Indian fashion designers venture into beauty

Manish Malhotra's entry into the world of beauty has been a long time coming.

Beauty has always played a role in the designers' work, right from his debut as a costume designer in Bollywood in 1990, where he introduced the concept of styling a complete look to ensure that hair, makeup and nails matched the protagonists' clothes. His styling of Sridevi in ​​the 1993 film Gumrah marked the first time a Bollywood actress had a single hairstyle for an entire film, he said.

Makeup and hair have always been a very important part of my job, they can make or break a look, he said. So when he was approached by The Good Glamm Group (the company behind tennis player Serena Williams’ Wyn Beauty brand), Malhotra knew he had to do it.

Manish Malhotra Beauty was launched in October 2018, with a collection full of glamorous and shimmery multi-textured eyeshadow palettes (foil, metallic and matte), glossy lipsticks, nail polishes, lip glosses and highlighters in the price range of Rs 800-1,500 (approximately $9-18). Today, the brand is backed by investors like Warburg Pincus, Prosus Ventures, LOccitane and Bessemer Venture Partners and currently sells over 150 SKUs. It plans to expand further in India and internationally.

Indian fashion designers like Malhotra, long confined to the runway or a niche clientele that can afford their price tags, are finding ways to tap into the beauty world. But unlike Malhorta, most of these partnerships remain limited editions: In October 2017, designer Gaurav Gupta launched the fragrance Again in collaboration with fragrance brand The Perfume Library. In February 2019, Manish Arora designed skincare brand Kama Ayurveda’s Valentine’s Day gift set. Last year, Payal Singhal teamed up with Indian beauty brand Kiro Beauty to launch a range of matte nudes for Indian skin, whose previous collaboration with skincare brand Ranavat in 2020 saw a self-care collection wrapped in her signature botanical motifs.

There was clearly an opportunity to go further. The retail value of the Indian beauty and personal care market stood at $16.5 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow by 11.5% to $18.4 billion by 2026, according to Euromonitor International.

Designer Masaba Gupta, who launched her cosmopolitan wellness brand LoveChild in August 2022 with lipsticks, nail polishes, and wellness-focused products like an anti-anxiety oil, now pursues beauty full-time in addition to running her fashion business. However, she realized soon after that focusing on color cosmetics was the way to go.

When it comes to skin care, we're not a market that's going to read an article online and pick retinol, she said.

Gupta’s products come in dopamine-boosting packaging with bright illustrations and Masaba prints, and cost between 175 and 2,200 rupees ($2 to $26). “You’ll never mistake us for any other brand if you see us on a shelf,” she said.

Today, the brand's lipsticks form a significant part of its best-selling product portfolio, generating Rs 75 crore ($8.9 million) in sales annually.

Consistent brand identity

For Indian designers, who constantly work with models, makeup artists and brides, it seems sensible to extend their ability to anticipate fashion trends to beauty. However, some observers sound a note of caution.

Beauty is often seen as a money-maker, which begs the question of whether designers are truly interested in beauty and are they investing the same principles, attention to detail, thought, and time into their beauty products as they do into their clothes? Vasudha Rai, author of the beauty and wellness books Glow and Ritual, pointed this out.

Maintaining consistency between the two lines was key for fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee when he launched a beauty line with Este Lauder in March 2024.

“It’s important for me to create something timeless, and I’ve done that with my clothes,” Mukherjee said in a February interview with The world of fashion. My hope is that a woman can find a [lipstick] shadow in this [beauty] a collection they can hold on to for years and years.

Mukherjee has also ensured that luxury is preserved in her beauty line. Her line with Este Lauder includes 10 lipsticks, encased in 24-carat gold-plated tubes and adorned with her signature Royal Bengal tiger. They retail for Rs 5,400 ($64) each.

For creators like Malhotra, the Bollywood connection also helps create a selling proposition that translates across categories because Bollywood is what really creates popular culture in our country, said Darpan Sanghvi, founder and CEO, Good Glamm Groups.

Dressed in glossy black and gold with curved edges, Malhotra’s beauty box offers a double unboxing experience. The aim is to relive the care with which you would open a beautiful Manish Malhotra outfit, Sanghvi said.

Meeting the needs of the local public

However, for these brands to grow, they need to reach beyond the upper class of Indian buyers. And when your customer base diversifies beyond the affluent, your communication and referrals need to cater to their needs as well.

Gupta’s decision to use Hinglish (a mix of Hindi and English) in her communications came from the need to communicate with a wider demographic and not leave out those in small towns. Her product names are also peppered with quintessentially Indian phrases, such as the kajal Nazar Na Lage (Hindi for the evil eye that wards off evil), or the liquid lipstick Rani (a deep pink or queen in Hindi).

Beauty standards can vary greatly from country to country, and more and more consumers are looking for authentic solutions based on the uniqueness of geography and culture. This is an area where local designers can showcase their roots. Additionally, many Indians are keen to support local beauty brands. According to a Mintel India report, 41% of Indian consumers strongly agree on the importance of supporting local brands that understand their needs.

This sentiment is reflected in the growth of local brands that offer products tailored to Indian beauty needs, such as makeup for Indian skin tones, said Tanya Rajani, principal analyst, beauty and personal care, Mintel India.

Lovechilds’ 18 foundation shades, launched in January 2024, took a year to complete and involved collaboration with research agency NEPA to conduct a consumer study. The results revealed a 90% shade match with Indian skin tones.

This also applies to marketing. The brand launched a campaign in February 2024 with the Mumbai Indians women’s cricket team, which Masaba says is an example of the brand’s philosophy of making products for all of India. Lovechild saw its sales and revenue triple in the second half of 2023, driven by doubling sales of blockbuster products, building entire makeup categories, maximising the festive season and expanding across markets.

Masabas' highly targeted marketing approach has also served the brand well, she suggests.

I'm very happy, I don't have many subscribers [on social media]It is a big but very significant audience that believes me, likes me but will not blindly buy my product, Masaba said.