We Can't Explain It, But These 6 Fashion and Beauty Brands Give Off the Same Cool-Girl Vibes
Perhaps it's because I'm a former fashion student who now works as a beauty editor, but I have a certain sense of synesthesia when it comes to fashion and beauty brands. It just makes sense to me—of course, the woman in the exquisitely structured blazer has a Khaite tote bag full of Violette_FR lippies, you know?
Now, it’s no surprise that the fashion and beauty industries go hand in hand. One is typically born of the other, with storied fashion houses like Armani, Valentino, and Prada (to name very few) developing their own beauty lines to outfit their shopper entirely. Though we love our designer beauty here at Who What Wear, certain names in the skincare and cosmetics industries bear no crossover with fashion, yet I find myself putting them in mental boxes together based on aesthetics, brand missions, and their highly stylized shopper.
While there’s no “correct” formula for matching beauty brands with fashion labels, there are a few that might pique your interest if you favor any of the buzzy names below. Scroll on to discover which six fashion brands have a secret soulmate in the beauty realm—and the exact products we imagine every fashion girl keeping in her designer bag.
Khaite and Violette_FR
We’re no strangers to either of these brands. Khaite remains a mainstay in the closets of our fashion editors with uptown taste, and Violette_FR is reigning as one of our beauty team’s favorite French beauty brands to date. While you might think two French brands would be a better fit for one another (Khaite is based out of New York, after all), I’ve spotted more similarities than differences between the shoppers and aesthetics of each.
As beauty editors, we value the versatility and effortlessness of each Violette product: the Bisou Balm being buildable and blottable enough to quickly dab across the lips and cheeks before hailing a taxi, and the color-staining Lip Nectar leaving a watercolor wash across your pout all day, even through meals. (The Khaite shopper doesn’t have time to leisurely reapply, after all.) Violette_FR’s mission statement describes a desire to rewrite the narrative about modern-day beauty, enhancing the wearer’s natural characteristics rather than molding them into modern-day “perfection.” Khaite’s own brand identity turns sustainable materials into high-end, multipurpose products, which translate into womenswear that finds “confidence in contrast,” according to the brand’s website.
Based on aesthetics alone—what with the modern femininity, strong structure, and sleek appearances of each’s offerings—it makes sense why these brands would go hand in hand. TL;DR: I wouldn’t be shocked in the slightest to see the head-to-toe Khaite woman stopping to touch up with a few swipes of her Bisou Blush before stepping onto the New York City streets.
In a Khaite Girl's Bag
Ann Demeuelemeester and Isamaya
There’s something so perfect about the pairing of these two brands that you’d almost wonder if their spearheads, Stefano Gallici, creative director of Ann Demeulemeester, and Isamaya Ffrench, were in cahoots. Both brands are unabashedly edgy, distinctly unique, and undeniably cool, with much of their influence coming from the founders’ experiences with artistic tastemakers. Ann Demeulemeester, from which her eponymous brand was born, found her muses in musicians and artists, while Ffrench was first a sought-after makeup artist to Rihanna, Madonna, and Bella Hadid.
