Estée Lauder: The Life and Legacy of A Legend, As Told by Her Granddaughter
There are some nights that are just quintessentially “New York.”
Thursday was one of those nights.
Just after 7:30 p.m., I walked into a beautiful townhouse on East 70th Street and into another world.
The world of Estée Lauder – her actual home.
It’s rare that the Lauders open Estée’s townhouse to guests outside the family.
But this was a special occasion.
Aerin and Jane Lauder, Estée’s granddaughters, hosted an intimate dinner to celebrate their new book, Estée: A Beautiful Life, out today.
(Left to right) Aerin Lauder, Jane Lauder, New York, NY, November 4, 2021
It was also a celebration of the 75th anniversary of The Estée Lauder Companies.
(Left to right), William Lauder, Leonard Lauder, Judy Glickman Lauder
(Left to right) Deeda Blair, Aerin Lauder, Karlie Kloss
We dined on Estée’s dinner sets.
We drank from her crystal.
We ate from a menu inspired by a dinner Estée hosted for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
And the wine? A 1998 red, the last bottle Estée purchased.
A night to remember.
Just before the dinner, I sat down with Aerin to talk about the personal side of Estée, her drive… and how she inspired Aerin to create something of her own.
BUILDING A BEAUTY EMPIRE, ONE FREE GIFT AT A TIME
ALINA CHO: [The book] coincides with the 75th anniversary of The Estée Lauder Companies. Mind boggling — that's three quarters of a century.
AERIN LAUDER: I know. I was looking at the statistics — [The Estée Lauder Companies] reached one billion in sales in 1989, went public in 1995. Now, there are 25 brands. Estée started with four products in 1946 with a vision and a dream.
ALINA CHO: And she started the company at a time when women did not work. That, in and of itself, said everything about her character.
AERIN LAUDER: Completely. I mean, Estée was probably one of the most driven, passionate women I've ever met.
And her idea, her vision, her dream was just... she never took “no” for an answer. She would wait for hours for a cosmetics buyer to come out and meet with her. And just the creativity — the famous story of [“accidentally” spilling] Youth Dew on the floor in department stores so people would smell it.
ALINA CHO: Can we talk about Gift with Purchase?
AERIN LAUDER: She was brilliant as a marketer. [When she was first starting out], she would go into these hair salons, women would be trapped under the hair dryer. She was all about touch.
She was touching these women, putting cream on their hands. They were feeling how soft it was. She would give them a little packet, a sample, so they could go home and try it and decide if they wanted to purchase it.
ALINA CHO: Brilliant.
AERIN LAUDER: And, therefore, she created Gift with Purchase. It was such a brilliant concept. When [Estée Lauder was] launching in the UK in the '60s, the Queen sent her lady-in-waiting to come and pick up her Gift with Purchase. That's such a funny story because it said, no matter who you are, even if you're the Queen of England, you still love a little surprise and a gift.
ALINA CHO: Absolutely.
AERIN LAUDER: And Estée really knew her customers. She would always say,
"A woman knows what a woman wants."
And that's so true.
ESTÉE LAUDER, GRANDMOTHER FIRST
ALINA CHO: What was she like as a grandmother?
AERIN LAUDER: She was warm, she was loving, she was funny. She loved life. She was very generous. She used to love to give us beautiful gifts, like handbags, watches, Barbie dolls, dollhouses. There was one year I broke my leg skiing and she bought me not one but two dollhouses for Christmas. That was Estée. And [it was her idea to] always [have] a little gift at everyone's seat at the table for a dinner or lunch, because she wanted to be generous, and she just enjoyed life.
A bottle of Youth Dew was left at each place setting, November 4, 2021
ALINA CHO: That’s very special.
AERIN LAUDER: It was funny, she never said, “Don't touch.” There are certain grandmothers who would probably say, “Don't touch this, don't touch that.” We would go for her jewelry. We would put on her rings and carry her pretty handbags. And she always encouraged us to discover and explore.
ALINA CHO: That's amazing.
AERIN LAUDER: That was her philosophy on life. She always loved chocolates and she would have little refrigerators in all her homes, and she would fill them with Godiva boxes of chocolates. And she would always say, "Take one, take two, try another. This one's really good." And there's a very famous picture of [the two of us] in the book at The Plaza having tea. And I have a smile from ear to ear.
Because I couldn't decide if I wanted the chocolate éclair or the Napoleon and she was like, "Let's get both."
ALINA CHO: I remember when we first met and you would talk about, “Estée, Estée, Estée.” I thought you were just doing that for my benefit, but you really called her Estée.
AERIN LAUDER: We did. We never called her “Grandma” because she always wanted to be young, and she did not want to be “Grandma Estée.” So, we just started calling her Estée and it stuck.
ESTÉE, THE LEGENDARY HOSTESS
ALINA CHO: I do want to talk about the incredible hostess she was and the circle of friends she had. I mean, looking at those photos in the book… Princess Grace. The Prince of Wales. Princess Diana. Nancy Reagan. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. What was she like as the hostess and friend of so many extraordinary people?
AERIN LAUDER: Well, she was truly unique because she was both elegant and warm. And, I think, that's a really special combination.
And I try to do the same when I host, whether it's a tiny group or a big party. She would always greet her guests at the front. And she would always have a beautiful, fragrant arrangement of flowers in the front hallway. That's something that I also try [to do] because you walk in, the first impression is so important.
ALINA CHO: Of course.
AERIN LAUDER: And she loved to mix different people that didn't know each other. And the idea, as I said earlier, leaving a little gift [at each place setting]. The attention to detail — beautiful flowers and a beautiful calligraphy menu. She really had this wonderful sense of entertaining. For the event [we did on Thursday], I went through all her plates and every table [had] a different set.
AERIN: THIS GENERATION’S ESTÉE
ALINA CHO: I cannot believe it's almost been a decade since you started your brand, Aerin.
AERIN LAUDER: It’s funny, I started the brand around the same time [Estée] started hers, age wise. So, I always feel like history repeats itself.
ALINA CHO: What was your original concept?
AERIN LAUDER: Well, people were always saying, "What are the items you can't live without?" And, I had this idea of creating a capsule beauty collection, but I also loved objects and beauty essentials and makeup bags and hairbrushes. It was funny, I had this rejected tester on my desk, and I started putting product on it and I put a hairbrush and I put a little makeup bag, and then I put some fragrance. And I thought, “My gosh, it'd be so great to sell beauty with other things, because it will be different.”
ALINA CHO: Wow, I didn’t realize that.
AERIN LAUDER: Fabrizio [Freda, President/CEO of The Estée Lauder Companies], who believes in focus groups, wanted me to focus group this concept to see if it resonated. And what was fascinating was that it not only resonated, but the words people associated me with were not only beauty and heritage, but style, family, and home. So, it gave me the courage and the green light to [start a brand].
ALINA CHO: Interesting.
AERIN LAUDER: So, in 2012, we launched a few beauty essentials, [makeup] palettes, a lip conditioner, our Rose Hand and Body Cream, which to this day are still bestsellers. We also launched five fragrances.
Estée had this amazing quote that said,
"You wouldn't wear the same dress to have dinner as you would to play tennis, why would you wear the same fragrance?"
ALINA CHO: You’re also in so many categories [outside of beauty].
AERIN LAUDER: The world of Home has been a very important part of the business.
ALINA CHO: Well, let's talk about that because what became clear during COVID was that everybody was looking around at their home and decided, “This needs upgrading, this needs fixing, oh, I could use something there.”
AERIN LAUDER: We had our best year ever. But our Home [Collection] shifted — containers, casual plates, easy napkins, bamboo silverware, glasses that were obviously machine washable. So, our concept and our product assortment shifted, but the ethos of the brand stayed the same. I even came out with a book, Entertaining Beautifully, during COVID, which was about entertaining at home and a year of events.
And it did very, very well because people were looking for ideas.
ALINA CHO: How many stores do you have now?
AERIN LAUDER: We have two in the Hamptons [Southampton and East Hampton], one in Palm Beach and we're about to open in Miami in the Design District in December.
ALINA CHO: Do you have a vision for your brand 5 years, 10 years from now?
AERIN LAUDER: We really want to focus on the categories we're in and go deeper. That's one thing I've learned from Estée Lauder — when something works, constantly focus on that.
ALINA CHO: What do you think [Estée would] say about what you've built?
AERIN LAUDER: I think she would be so proud. I think she would love it. Sometimes, I find old notes that I put into books that she wrote to me, "Have a beautiful home,” and, “I love you." I think she would say the same thing today.