To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here.
Les Filles en Rouje, the beauty brand launched by fashion line Rouje in 2022, is branching into skincare with a face wash, oil and cream. Haircare will follow next. It’s part of the company’s longer-term plans to build up a sizable beauty business alongside its fashion offering.
Rouje was founded by the model and influencer Jeanne Damas in 2016, and while cosmetics were launched in 2018 under the Rouje name, last year, a separate brand was created for its beauty offering: Les Filles en Rouje. The skincare range joins the existing line up of nail polishes, blush and lip products.
“Rouje was a digital brand in the beginning, but as I see it more as a lifestyle brand in the long term, it was very important for me to also develop the retail aspect, to make Rouje a physical experience as well,” says Damas. The new products, priced between $52 to $70, come in classically Gallic packaging inspired by vintage perfume bottles and cosmetics. Damas says she wanted the line to have a collectible feel that people would want to display on their vanities and bathroom cabinets, and look distinctly French.
The simplicity of the range taps into the current trend of “skinimalism”, wherein consumers are eschewing multi-step routines in favour of simpler, more straightforward products, believed to be less disruptive to the skin. The products are personal to Damas — after coming off the contraceptive pill, she says she suffered from hormonal acne, which was only alleviated when she stripped back her routine to the “bare minimum”. Damas says all the products are cruelty-free, vegan and are produced in France. Natural ingredients such as pink grapefruit, papaya extract and rosehip oil also feature.
Co-founded with Jérôme Basselier, Damas self-funded the launch of Rouje in 2016. She declined to comment on whether subsequent funding has been raised for the business. The majority of sales have been online, but Rouje has started to explore physical retail, with stores planned this year in London, New York and France, adding to its Parisian flagship. The brand is also stocked at French retailers such as Le Bon Marché and Samaritaine, and will launch at Galeries Lafayette in spring. Both the fashion and beauty arms of the business have a retail presence in South Korea and China. According to Damas, Rouje and Les Filles en Rouje’s main markets are France, the US, the UK and Asia, but the brands are also “very strong” in Germany and Spain.
Influencer-backed brands have been facing choppier waters of late. While often popular with investors and incubators thanks to the perceived built-in customer base that an influencer brings in the form of their followers, any missteps by the creator, or natural ebbs and flows in their popularity can cause wider repercussions for their brand. Consumers are also very attuned to authenticity, and brands that are founded by influencers but seem unnatural or incongruous with their personality or values have a harder time getting off the ground. However, Damas is aware that for the brand to continue to grow, it will need to appeal to even those who had not heard of her previously.
“The choice of the name Rouje [as opposed to using her own name] was to make the company a brand that can develop on its own long-term, with me as its creative director, not its only embodiment,” says Damas. “I am always keen on finding and introducing new talent, be it women of different backgrounds to models for the brand, photographers or stylists to develop the ideas to keep the collections and campaigns relevant and in constant evolution. My aim is to make Rouje more of an allure than an actual persona.” Damas says her team comprises women of “different ages, backgrounds and body types” and that they try to make each new collection fresh and relevant.
Damas is learning on the job, and enjoying it. “Although Rouje is doing very well, I still have a certain amount of imposter syndrome, something I feel many women in many sectors struggle with. For me, it’s because I didn't have a ‘classic’ business education. But, I’m working on that, and I think it's important to try to push one’s work further every day, to give an example for other women and to be supportive of each other.”
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
More from this author:
Inside Cerave’s marketing strategy, post-TikTok fame
How Tatcha plans to use the ‘mind-skin connection’ to fuel global growth