Even before the lights went out in the Bryant Park tents in New York, Lakmé Lever, India’s largest cosmetics brand, had rolled out its latest fashion tie-in.
Lakmé, a division of Hindustan Lever Ltd., based in Mumbai, sponsored the ready-to-wear show of Sabyasachi Mukherjee, a 30-year-old up-and-coming designer from Calcutta, during Olympus Fashion Week. As in seasons past, the cosmetics company produced a limited-edition color collection called Sabyasachi for Lakmé.
The collection includes 11 shades of lipstick, a rainbow of nail polishes, four shades of eye shadow and three colors of blush. A lipstick in India costs the equivalent of $4, which is about $19 in U.S. purchasing power, according to Anil Chopra, Lakmé Lever vice president, who traveled to New York for the show.
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The limited-edition collection is designed to last on the market for roughly six months, after which it will be replaced by the next collection by another chosen designer. Production quantities are an estimated one million units per product. The line will be advertised in newspapers, on outdoor billboards and in the Indian October editions of Elle, Cosmopolitan and Femina.
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This limited-edition collection is part of a much deeper effort, Chopra explained. Even though Lakmé has been a leader on the Indian market for 50 years and still commands a 52 percent market share in color, the company has been faced with an onslaught of fashionable, trendy European and American brands pouring into India.
“We became thought of as your mother’s brand,” Chopra said ruefully. In an effort to project a younger, more modern image, Lakmé became the title sponsor of the fashion week held in New Delhi by the Fashion Design Council of India. That was seven years ago. After a change in management a year ago, Lakmé decided to team up with IMG and create a new joint venture fashion week that was held in Mumbai from March 28 to April 1. Lakmé also facilitates designer shows in other cities where IMG owns events — like Los Angeles, Melbourne and Singapore.
In addition to refurbishing its image, Lakmé has been trying to convince the conservative, traditional element of the Indian market that it is socially acceptable to wear makeup during the day, rather than just reserve it for formal occasions in the evening. Last season’s collection was called Happy Hour, and this edition is Freespirit.