EXCLUSIVE: Victoria Beckham Beauty Pops Up in New York
Victoria Beckham is doubling down on experiences to sell her fragrances.
Weeks after launching her latest fragrance — Jérôme Epinette-nosed 21:50 Rêverie — at her spring 2025 runway show in Paris, the multihyphenate’s beauty brand is kicking off a pop-up in New York on Thursday.
More from WWD
The three-room installation on New York’s Chelsea Highline will include a larger-than-life sculpture of the product’s bottle, campaign imagery lensed by Steven Klein, samples and Beckham’s own narration of the story behind the fragrance, which started in Java, Indonesia, at dinner with her husband David two decades ago.
It will run for eight days. The benefits for the business, executives said, were myriad.
“We see fragrance as being this pillar of the business model, but also a big pillar of the brand,” said Katia Beauchamp, Victoria Beckham Beauty’s chief executive officer, who said the category was the brand’s best poised to express Beckham’s point of view on taste and style. “Fragrance is this link between being born as a fashion house, and then coming into beauty.
“It’s powerful to be able to bring [consumers] in with a very luxury item,” Beauchamp continued. “We take that trust very seriously, and seeing that the penetration is holding so high, is indicative of the brand’s potential.”
Since the fragrance’s launch in September, it is the top seller in Beckham’s fragrance portfolio.
“We anticipated that based on the scent profile,” which is rooted in vanilla, tonka bean and cedarwood, said Lauren Edelman, Victoria Beckham Beauty’s chief marketing officer. “But it’s surprisingly large in terms of performance. We’re very happy to see those early results.”
The activation also brings consumers the chance to experience the fragrance in real life. Victoria Beckham Beauty’s footprint is largely digital. In the U.K., it recently expanded at Selfridges.
“We spend a lot of time and energy understanding how to bring categories to life that are difficult to sell online. This investment was because we wanted more real-life interaction as a complement to everything else we’ve done. From consumer research I’ve done on the brand, there’s a real difference for people when they experience and touch the product. This a journey for people to go from knowing about the brand, to experiencing it,” Edelman said.
The brand anticipates roughly 20,000 people to pass through the installation per day, though the social media push is designed to beckon potential shoppers beyond New York.
“We’ll also be measuring organic and direct site traffic — how many people saw it, or saw it on a friend’s Instagram, and decided they were interested. Those are people who go from slightly aware to engaged. Sales conversion is more of a 30-, 60- or 90-day journey,” Edelman said. “This is the first consumer-facing brand event at this scale. We do a lot in Europe, but never in a major U.S. market. I wanted people to come, see the fragrance and experience it for themselves.”
Best of WWD
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
