Richa Chopra

Why Louis Vuitton’s $160 Lipstick Is a Power Move Unpopular opinion: Louis Vuitton’s $160 lipstick isn’t just makeup. It’s a cultural experiment in luxury’s future. Louis Vuitton has been teasing beauty for years. Perfumes, skincare and then, a beauty line that was “in the pipeline”. It would be exciting to see the world’s most valuable luxury house extending its reach into a category that commands loyalty, frequency, and cultural heat. LV has officially launched its beauty line with lipsticks priced at $160 apiece & eyeshadow palettes at $250. And obviously, it has ignited a global debate. Luxury beauty is not new: CHANEL made its lipsticks ($40–50) the most democratic gateway into its double C universe Dior perfected the $45 lipstick as both an everyday indulgence and a halo product for couture Hermès pushed into beauty in 2020 with $75 lipsticks, doubling the benchmark, yet winning with leather-inspired packaging and artisanal positioning Gucci Beauty played at $42–55, amplifying its playful maximalism Each move followed the same logic; expand the brand, welcome new customers, and create cultural relevance through beauty. But Vuitton has chosen a bolder script. Instead of accessible entry, it has crafted entry-level Vuitton. These lipsticks are not just cosmetics, they are objects of desire with sculptural bullets, monogrammed embossing, gilded packaging. The product is designed to sit on a vanity the way a trunk sits in a salon as status, as symbol. Which led me to think about the Lipstick Index, the long-standing idea that lipstick sales rise in times of economic uncertainty as consumers turn to affordable luxuries. Chanel and Dior lipsticks embody this, Hermès tested its limits but still played within the “indulgence” zone. Vuitton, however, has opted out entirely. A $160 lipstick is not recession comfort, its not an alternative to a handbag, it is a collectible disguised as a cosmetic; a mini-signal of belonging to the Vuitton world, priced high enough to protect exclusivity, but just small enough to seduce the curious. BUT: Can beauty function at Vuitton’s pricing tier? Or does it risk alienating the broader beauty consumer? Will this be adopted by beauty enthusiasts, or only by LV loyalists and collectors? Is this the start of a new category of “luxury collectibles” within beauty, where scarcity and packaging outweigh utility? Because Vuitton isn’t selling color, it’s selling cultural cachet, compressed into a lipstick bullet. What’s at stake isn’t sales (they’ll sell out anyway). It’s whether Vuitton can reshape the luxury beauty playbook the same way it did with leather goods. Whether these lipsticks mark the start of a long-standing category, or remain the brand’s most extravagant experiment. The world will debate the price tag. But make no mistake: LV has just redrawn the lines of luxury beauty. #LuxuryBeauty #LipstickIndex #LuxuryStrategy #LVinBeauty #LuxuryInnovation #CulturalTrends #LuxuryMarketing #RichaReflects

Whoever is leading Miu Miu’s PR right now understands the internet extremely well. Unpopular opinion: Miu Miu is not building campaigns anymore; it’s building objects that are meant to travel across the internet. The first time I noticed it was during the launch of Miu Miu’s fragrance Miutine, when creators started receiving the now-iconic branded mic as part of the PR packaging. At first, it looked like a clever accessory, something playful and visually distinctive. But the more it appeared across interviews, backstage videos, GRWMs, and fashion week content, the clearer the strategy became. The mic was never just packaging, it was a visibility tool. Now, with the launch of Fleur de Lait, I had the same thought again. Miu Miu seems to understand that luxury marketing today is no longer only about creating aspiration through campaigns. It is about embedding the brand into the visual behaviour of the internet. Usually, luxury has relied on distance and controlled exposure. The product was protected, selectively visible, and carefully distributed. But Miu Miu is operating differently. It is creating highly recognisable visual cues that creators naturally want to hold, photograph, repost, and repeatedly associate themselves with. The result is that the branding starts behaving like culture. What I find particularly interesting is that the objects themselves are often simple, a mic, a perfume bottle, bringing out a hyper-feminine visual identity. But together, they create repetition, which is building recognisability online. You start seeing Miu Miu without consciously realising how often you are seeing it. We are beginning to see similar behaviour across other luxury brands as well. But Miu Miu feels especially sharp because its strategy is deeply aligned with creator culture itself. The brand understands that today, luxury visibility is not built only through fashion magazines or runway shows. It is rather built through objects that move naturally through digital ecosystems. And honestly, I think that’s why Miu Miu feels so culturally present right now. It is not trying to be louder than everyone else. But it understands how attention behaves online. Which luxury brand do you think currently has the smartest PR strategy? #LuxuryMarketing #PRStrategy #FashionMarketing #DigitalCulture #ConsumerBehaviour #RichaReflects

See more. Be more. Excited to share my new role! #newrole‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Unpopular opinion: Your MBA case studies can become your future job description, if you’re stubborn enough to wait it out. When I was at SDA Bocconi in Milan, we dissected how EssilorLuxottica built its competitive advantage through vertical integration, brand licensing mastery, and a firm grip on market share. Back then, it was just theory. Today, it’s my everyday reality. I’m thrilled to share that I’ve joined EssilorLuxottica as Assistant Brand Manager, Marketing (Frames), handling the Luxury & Premium portfolio of 25+ brands — including CHANEL, Prada, Miu Miu, Burberry, DOLCE&GABBANA, Versace, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Emporio Armani, Coach, and SWAROVSKI. More than six months of job search, hundreds of applications, countless cold messages later, this opportunity reminds me that fate may open the door, but effort walks you through it. The part I’m most excited about? Working with brand teams across the globe, where every frame isn’t just eyewear, but storytelling, aspiration, and identity. If “See more. Be more.” is the motto of EssilorLuxottica, then for me it’s also a reminder that luxury isn’t only about seeing the world differently, but about building the courage to step into the very world you once studied from the outside. Here’s to the challenges, the learnings, and the vision ahead. 👓✨ #NewBeginnings #CareerJourney #LuxuryBusiness #LuxuryMarketing #EssilorLuxottica #SeeMoreBeMore #LuxuryBrands #RichaReflects‍‍‍