From Trunks to Lipsticks: Louis Vuitton Introduces Its Beauty Line 

When Louis Vuitton finally steps into beauty, it is not a mere product launch – it is a cultural statement. With La Beauté, the Maison transforms makeup into a new language of luxury, positioning it as art, ritual, and heirloom. At the center of this vision stands none other than Pat McGrath, appointed as Creative Director of Cosmetics.

Fans of Louis Vuitton have just been waiting for the day the maison would take the step into the beauty realm and it seems it was an inevitable one. Vuitton’s archives tell a story of beauty long before lipstick: the vanity cases of the 1920s or perfume flacons crafted for voyages. La Beauté revives this heritage, translating trunks into lipsticks, and reimagining the rituals of femininity as part of the brand’s cultural DNA.

There could truly not have been a better person to appoint as Creative Director of Cosmetics than the iconic Pat McGrath known for her transformative looks, who left beauty and fashion admirers in awe with her glass skin make-up for the Maison Margiela Spring/Summer 2024 Artisanal show. “Make-up is culture. It’s power. It’s presence. And it’s personal,” she says. A declaration that turns each lipstick and eyeshadow into an extension of identity, a signature in a single stroke. That Vuitton entrusts her with this historic step is more than strategic; it cements beauty as a site of innovation, performance, and empowerment.

Louis Vuitton’s vision is not only one shaped by beauty but by the desire to create something permanent that lasts beyond the inevitable make-up remover at the end of the night. Industrial designer Konstantin Grcic crafted the line’s objets d’art in aluminium and brass, designed to be refilled, kept, and treasured. In a market dominated by disposable packaging and relentless churn, Vuitton insists that true luxury is what lasts – a trend that can be slowly observed in other houses as well. These are beauty objects conceived as heirlooms, carrying the same gravitas as a monogram trunk.

And then comes the detail that elevates the collection further: fragrance woven into pigment. Master Perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud has infused the lipsticks with delicate notes of mimosa, jasmine, and rose, a subtle yet radical move that blurs the lines between makeup and perfume, between adornment and atmosphere. It is beauty that lingers, that becomes memory.

La Beauté is not Vuitton’s entry into the crowded beauty market but a redefinition of what beauty can mean within the architecture of luxury. From archival vanity cases to refillable lipsticks, from Pat McGrath’s visionary artistry to heirloom design, the message is clear: Louis Vuitton does not chase trends; it builds legacies.

Image credits: Louis Vuitton