The global beauty business permeates our lives, influencing how we perceive ourselves and what it is to be beautiful. This book provides the first authoritative history of the global beauty industry from its emergence in the 19th century to the present day, exploring how today's global giants such as Avon, Coty, Este Lauder, and L'Oral, grew. The global beauty business permeates our lives, influencing how we perceive ourselves and what it is to be beautiful. Thebrands and firms which have shaped this industry, such as Avon, Coty, Este Lauder, L'Oral, and Shiseido, have imagined beauty for us.This book provides the first authoritative history of the global beauty industry from its emergence in the nineteenth century to the present day, exploringhow today's global giants grew. It shows how successive generations of entrepreneurs built brands which shaped perceptions of beauty, and the business organizations needed to market them. They democratized access to beauty products, once the privilege of elites, but they also defined the gender and ethnic borders of beauty, and itsassociation with a handful of cities, notably Paris and later New York. The result was a homogenization of beauty ideals throughout the world.Today globalization is changing the beauty industry again; its impact can be seen in a range of competing strategies. Global brands have swept into China, Russia, and India, but at the same time, these brands are having to respond toa far greater diversity of cultures and lifestyles as new markets are opened up worldwide.In the twenty first century, beauty is again being re-imagined anew. GeoffreyJones ... intimates in the title of his detailed economic history of the beauty business, Beauty Imagined , that [beauty] is created by the collective willof a consumer society. Assessing beauty as a social construct, Jones takes the late 19th century as his starting point, when an increase in mass visual dissemination, particularly the spread of commercial photography, saw ideals of beauty shift from the personal and private to the communal. Beauty Imagined is a pioneering work in its ambition to present a grounded account of the growth of the global beauty business. Jones relies on a wide reading of a rather fragmented literature, supplemented by data from company archives as well as interviews with entrepreneurs and executives. The volume covers much ground and is written in a fluent and accessible style. Both men and women have dressed their hair, painted their faces, and sought ways to enhance their sexual allure inevery time and place, yet the ways they have done so are infinitely various ... Given the degree to which beauty is interwoven with cultural concepts, it might seem impossible to talk of global beauty, but it is the achievement of this book to show how what was once culture bound has expanded into a multinational business. If you have a passion for beauty then you need to read this book. True stories about the people behind the most famous brands make the cosmetic industry come alive as you learn how it has become such a significant part of our global culture. The book is to be admired and its author congratulated for the deft (and pioneering) fashion in which order is imposed upon such a recalcitrant subject. For anyone interested in the lineaments, scope and statistics of the beauty industries this is essential reading. It teaches us a great deal about the size and comparative structure of firms and conglomerates as they devour smaller ventures and then get gobbled up themselves. A must read forthe beauty junkie. A deft, comprehensive history that charts [the beauty industry's] path from the ancient craft of perfumery to the vast commercial cornerstone it now is ... Fans of figures and appendices will find a neat summary ofhow the beauty business has developed, including its many mergers, acquisitions, and divestments. Those who simply love fragrance might be interested to know how Lauder transformed department store beauty halls, and her own fortunes,with Youth Dew, a fragrance whose nameencapsulates the big promise in a seductively natural and simple way. The business behind it is anything but. Geoffrey Jones has written a formidable history of the Beauty Industry that reads like a novel. Beauty Imagined, A History of the Global Beauty Industry... is poised to become a classic of the genre. It should be read by anyone involved in the beauty business. Thoroughly researched...Jones offers valuable new knowledge for the critical eye of a professional business historian. At the same time the book is a must-read for anyone working in the beauty or fashion business...deserves to become the standard reference work on the history of the international beauty industry. Although the book is not written as a how-to guide, there are plenty of lessons for entrepreneurs and industry executives. Nothing slips away in Jones' book...it's an enormous assembly of inter-linked stories...all the great cosmetic monsters rampage through the book This illuminating account of the history of the beauty business, as well as its current challenges in the face of globalization, offers unique insights on the drivers of success and failure in an industry in which branding and marketing are at the heart of competitive success. Geoffrey Jones has distilled a massive amount of evidence from around the world to produce the intriguing essence of the global beauty business. This book's incisive analysis of how the industry grew, and its current challenges and dynamics, makes it essential reading for people working in beauty today, as well as millions who delight in using our brands each day. Beauty is a sprawling global business,yet Geoffrey Jones has produced a book broad enough and deep enough to encompass it compactly and with insight. Beauty Imagined skillfully marshals a vast array of disparate sources-not just from the usual suspects, but from high andlow, from east and west, from north and south, and from the present and the past - into a well-honed and compelling account of the business that one way oranother quite literally touches us all. This bookwill no doubt be read avidly by business historians, among whom Jones is preeminent. But it will also be read far beyond for what it tells us about society, about business, and about ourselves. Beauty is a sprawling global business, yet Geoffrey Jones has produced a book broad enough and deep enough to encompass it compactly and with insight. Beauty Imagined skillfully marshals a vast array of disparate sources-not just from the usual suspects, but from high and low, from east and west, from north and south, and from the present and the past - into a well-honed and compelling account of the business that one way or another quite literally touches us all. This bookwill no doubt be read avidly by business historians, among whom Jones is preeminent. But it will also be read far beyond for what it tells us about society, about business, and about ourselves. Offers some interesting insights into the realm of consumers and beauty INDICE: Introduction: The Business of Beauty Part I: Beauty Imagined Scentand Paris How do I Look? Cleanliness and Civilization Part II: Beauty Diffused Beauty Amid War and Depression The Television Age Global Ambitions Meet Local Markets The Uncertain Identity of Beauty Part III: Beauty Re-Imagined Challenges from New Quarters Globalization and Tribalization Conclusion: The Dream Machine
- ISBN: 978-0-19-963962-5
- Editorial: Oxford University
- Encuadernacion: Rústica
- Páginas: 432
- Fecha Publicación: 29/09/2011
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés