Louis Vuitton pays lip service to beauty

Louis Vuitton has entered the lipstick wars. The French giant has signalled the start of its land grab into the beauty market and it is causing quite the commotion.

Instinctive fashion and beauty commentators have been taken aback by the launch prices, while others are welcoming its entry into the category as an exciting brand extension, particularly with the expertise behind it (legendary make-up artist Pat McGrath).

The new lipsticks are priced at an incredible £120. For an easily comparable product, that the majority of make-up wearers know the price of, it is very toppy, particularly if they want to scale into this highly competitive sector. When your nearest luxury competitor is pricing theirs at £65, which was already pushing the entire beauty market skywards, it feels so out of touch – almost delusional.

There is the 'lipstick theory' that during economic downturns, sales of less expensive luxury goods, like lipsticks, tend to increase when consumers cut back on larger purchases. We have the downturn, but these are not recessionary prices.

Louis Vuitton is a mass luxury brand with sales in the tens of billions and it is coming across as very tone deaf here, particularly with the noise around excessive luxury pricing in general. Why create mass products when you don’t really want to create mass products? So many luxury brands have viewed the beauty sector as easy money before and subsequently crashed and burned. The allure of many of these brands is waning, globally, as many consumers tackle the increased costs of living and reduced spending power.

What makes this lipstick warrant nearly double the price of an Hermès lipstick when many consumers are still struggling to get their heads around that level of pricing?

This begs the further question, what does Louis Vuitton want its beauty line for? It is just another entry priced item at the branded boutiques, a souvenir for the masses, or does it want this sector to make a meaningful impact to its business bottom line like it does for Chanel? Chanel’s mass make-up doesn’t take anything away from its more expensive products and brand image.

Or, is this a PR moment that is having the desired impact already, causing energy around the brand, but which won’t translate into sales? Louis Vuitton’s parent company, LVMH, reported sales falling nine percent in the last quarter and the wider luxury industry doesn’t show signs of reversing that anytime soon.

Beauty needs aspiration, yes, but it also needs distribution and availability. Louis Vuitton is always restrictive on its distribution. It is so obsessed with staying in its ivory tower that it will never give this the fun, inclusive availability and pricing this needs. You can find Hermès lipsticks at John Lewis.

In fairness, the La Beauté Louis Vuitton – the beauty line’s official name – packaging looks great (see main image) and exactly what the Louis Vuitton beauty consumer desires; gold and shiny. In comparison, it jars with the fragrances, launched in 2022, they are too minimally packaged for LV's love-of-show consumer. Currently, a 100ml Louis Vuitton fragrance is priced at £260, which looks far better value then one of its 55 (LV) shades of lipsticks.

Christian Louboutin\s £84 lipstick

Christian Louboutin, the luxury footwear brand, has pushed lipstick prices to £84, but that’s as a luxury beauty niche and the lipstick does work as a brand extension due to its red lacquered coloured soles. If LV wanted to be most the expensive in the market, it should have come in at £90 or under £100, but even then it’s too expensive when consumers are questioning luxury pricing and value-for-money.

Consumers are growing cynical of brands putting their names on items and just expecting them to blindly pay stratospheric pricing. It reeks of more luxury greed and unjustifiable margins.

Fashion commentators are tapering their cynical opinions with a wait and see approach, but a red lipstick priced at nosebleed prices won’t touch the one-in-every-colour, repeat luxury beauty consumer.  Other luxury beauty brands won’t feel threatened by this, it takes so many years to build in this category, it will barely register.

There was a time when everything Louis Vuitton touched turned to gold. The cracks are beginning to show at the world’s largest luxury brand, and, if the momentum behind falling sales increases, it may have to rethink its future strategies.

Read the room, Louis Vuitton.

Celine's new lipsticks are priced at £62

Lipstick Wars: How the luxury brands' lipstick prices compare

Louis Vuitton: £120

Christian Louboutin: £84

Dries van Noten: £66

Hermes: £65

Celine: £62

Tom Ford: £49

Chanel: £42

Dior: £41

Prada: £40

YSL: £38