have makeup, we will be presenting the ideal fragrance to complete the story,” she explains.

Givenchy has been very selectively expanding its makeup doors in TR Americas, and the makeup is currently listed with Dufry in the airports in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Ezeiza in Buenos Aires, Lima, Peru and Santiago, Chile, and in Toronto, Canada; with Motta in Colombia; with DFS in San Francisco and Hawaii; and with DFA in Miami.

“We will be opening our flagship for Givenchy makeup at LAX at the end of this year. Although we are dominant in fragrance, makeup is more and more driving our growth in the region, especially in North America which is booming with Asian consumers. In China our loose powder is the #1 seller in its category. So we are growing organically in North America and the strategy in our region is to open makeup where it makes sense,” says Mariotti.

 

Note: Givenchy’s travel retail business is part of the LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics division, a new travel retail structure that brings all the LVMH beauty brands together except Dior and Bvlgari. Created in early 2018, the new structure operates under four regional managers. Julien Ottenwaelter is Managing Director for the Americas.

The LVMH beauty brands include the traditional brands of Guerlain, Kenzo, Givenchy and Loewe, plus brands that are new to travel retail distribution, such as Fresh, Benefit and Make Up Forever and launching now in Asia travel retail, Fenty Beauty by Rihanna. Another new brand, The Sephora Collection, has not been confirmed for TR Americas but will be testing starting in Asia at the end of this year.

“This is one of the brands under the new structure that the company is looking to develop,” says Mariotti.