Louis Vuitton and Pat McGrath Have Created 55 Lipsticks, 10 Lip Balms and Eight Eye Palettes
Leave it to Louis Vuitton to find vivid links between makeup and travel as it introduces La Beauté Louis Vuitton this fall, with Pat McGrath as its new cosmetics creative director.
To be sure, the initial product volley — 55 lipsticks, 10 lip balms and eight eye palettes — would be enough to fill a small trunk, the most emblematic product of the French luxury giant, which was established in 1854.
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Revealing the project to WWD in an interview, Vuitton chairman and chief executive officer Pietro Beccari said unique packaging, carrying cases and more will become part of what it’s billing as a “lifestyle beauty experience that extends beyond product.”
However, the brand plans to venture into makeup step-by-step, with the initial products debuting in 116 doors in the first year.
Controlling Production
As with its introduction of perfume in 2016, Vuitton is directly controlling production, and distribution only through its global network of stores, which number more than 400.
“Every category that we enter, we try to do it in the best way,” Beccari said, explaining the choice of McGrath, one of the most celebrated makeup artists in the world, and one who shares Vuitton’s devotion to the highest levels of quality, execution and innovation.
Indeed, nearly four years of research and development went into the initial lip and eye colors.
“We took the time to develop incredible ranges, and new formulas,” Beccari explained. “We like to come with something never seen before in terms of performance, in terms of long-lastingness, and in terms of colors.”
He also described “working without limits in terms of being able to get the best formulas, the best durability and the best ingredients.”
The lipsticks, balms and eye shadows are still under wraps, and McGrath kept her camera off during a separate Zoom interview to help her resist her strong temptation to show off her handiwork. “It’s a beautiful collection. You will love it!” she exclaimed repeatedly.
To be sure, the products will come loaded with storytelling. Beccari explained that the brand’s initials LV, viewed as Roman numerals, represent 55 — hence the number of lipstick shades at launch.
In addition, “travel will be a story that we will tell with our colors and with the ingredients that you will find in our beauty products,” he said. “This category will give us the chance to tell beautiful stories.”
The executive, who has also been at the creative helm of Christian Dior Couture and Fendi — which, like Vuitton, are controlled by French luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton — drew many analogies to Vuitton’s venture into fragrance, in whose early days he was involved during his previous stint at Vuitton from 2006 to 2012.
For example, Vuitton engaged master perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud — and precious plots of land in Grasse, France, an epicenter for flower cultivation — five years ahead of the first seven scents landing on counter.
Beccari described vibrant business with Vuitton’s perfume business, which grew by double-digits in 2024 and is tracking “very high” double-digit gains so far in 2025. He didn’t share precise figures but characterized volumes as “surprisingly big.”
The executive said word-of-mouth has been key to the category’s success, achieved despite small advertising investments, and having not much more than a table display in some Vuitton boutiques.
A Quality Focus
“We really put a bet on the quality of the products,” he said, mentioning bottle and cap designs by the likes of star architect Frank Gehry and industrial design guru Marc Newson. “So people buying the fragrance, being happy or being asked in the hall, ‘What are you wearing?’ That’s the best route to long-term success.”
Vuitton now counts 30 references in fragrances, with Imagination, L’Immensité, Ombre Nomade and Attrape-Rêves among bestsellers.
“We sell only in our stores,” Beccari noted. “So by having a very small distribution and doing the figures that we do gives us the courage to extend from perfume to other cosmetic categories.
“We allow ourselves to do something never seen before, investing in the formulas, investing in innovation, and doing something that probably others cannot afford to do in terms of formulas, but also in terms of packaging innovation,” he said. “We really made sure that we have the best, state of the art, with the best creative director in Pat.”
Vuitton relied on the vast network of laboratories and production facilities at parent LVMH, whose perfumes and cosmetics division spans such brands as Guerlain, Parfums Christian Dior, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Aqua di Parma and Make Up For Ever. Organic sales in the division gained 4 percent last year to 8.42 billion euros.
Beccari highlighted that Vuitton introduced its first fragrances almost a century ago, referring to Heures d’Absence from 1927 and Je, Tu, Il from 1928. Around the same time, the luxury house introduced beauty brushes, powder compacts, mirrors and vanity cases.
Among exceptional examples in Vuitton’s archives are Le Milano, a vanity kit made for soprano Marthe Chenel, and a toiletry case for Polish composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski.
As with previous category launches, Beccari said the house is taking a long-term view with La Beauté Louis Vuitton.
“We give ourselves the time to establish these lines with success,” he said. “Beauty is a large category, so we will have many more launches foreseen in the next five years, covering all categories.”
Best known for its monogram handbags, Vuitton introduced ready-to-wear in 1998, watches in 2002, a fine jewelry collection in 2001, eyewear in 2005, high jewelry in 2008 with artistic director Francesca Amfitheatrof, and travel-inspired furniture and design items, known as Objets Nomades, in 2012.
Asked about its lifestyle ambitions around beauty, Beccari said “we will have the possibility of extending the beauty experience to all our best clients during all the events that we do for them.”
In addition, he said beauty launches will be accompanied by ancillary products, including carry cases, containers and small leather goods. “Entering new categories is about being present wherever the client goes, and beauty is part of the life of every woman,” he said.
McGrath is certainly no stranger to Vuitton, having done makeup looks for Nicolas Ghesquière since he arrived as the brand’s artistic director of women’s collections in 2014. More recently, she has collaborated with Pharrell Williams, who came on board as men’s creative director in 2023.
“It’s a true honor. I’m just so excited,” McGrath said during the interview. “At Vuitton, beauty follows that same ethos: design that is meticulously crafted, and deeply intentional.”
McGrath said she’s been testing all of the new Vuitton formulas backstage and “all over the place” to “make sure that the storytelling, the light, the texture, the emotion are there in these high-performance products.”
To be sure, the brand’s travel legacy gets her dreaming.
“For me, Vuitton is luxury in motion — always evolving, always pushing forward, and beauty follows that same philosophy. It’s a personal journey of exploration. It’s made to move with you in your everyday life,” she said.
McGrath had to hold herself back not to reveal too much about the products.
“It’s very refined, very elevated,” she hinted. “It really follows the same dedication of artistry, craftsmanship, and material excellence… Louis Vuitton has legendary materials, signature color codes, and sculptural elegance. It’s a lifestyle brand.”
To wit, the beauty products were “designed with the house’s DNA in mind,” she said, mentioning elements like the patina of the brass hardware on trunks. “From the day I started, I could see it.
“If you think about it, Louis Vuitton revolutionized travel. It’s now going to revolutionize beauty,” she said. “Every color, every texture, every formulation is crafted with the precision and artistry you know that defines the house… It’s a very, very different launch in beauty. It’s much wider.
“This is beauty as an object of desire. It’s a collector’s piece,” she teased, describing a lipstick as an icon.
“It gives you the feeling of a bag or a trunk,” she said. “It represents confidence. It represents style. You know, you’re going to travel and take it everywhere with you.”
Asked about her ambitions for La Beauté Louis Vuitton in an already crowded cosmetics market, McGrath shot back: “You know, as a woman with 80 trunks of makeup, it’s not crowded enough.
“To redefine luxury, to create something exquisite, meaningful and timeless, there’s always room,” she said. “All age groups are obsessed with beauty. I think this is just the beginning for beauty. There’s a lot more space and a lot more room for newness.”
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