Next came the creative department at Clinique, where Aerin
worked during her high school years. Then, after graduating from
the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of
Communications, it was immediately onto global skincare and
make-up brand Prescriptives (on her uncle Leonard Lauder’s
advice she should start her career with a ‘smaller’ company).
“Our family has always openly talked about business. We think
about it in our homes, and we have family dinners all the time
where we talk about a trip someone has been on, or a counter or
a store or a brand. It’s always been a very important part of my
life.” It’s this unwavering respect for the empire her family built
that sets Aerin apart from other young, cashed-up heiresses.
Perhaps that’s also why diva antics
and late-night college mishaps never
made their way onto Aerin’s social
résumé. It was in college, however,
that she met her now husband of 19
years, Eric Zinterhofer (naturally,
she wore custom Oscar de la Renta
to their 1996 wedding): “I think
getting married and having children
are my two most memorable
experiences. When I had my two
children, it was the first time in my
life I ever had responsibility for
someone else. I think it teaches you
about balance and values, about how
you want them to end up, what kind
of person you want them to be, and
I think it also teaches you what’s
important and what’s not,” says
Aerin, lighting up with that gleam
mothers get when they speak about
their kids. However, Aerin
remembers the “mother’s glow” once
wore off on a particularly cold November day, when an urgent
email from her son landed in her already full inbox. The contents?
“Mum, I left two books I need for school in between my mattress
and headboard.” Lauder’s reaction was as typical as any mother’s
would be: “I mean first of all, who would put a book there?”
The AERIN office is cosy and intimate compared to the Estée
Lauder mothership just across the street. Had it not been for the
window washer dangling precariously outside (“It’s like we’re at
the dentist,” jokes Aerin) it would rival a grand Georgian living
room – floral arrangements and ornate mirrors aplenty, decorative
light fittings hang overhead and artwork nonchalantly covers every
wall. “Estée used to say: ‘You spend so much time at work, so you
should make it the most comfortable and happy place you can.’
I think that’s very relevant,” she enthuses. Mood boards, fabric
swatches and flacons of varied scents swarm the nearby table. Of
the five fragrances launching in Australia, there’s one that’s
particularly poignant for Aerin: “It’s called Lilac Path and it’s
based on a lilac bush at my grandmother’s house in the country. It
was the last one we created, because we were working in a
completely different direction. I saw this bush and it was blooming
and it was so beautiful. I sent a photo to Karyn [Khoury, senior
vice-president of corporate fragrance development, Estée Lauder
Companies] and I said: ‘Please don’t kill me, but do you think we
could look at lilac, too?’”
If there’s one word to describe the mogul’s own personal style and
her approach to AERIN as a brand, it’s effortless. Today she’s
draped in a grey cashmere sweater with just a hint of make-up, her
caramel, sun-kissed hair cascading below her shoulders – she exudes
luxury with equal parts ease. Kind of Elle Macpherson-cool meets
Park Avenue-socialite, or in fashion-speak, the equivalent of a sharp
blazer with boyfriend jeans. It’s in stark contrast to her fragrance
wizard Khoury (who once worked alongside Estée), who with full
face of make-up and fresh blow-dry is styled to the nth degree. As
they sit side by side across the table, it’s as if two generations of an
empire are coming together. One part Lauder’s fresh approach and
new ideas, one part Khoury’s old-world style and experience.
As the two sit before me, it becomes clear Aerin is not emulating
Estée in her approach to her own growing empire, but representing
a new direction. It may explain her
decision to, perhaps strategically,
lose her famous surname from any
branding for AERIN. But that’s not
to say she’s shying away from the
public eye. Far from it. After all, she
does front the campaign for the
brand. “There is so much connection
between the two brands, but with
the AERIN brand, it’s very much
my point of view and the idea of
effortless style,” says Aerin, who
simultaneously holds the role of
image and style director at Estée
Lauder. “It’s a true reflection of my
personal taste on beauty and style.”
Later that evening, as we sit down
to dinner at Indochine restaurant,
a clear favourite of Aerin’s (“It’s
practically a New York institution,”
she tells me), she’s more relaxed than
during our earlier interview. That’s
not to say the 15 or so international
beauty editors surrounding her aren’t hanging on her every word
and secretly hoping to catch her off-guard. But there’s no chance:
intelligent and unflappable, Aerin’s attention to detail and sense of
hospitality is unwavering. As her long-time friend and Hampton’s
neighbour Kelly Klein told UK Vogue: “The way she entertains,
how she is as a mother and a friend, it’s just very natural. When
I ring her in New York, sometimes there’s a quickness to her voice,
but that’s the most stressed I ever hear her.”
A n exper t on ever y thing from the copper vases in her homewa res
collection to the font used on the custom menus at dinner, this is
not a woman who swoops in and whacks her name on anything
and everything. “It’s not the case of a founder coming in at the end
of the process and saying: ‘Well, that’s good.’ Aerin was there from
the very beginning. I would get phone calls and emails telling me
she had guests in the country for the weekend, and what they
thought [of the fragrance] and what we had to change,” explains
Khoury. “It’s very much her vision.”
While it may be safe to assume a career in the multibillion dollar
beauty industry was packaged in a signature blue and gold Estée
Lauder-branded bow from day one, had the family business been
say, motor vehicles or property, it may have been a very different
story. “If [the family business] had been another product or within
another category, I don’t think I would have responded to it,” says
Aerin. As her pioneering grandmother once said: “My company is
alive with a dauntless spirit of its own, and my children and
grandchildren are here to cheer it on.” ■Family in high places: Aerin Lauder pictured with her paternal
grandparents Estée and Joseph Lauder – founders of the beauty brand.194 – MAY 2015
COURTESY OF AERIN COURTESY OF ELIZABETH KUHNER ARCHIVES OLGA VOLKOVA TUPONOGOVA