The Beauty Icons Series…ELIZABETH ARDEN

ELIZABETH ARDEN: The Lady Behind the LEGENDARY RED DOOR

A legendary innovator and famously tough businesswoman, this Canadian-born entrepreneur helped to shape the face of the American beauty industry.

Elizabeth Arden was born on a farm in Canada but rose to international fame and success

“To be beautiful is the birthright of every woman,” she declared.

She believed that beauty should not be a veneer of makeup, but rather an intelligent cooperation between science and nature to develop every woman’s best natural assets.

Her rags-to- riches climb made her an internationally recognized figure

Born Florence Nightingale Graham in rural Canada in 1881, her mother died when she was 6 years old, and she was raised on a farm by her siblings and father.

Although she grew up in poverty, and never finished high school, she would rise to fame as the sole owner of a modern cosmetics company worth $60 million USD.

In 1908, deciding that she could not stand the sight of blood, she dropped out of nursing school and followed her brother to New York City. She took a clerical position at E.R. Squibb Pharmaceuticals company, where she began to learn the science of modern skin care.

French model Cecille Bayliss.
She became the Elizabeth Arden trademark for more than 20 years.

Her beautiful complexion was often admired, so she took a job in a shop specializing in facials and became a “treatment girl”. Her only qualifications were her perfect skin and healing hands; she discovered a natural aptitude for skin care and cosmetics.

While mastering facial massage techniques, she befriended a chemist at work and began researching “beauty creams”, a new concept at the time.

Arden incorporated European massage techniques into RED DOOR salons

Arden believed in the use of skin care treatments and massage to improve the health of the skin, rather than masking it with makeup.

Arden developed a revolutionary skin cream and named it Venetian Cream Amoretta. Unlike the heavy, greasy formulations women were accustomed to using, her break-through cream had a fluffy, luxurious texture. It was a resounding success, along with Arden Skin Tonic.

Behind the Red Door:
A sanctuary of beauty and well-being

She opened the first Red Door Salon on Fifth Avenue in 1910. Women were fighting for their rights in society, including the right to vote. Arden marched with 15,000 suffragettes in New York, supplying red lip stick to many as a symbol of strength and unity.

At that time, the American cosmetic industry was in its infancy and makeup was not generally worn by “nice girls” in America, but only by performers and prostitutes. Arden launched massive public relations campaigns to make cosmetics more accessible, and more acceptable to the general public.

Elizabeth traveled to France to perfect the beauty and facial massage techniques she discovered in high-end Parisian salons, incorporating them into her salons in the U.S. Her company expanded to include salons in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Honolulu, London, Paris, Milan, Rome and Hong Kong. She personally launched each salon location and greeted her clients personally.

By the thirties, Arden owned 150 salons and sold over 1,000 products in 22 countries. She owned all company stock and was president and chairman of the board, but generously gifted the Paris salon to her sister Gladys.

The Red Door became a luxurious and social safe- haven for fashionable ladies

Despite the Great Depression, her business thrived. The glamourous New York Salon expanded to seven floors. The Red Door salons became a haven for women and inspired the fictional salon in the movie, “The Women”, starring Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer. The film put “Jungle-Red” manicures and daily calisthenics on the map.

Jungle red nails became all the rage!

Fortune magazine wrote at the time, “she earned more money than any other businesswoman in the history of the United States…only three American brands that are know in every single corner of the globe: Singer sewing machines, Coca Cola, and Elizabeth Arden.”

The unstoppable Miss Arden pioneered many innovations, including eye-make up (1914), in-store make-overs and travel-sized products (1917). She was the first to offer complimentary makeovers in store. A public-relations genius, her company also became the first to make a cosmetic commercial shown in movie houses across America.

Arden was a firm believer in holistic beauty, advocating for hydration, yoga and avoidance of the sun. These were revolutionary ideas at the time but are now recognized as essential elements of well-being.

She successfully marketed makeup as a way for women to appear ladylike and professional.

The Red Door became a sanctuary for the rich and famous…

Marilyn Monroe was a frequent client

Celebrity Endorsements

Elizabeth II and Diana were devotees

Elizabeth Arden products have held a royal warrant for six decades, with her iconic Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream being famously used by Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana and quite recently by Prince Harry. In his recent memoir, Spare, The Duke of Sussex revealed that he rubbed the eight-hour cream on his “todger” to relieve frostbite.

Reese Witherspoon, brand ambassador

Actress Reese Witherspoon has long been an ambassador for the brand. Her go-to product is Elizabeth Ardens City Smart SPF 50 Hydrating Shield.

Many celebrities were devoted to the brand, including Jacqueline Kennedy, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe and Wallis Simpson. Present day faces of Arden include Victoria Beckham and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, the contemporary face of Elizabeth Arden

Her love for horseracing inspired her iconic fragrance, BLUE GRASS

This beauty queen famously indulged in the 'sport of kings'

She had no children but was fond of racehorses. Her thoroughbred, Jet Pilot, won the Kentucky Derby in 1947

In 1915, Elizabeth married Thomas Jenkins Lewis, her banker, becoming an American citizen. She made sure to tell him, “Dear, never forget one little point. It’s my business. You just work here.” After nearly 20 years together, they divorced and Elizabeth went on to marry a Russian aristocrat, Prince Michael Evanloff. Although the second marriage lasted only two years, the glamour of marrying a Russian prince, and her friendship with acclaimed decorator Elsie De Wolfe, ensured her position in New York’s upper class and the elite world of thoroughbred horse racing.

In recognition of her contribution to the international cosmetic industry, she was awarded the Legion d’Honneur by the French government in 1972.

Elizabeth Arden died in 1966, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She was 87 years old and died of complications following a heart attack. She was buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, under the name Elizabeth N. Graham.

The Elizabeth Arden company was purchased by Revlon for $419 million in cash. Globally, gross sales are estimated at $3 billion annually.