Louis Vuitton to branch into beauty products

Louis Vuitton, the world's biggest fashion label, will begin selling beauty products and has tapped British makeup artist Pat McGrath to lead creative direction for the new venture.

The fashion brand is expanding its offer as the industry seeks new avenues of growth to offset a current slump.

The move by the LVMH-owned label, announced in a statement on Wednesday, comes as the fashion industry, including LVMH, faces its slowest sales in years, struggling in particular to reignite interest from younger, inflation-weary shoppers.

A number of high-end fashion houses including Hermes, Valentino and Celine, which is also owned by LVMH, have branched out in recent years into makeup, which even at the high end, where lipsticks can cost over $50 (AED 183), is more affordable than fashion handbags that are priced upwards of $1,000 (AED 3,600).

McGrath, whose makeup company Pat McGrath Labs sells concealers in over 30 colour shades, is well-known for her influence in the fashion industry.

For John Galliano's Maison Margiela fashion show last year, one of the industry's buzziest runway outings in recent years, she famously made models look like dolls, adding a glossy sheen to their faces that resembled porcelain.

Vuitton, which already sells perfumes, will launch 55 lipsticks, 10 lip balms and eight eyeshadows in over 100 brand stores around the world.

Production will be in France and the label will also make leather goods for the products. Vuitton made vanity cases in the 19th century and in the 1920s sold powder compacts, brushes and mirrors.