Jacquemus Expands Into Beauty. Is China Next?

What happened According to WWD, Jacquemus, the “provençale” fashion designer, is teaming up with Spanish fragrance and fashion house Puig to launch a beauty line to be unveiled early next year. Both parties have not commented on the partnership yet. Over recent years, Jacquemus has garnered an impressive following and devotees thanks to fashion trendsetters like Kendall Jenner, Rihanna, and the Hadid Sisters and its renowned and exaggeratedly tiny “chiquito” handbag. Its fashion business covers mens, womens, ready-to-wear, bags, shoes, eyewear, hats, and jewelry, and it boasts a Provençale-style café at Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Now, the expansion into beauty with Puig, which owns Christian Louboutin, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and Penhaligons’ beauty product license, has sparked excitement online. The Jing Take Although Jacquemus does not have any official presence on Chinese social media platforms, brand awareness already exists in China. The designer’s bright and colorful South-of-France aesthetic is favored by many local fashion bloggers and celebrities, including Ouyang Nana, @Fashion_AmberR, and @ChenKeke, the latter of whom acted as a vehicle for the brand in China. In fact, the fashion label enjoys impressive traffic through organic content on popular sites such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo. On the lifestyle content platform Xiahongshu, where high-budget consumers look for inspiration, it counts over 20,000 UGC instances, nearly reaching the numbers of top luxury houses (Versace has 30,000 UGC). News that the brand is tapping into beauty has reached Weibo, too, with media outlets @Nowher, @Xpool, and @Nowre posting about it. Given its current notoriety in China and the local Gen-Z love affair with niche fragrances and beauty labels, Jacquemus' debut in the sector also seems like the perfect time to launch an official online presence in China. With the country, according to BGC, forecasted to have its luxury market grow by 25 percent in 2021, and consumers under 31 now accounting for 50 percent of its luxury shoppers, China is an unmissable opportunity for the Provençale brand. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

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Jacquemus Expands Into Beauty. Is China Next?