in 2025 the beauty industry is changing and sources like the Harvard business review are exploring the fact that inclusive product based business out perform newer luxury brands.

less risk, less to prove, and more customers. This is laden terms for something that has been seen and discussed for many years.

as we seen reports of Chanels potential down fall, and decline in sales as the economy shifts to a subjective down turn. currently Chanel has been building their ladder out of the hole.

While these luxury dynamistic have the control of privacy I see in the new wave of beauty industry leaders with successful brands have a correlation to third wave feminism, leading to a new definition of beauty being adopted against first wave feminism that defines what beauty is and not what it can be.

we will ask and discuss the relationship between two philosophies, the origins stories of brands like Sol De Janeiro and Chanel in the context of first and third wave feminism to consoled the likely hood of a successful branding pivot.

with the only thing stopping a successful pivot could be the brands origin stories.

In this episode, I unpack how the beauty industry’s shift from exclusivity to inclusivity isn’t just a moral evolution—it’s a strategic one. Through a feminist media studies lens, we’ll trace how the storytelling of women like Coco Chanel and Heela Yang (Sol de Janeiro) reflect the wider currents of first and third wave feminism: one rooted in exceptionalism and individuality, the other in collectivity and representation.

Luxury beauty has learned how to speak the language of empowerment while still selling aspiration. But when inclusivity becomes a performance, can it still be progress? I argue that a brand’s ability to pivot successfully depends not on trends but on how authentically its marketing aligns with its founder’s original voice and cultural context.

We’ll talk about beauty as a political act, the semiotics of scent, and why your favorite body cream might tell you more about capitalism than you think.

Read the full essay and other deep dives into culture, beauty, and media at The Desktop Vanity on Substack — home to “Girls Who Get What They Want.”

https://substack.com/@thedesktopvanity

🎧 Tune in, reflect, and rethink what makes beauty powerful.