French-born Violette Serrat, creative director of makeup for Guerlain since 2021,was born and raised in Paris. Serrat stepped into the Guerlain role held by Olivier Echaudemaison for more than 20 years. Rouge G lipstick was his progeny.

A new campaign focused on red lips and a relaunched Rouge G has dropped this fall, with Natalia Vodianova and Malika El Maslouhi leading the campaign lensed by Charlotte Wales [IG].

Considering Guerlain’s aristocratic origins, founded in 1828 when Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain opened his first boutique at 42 rue de Rivoli in Paris, it might seem improbable that LVMH-owned Guerlain would hire Serrat, a YouTube star who launched a direct-to-consumer brand, called Violette_FR.

Weeks before her summer 2021 appointment, Violette_FR collaborated with the trendy French label Bisous Skateboards on exclusive items that were sold in a pop-up in New York’s SoHo. The French label prompted AOC to reflect on Emily Oberg’s Sporty & Rich.

Serrat’s innovative approach to merchandising makeup to a modern audience was exactly one that Guerlain sought to harness for its own prestige brand.

In summer 2024, Violette_ FR remains in the top 10 TikTok beauty brands measured by engagement rate and followers growth. Violette Serrat takes to the platform even now to share French beauty tips — most recently how to “style” a red lip. Serrat herself is seeing rapid follower growth for Violette_ FR on a platform where traditional beauty brands do not carry the same excitement and engagement.

Simply stated, Violette Serrat knows what she’s talking about when the topic is makeup, and while some of her observations may be deeply embedded in French history and Parisian culture, her business acumen is cutting edge in how products are being sold and what matters most to young buyers of makeup.

In a Guerlain-sponsored press call around the fall 2024 relaunch of Rouge G, the creative director explained “For Parisians, lipstick is like water — we need it to survive.”

Fifteen years after Rouge G’s first Guerlain release, it’s reborn in 40 stunning shades in both velvet-matte and satin finishes. Rouge G is formulated with a new 89 per cent skincare-based formula made with natural waxes and is housed in nine new jewel cases that can be customized and refilled.

Even the iconic mirrored cases notched up their glam quotient without hurting the environment. Using gold instead of silver, the cases are 19 per cent lighter than before, allowing for a 30 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

Violette says that when she joined Guerlain in 2021, her goal was to “look at the whole lineup and do a very honest review of everything—a deep dive into all of the products.” Rouge G had just been reformulated, and “it was in a very good place,” the director recalls. “It was just gorgeous. So I thought to myself, ‘It’ll take a few years to make this even better.’”

This is the interesting balance with how Violette Serrat approaches selling products. She is young and exposed to a digital world that marries selling makeup with French fashion skateboarders in a New York City popup.

Simultaneously, Serrat has the obsession with perfection that prompted Bernard Arnault to respond favorably to Olivier Echaudemaison’s 2001 presentation to the chairman about his innovative vision for Guerlain — when he was already successful at Givenchy.

Speaking about Rouge G, Serrat said: “I wanted to redo the colours and start from scratch, because it’s so rare that you get to redesign 40 colours at the same time. . . To me, it’s an ideal situation, because then everything is totally thought through. And the execution can be perfect.”

Guerlain’s new Rouge G formula was developed with natural-origin waxes, including lily oleo extract. Created with lily flowers and paired with sweet almond oil, this complex has smoothing, hydrating and plumping properties and improves the quality of lips worldwide with prolonged wear.

Speaking of the array of shades, Serrat cites 14 shades of red — the minimum she would accept in the Rouge G relaunch. “There’s a cool red, a blue red, a dark red, a warm red and more. If we’re going to have a lipstick lineup, it has to be complete. There are no faux pas in this lineup,” Violette Serrat assures us all.

For the more feint-hearted, there are nudes, corals, berries and pinks. Anne of Carversville is not for the feint-hearted and we share just three famous women who loved red lipstick.

Marilyn Monroe, whose alluring red lips became emblematic of her persona, famously remarked that a touch of lipstick was enough to make her feel ready to face the world. Elizabeth Taylor, another Hollywood legend known for her glamorous allure, once noted that the decision to "put on some lipstick, pour yourself a drink, and pull yourself together" represented a small victory in asserting control amidst the chaos of life.

Frida Kahlo, the mysterious Mexican painter known for her intense, self-reflective works and vibrant personal style, embraced red lipstick as a declaration of individuality amidst her often turbulent and life. Kahlo’s bold red lips were a reflection of her fiery spirit and unyielding determination to express herself authentically and not yield to the monster of physical pain that haunted Kahlo most days of her life.

In October, AOC responded to a Vogue Greece story ‘Red Kisses’ with a deep dive into the ancient history of red lips. Read on: “Vogue Greece Sends Red Kisses | AOC Goes to Babylon for a Primer on Cherry Lips”.