It’s possible Kylie Jenner and Hailey Bieber would not have become cosmetic moguls without him.
About 25 years ago, Leonard Lauder, the visionary beauty mogul and Estée Lauder CEO who died Saturday at age 92, had an epiphany. It was just after 9/11, and the United States was in turmoil
Lipstick sales, he noticed, were rising, just as they had in the past when times were bad, like in the Great Depression. Perhaps, he thought, women wanted to indulge in small luxuries when a downturn was coming. Perhaps lipstick could even be an economic indicator. Thus the term “the lipstick index” was born.
It was the beauty equivalent of the “hemline index,” the theory that when things were good, skirts got shorter – and it proved to be but one of the enduring ideas Lauder had first.
“He was the original influencer,” said John Demsey, the former president of MAC Cosmetics.
The eldest son of an entrepreneur mother, Lauder became a billionaire but ate the same thing for breakfast for years (one fat-free yogurt with a sliced peach and one thin slice of whole wheat bread), could deliver one-liners with a borscht belt sense of timing, and turned one brand into an entire luxury group before the giant fashion luxury groups existed.
He once said, “I see 10 years, 20 years ahead of everyone else.” It may sound egotistic or implausible, but in many ways he turned out to be right. Without Lauder, it’s possible we would not have Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics or Hailey Bieber’s Rhode.
“The modern-day prestige beauty business simply would not exist in its current form” without Lauder, Demsey said.
He had an uncanny ability to understand just how satisfying the crisp snap of a powder compact could be (and if you didn’t get it, he would demonstrate). He knew that beauty tracked sociological trends. He predicted the intersection of science and skin care. He embraced the value of disruption. He recognised the metrosexual before the metrosexual had a name and introduced the first men’s prestige grooming and skin-care brand with Aramis.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.“One of his first and greatest ideas was to bring Carol Phillips, a beauty editor at Vogue, to Estée Lauder to start Clinique with the dermatologist Norman Orentreich,” said Linda Wells, the former editor of Allure. “It started a move toward dermatologic credibility.” The Clinique ads, shot by the great photographer Irving Penn, treated the products, which looked as if they had come straight from a lab, like sculpture.
He clocked the rise of the makeup artist before anyone else and bought MAC Cosmetics. (The name is an acronym for Makeup Artist Cosmetics, and it started life behind the scenes of magazine photo shoots and backstage at catwalk shows.) He bought Bobbi Brown’s namesake line when it was only 10 lipsticks. And as he absorbed them into the Lauder fold, he let each brand stand on its own.
“I never had to try and act professional,” Brown said. When the head of the Lauder research and development lab wanted to produce Brown’s lipsticks rather than continue with the small lab she was using, Lauder said, “Absolutely not,” she remembered. “Women would know the difference and not love it the same,” he said. When she fretted about missing her kids because she had to work during the Oscars, he used his private plane to fly her home for dinner.
“He saw in MAC the way diversity and self-expression could be powerful,” Demsey said, signing representatives like RuPaul and k.d. lang. “He really understood embracing new standards of beauty.”
According to Wells: “When I started Allure, most of the industry wasn’t looking forward to a journalistic approach to beauty coverage, which was usually cosy to the point of being fawning. But Leonard essentially said to me, ‘Bring it on!’ He told me he’d never cancel his advertising, and just about every other company did in those first few years of the magazine.”
In discussions of Lauder, the word “mentor” comes up again and again. So does “hero”. “Nearly half the global talent pool of this industry passed through the company,” Demsey said.
After Lauder stepped down as chair of Lauder, he christened himself “chief teaching officer” and ran seminars for employees that included “Ten Commitments”. One was: If you have a good idea, don’t let anyone talk you out of it.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Vanessa Friedman
Photographs by: Chester Higgins Jr. and Marilynn K. Yee
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
More beauty
From at-home treatments to expert recommendations.
8 Of The Best Nourishing Hair Masks & Treatments To Hydrate & Restore Hair In Winter. Beauty editor Ash Cometti surveys the most hydrating hair care to restore strands in winter.
How To Apply Foundation On Mature Skin, According To A Makeup Artist. A flawless foundation finish on mature skin? It’s within reach, says celebrity makeup artist Rae Morris. The best-selling author and founder of her eponymous makeup brush line shares her top tips.
What To Buy From The 12 Makeup Brands Topping The Charts In This Year’s Viva Beauty Awards 2025. Beauty editor Ash Cometti shares her top picks from 12 award-winning makeup brands.
The Best Products To Buy From 8 Viva Beauty Award-Winning Skincare Brands, According To Our Beauty Editor. Beauty editor Ash Cometti shares her top picks from eight award-winning skincare brands.
