Elizabeth Arden

For more information on Elizabeth Arden, visit Britannica.com.

Type: Subsidiary
On the web: http://corporate.elizabetharden.com
Employees: 35

Elizabeth Arden, Ltd. is more than a little ardent about its beauty products. The London-based subsidiary of Elizabeth Arden, Inc., Elizabeth Arden Ltd. boasts a sole retail outlet that's situated at the same spot as the company's headquarters. The subsidiary also runs a Red Door Spa at the same location. The cosmetics and scents company creates fragrances and cosmetics specifically for its UK clientele. In 2009 parent Elizabeth Arden launched a fragrance under the licensed Alberta Ferretti name for European markets. Elizabeth Arden Ltd. makes the UK-distributed fragrance, Green Tea Summer. Elizabeth Arden, Ltd. first opened its famed red door to the UK in 1997.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending June, 2008:
Sales: $6.6M

Officers:
Chairman, President, and CEO: E. Scott Beattie
EVP and CFO: Stephen J. Smith
EVP, Global Fragrance Marketing: Ronald L. (Ron) Rolleston

Competitors:
Alliance Boots
Body Shop
L'Oréal

Elizabeth Arden (ca. 1878-1966) was instrumental in the development of the modern cosmetics and beauty salon industry. She was also an astute businesswoman.

The 30 years of prosperity that followed the bitter depression of 1893 to 1897 set Americans on the road to the "affluent society" and swept away the old ideas of behavior that had ruled the Victorian age. Particularly notable was the greater freedom achieved by women, who entered the world of daily affairs and began to pay increasing attention to their personal appearance. No one capitalized more effectively on these fundamental trends than Elizabeth Arden, whose dictum to American women - "hold fast to youth and beauty" - helped to create the modern cosmetics and beauty salon industry and made her the sole owner of a $60 million business.

Arden was born Florence Nightingale Graham in 1878 (?) in Woodbridge, a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to immigrant parents, her father Scottish and her mother English. Growing up in poverty, she was not able to finish high school but instead drifted from one job to another. In 1908 she moved to New York, where her brother lived. Her entree into the beauty salon business was fortuitous: she took a clerical job in a shop that specialized in "facials," facial massage aided by simple oils and creams and embodying virtually no cosmetic applications. Although Graham was 30 by then, she looked 20 for she was blessed with a smooth, cream complexion. This was her only qualification for taking up the "art of the healing hands," but it was all she needed.

Within a year she and a friend had opened their own shop on Fifth Avenue, a boulevard that was already exchanging its staid mansions in favor of upperclass shops and department stores. Soon she was the sole proprietress, doing business under the name of Elizabeth Arden: Elizabeth, because that was her former partner's name and she saw no reason to scrap its gold leaf lettering on the plate glass window, and Arden from the Tennyson poem, Enoch Arden. The new Elizabeth Arden added what became her trademark - a huge red door with a brass name-plate - and a new industry was born.

Cosmetics were still not accepted for "nice" girls in America as the Edwardian era came to a close, but in Paris "la belle époque " was ending in a burst of social permissiveness. Ignoring World War I, which had just broken out, and braving the submarine menace to cross the Atlantic, Arden went to France in 1914 and was entranced by what she saw: rouge, lipstick, and mascara which, when applied with skill, produced remarkable effects and were being widely adopted. She came back from Europe with many new ideas for her growing chain of salons and hired chemists to compound smooth, fluffy facial creams and a high-style line of cosmetics that were snapped up at premium prices through her shops.

A course of treatments at Elizabeth Arden's was not cheap, but it did not produce much net profit for the stores, either; some consistently operated at a loss as salons. But as outlets for her constantly expanding line of cosmetics, Arden's shops were very profitable. Innovation, in the classic entrepreneurial style, was her secret of success. Lipsticks came in wider and wider ranges of colors and shades to match a woman's coloring, hair, or costume. Face creams, usually based on petroleum ingredients, had been oily and unpleasant, but Arden's Amoretta was fluffy and luxurious; anything that felt that good had to be good for your skin. Inevitable, the cosmetics line demanded wider distribution, and eventually leading department stores everywhere could not afford to be without it.

Arden's first husband, like most of her other interests, was connected with the business. In 1915 she married her banker, Thomas Jenkins Lewis, who took over management of the cosmetics lines. The partnership flourished but the marriage did not, and they were divorced in 1934. Prince Michael Evlanoff, a Russian émigré, brought little but glamour to her second marriage, and that soon wore thin; they were divorced in 1944, and Arden never married again. Yearning to be accepted by New York society, she achieved it through friendship with Elizabeth Marbury, of an old New York family, and Marbury's ally in the world of high culture, Elsie De Wolfe. The lavish charity balls that they helped with were highly successful, but it is likely that her prominence as a sportswoman was even more important.

Horse racing became Arden's passion, and, true to form, she made money at it at least some of the time. She established Maine Chance Stables (named for her former country home, which she had turned into a health resort), and in 1945 her horses' winnings totaled $589,000. The best was yet to come: in 1946 she appeared on the cover of TIME magazine - looking 40 but actually closer to 70 - and the next year her horse, Jet Pilot, won the Kentucky Derby.

In business or at play, Arden was all business. Like the true entrepreneur she was, she knew just what she wanted and usually got it. Never losing the outward appearance of the woman who lived for beauty and refinement, she held her own in a violently competitive industry where her closest competitor, Helena Rubinstein ("that woman," she called her), possessed many of the same traits and racked up much the same success. But when it came to letting go, Arden could not, even as she neared 90. At her death on October 18, 1966, she had made no provisions for the disposition of the business in a manner that would minimize the inheritance taxes, and she was still the sole owner. A $4 million bonus to longtime employees; another $4 million to her sister, Gladys, who had managed the Paris branch; and a large bequest to the niece who had been her companion produced taxes that could be paid only by selling the company. It disappeared into the corporate maw of Eli Lilly and Company, but whatever it was that Florence Graham had brought to Elizabeth Arden, the new owners could not supply it and the name declined markedly in the hurly burly world of beauty care products.

Further Reading

Women in business are now getting more attention, along with women's history generally. Arden is included in Notable American Women - the Modern Period (1980) and is scheduled for inclusion in the Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement Eight. The book Miss Elizabeth Arden (1972), by Alfred Allan Lewis and Constance Woodworth, is readable, if not definitive. The best study of Arden is an article in the New Yorker magazine, April 6, 1935, "I Am a Famous Woman in This Industry." See also the TIME cover story, May 6, 1946.

Quotes:

"I'm not interested in age. People who tell me their age are silly. You're as old as you feel."

Elizabeth Arden
Elizabeth Arden (1939)
Born	Florence Nightingale Graham December 31, 1878(1878-12-31) Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada
Died	October 18, 1966 (aged 87) New York City, New York, United States
Occupation	Businesswoman: Cosmetics Racehorse owner/breeder

Florence Nightingale Graham (December 31, 1878 – October 19, 1966), who went by the business name Elizabeth Arden, was a Canadian businesswoman who built a cosmetics empire in the United States.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Career 3 Death 4 Personal life 5 Thoroughbred horse racing 6 Elizabeth Arden today 7 References 8 External links

Biography

Arden was born in Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada, where she lived until the age of 24. In 1909, she dropped out of nursing school in Toronto.^[1]

She then joined her elder brother in New York City, working briefly as a bookkeeper for the E.R. Squibb Pharmaceuticals Company. While there, Arden spent hours in their lab, learning about skincare. She then worked - again briefly - for Eleanor Adair, an early beauty culturist, as a "treatment girl".

Career

In 1909 Arden formed a partnership with Elizabeth Hubbard, another culturist. When the partnership dissolved, she coined the business name "Elizabeth Arden" from her former partner and from Tennyson's poem "Enoch Arden".

In 1912 Arden travelled to France to learn beauty and facial massage techniques used in the Paris beauty salons. She returned with a collection of rouges and tinted powders she had created. In an era when it was generally only acceptable for entertainers to wear makeup, Arden introduced modern eye makeup to North America. She also introduced the concept of the "makeover" in her salons.

Arden collaborated with A. Fabian Swanson, a chemist, to create a "fluffy" face cream. The success of the cream, Venetian Cream Amoretta, and corresponding lotion, Arden Skin Tonic, led to a long-lasting business relationship. This revolutionized cosmetics, bringing a scientific approach to formulations. Other innovations included creating foundations that matched a person's skin tone; creating the idea of the "Total Look" in which lip, cheek, and fingernail colors matched or coordinated; and the first to make a cosmetics commercial shown in movie houses.

During World War II, Arden recognized the changing needs of the American woman entering the work force. She showed women how to apply makeup and dress appropriately for careers outside the home. She created a lipstick called Montezuma Red, for the women in the armed forces that would match the red on their uniforms. Although most of her commercial success was in cosmetics, she also pioneered restorative musical exercises based on yoga. She started a fashion business in 1943 with notable designers like Charles James and Oscar de la Renta on staff.

She began expanding her international operations in 1915, and started opening salons across the world. By the end of 1930s, it was said that "There are only three American names that are known in every single corner of the globe: Singer sewing machines, Coca Cola, and Elizabeth Arden." A fact proved by Heinrich Harrer in his book Seven Years in Tibet, where he stated that it's possible to buy Arden's products—even in Tibet. At the peak of her career, she had a salon in New York, Washington, Boston, Chicago, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Maine, Arizona, Phoenix, Southhampton, Surfside, Florida, Palm Beach, Philadelphia, Honolulu, Lima. Toronto, Montreal, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore, Johannesburg, London, Paris, Zurich, Vienna, Milan, Rome, Cannes, Madrid, Brussels, Copenhagen, The Hague, London, Ontario, Cape Town, Nassau, Tulsa, Quebec City, and Biarritz. She launched all of them personally and she owned all of them except the one in Paris, which she gave to her sister, Gladys, Vicomtesse de Maublanc.

From the 1930s through the 1960s, Elizabeth Arden was considered the most upscale cosmetic brand, with celebrated patrons including Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth II, Elizabeth, Queen Mother, Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Wallis Simpson and Mamie Eisenhower. The introduction of the perfume Blue Grass in 1934 was a great success. Considered the first all-American scent, it remains on the market today.

The footstone of Elizabeth Arden

Arden named her exclusive Long Pond resort and health spa Maine Chance which catered to her wealthy clientele. At one time the Mt. Vernon, Maine resort and its operating farm produced much of the food for the spa and was a significant employer in the town.

The grave of Elizabeth Arden in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

In recognition of her contribution to the cosmetic industry, she was awarded the Légion d'Honneur by the French government in 1962.

Death

Arden died in New York City in 1966 and was interred in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York under the name Elizabeth N. Graham.

At the time of her death, her estate was worth $30 to $40 million (US) and she had over a hundred salons worldwide. A feature-length documentary film The Powder and the Glory (2009) by Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman, details the rivalry between Arden and Helena Rubenstein.

Personal life

In 1915 she married Thomas J. Lewis, a banker, thus becoming an American citizen. Arden's drive for success cost her marriage to Lewis. They divorced in 1934. A second marriage to a Russian prince only lasted 2 years.^{[citation needed]}

Thoroughbred horse racing

Arden used the name Maine Chance Farm for her Thoroughbred horse racing and breeding operation in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1931 she had bought her first horse at the Fasig-Tipton sales at the Saratoga Race Course. From 1944 on, she worked closely with Leslie Combs II who selected and purchased horses for her. However, according to a 1947 interview with the Thoroughbred Record, Combs said she had a good eye for horses herself and chose a number of successful runners on her own.

In the nineteen forties and fifties Elizabeth Arden built her Maine Chance Farm stable into a major force in American Thoroughbred horse racing. In 1945, Star Pilot and Beaugay were the Eclipse Award colt and filly champions, and her stable was the leading money-winner in the United States. In 1947 her colt Jet Pilot, trained and ridden by future Hall of Famers Tom Smith and Eric Guerin won the Kentucky Derby. Putting her on the cover of the May 6, 1946 issue of Time magazine. In 1948, she also acquired the great filly Busher as a broodmare from a spectacular auction conducted by Louis B. Mayer. Busher was not only inducted into the Hall of Fame, she ranked #40 in Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century. In 1954, her filly "Fascinator," won the Kentucky Oaks. For her contribution to the racing industry, Elizabeth Arden Graham was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2003.

Elizabeth Arden today

Her company was sold to Eli Lilly and Company in 1971 for $38 million. Eli Lilly and Company sold Arden to Fabergé in 1987 for $657 million.

Elizabeth Arden's cosmetics company continues to trade today, and was bought from Unilever in 2003 by FFI for $225 million, a New York company. They changed their name to Elizabeth Arden, and are publicly listed (NASDAQ: RDEN). The past 'face' of Elizabeth Arden was Swedish supermodel Vendela Kirsebom during the late-1980s to the mid-1990s. The current 'face' of Elizabeth Arden is Catherine Zeta Jones.

The company continues to offer color coordinated make-up sets, as well as an extensive line of skin care products and treatments.

Since Arden's death, some of the company's focus has shifted to the development of a number of fragrance lines. The company's signature fragrance is called "Red Door" named after their day spas which are called "Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salons". Other fragrance within their own line are "Fifth Avenue", "Green Tea", "Provocative Woman" and their newest, "Mediterranean". The company also holds the license to the Hilary Duff fragrances "With Love... Hilary Duff" and "Wrapped With Love...", and the Britney Spears fragrances "Curious", "Fantasy", "Curious: In Control", "Midnight Fantasy", "Hidden Fantasy", "Circus Fantasy", "Believe" and "Curious Heart" ; Elizabeth Taylor's "White Diamonds," "Passion," "Forever Elizabeth," and "Gardenia"; Mariah Carey's "M by Mariah Carey" and "Luscious Pink by Mariah Carey". In 2006 Elizabeth Arden acquired the fragrance portfolio from Riviera Concepts. The newly acquired brands include Alfred Sung, the Hummer fragrance franchise, Cynthia Rowley, Lulu Guinness, Bob Mackie, and Badgley Mischka.

References

1. ^ page 262, Frommer's Guide to Toronto 2004, by Hilary Davidson, ISBN 0-7645-4060-2

• Marshall, Mary. Great Breeders and Their Methods (2008) Russell Meerdink Co. Ltd. ISBN 9780929346823
• Woodhead, Lindy. War Paint (2004) Virago ISBN 1-84408-049-8

External links

• FBI dossier on Elizabeth Arden
• Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
• Elizabeth Arden, Inc. Homepage
• Elizabeth Arden, Inc. Corporate Information

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Persondata
NAME	Arden, Elizabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Florence Nightingale Graham
SHORT DESCRIPTION	businesswoman
DATE OF BIRTH	December 31, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH	Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH	October 19, 1966
PLACE OF DEATH	New York City, New York

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