I love a heritage brand, and there are few that come with the history that Erno Lazlo does. In fact, the brand has been in the UK before, some years ago, and then a little flutter recently with a store in Covent Garden. But as is the way of re-entering a market, things don’t always go to plan. So, the big re-launch in the UK for Erno Laszlo is kicking off at Harrods in March 2012.
Hungarian born Laszlo began making skin care for women in the 1920’s, but he shot to fame when Princess Stephanie of Belgium tried one of his products: once word got out, everyone wanted a pot of his beauty preparation. In fact, he studied skin physiology at university so it wasn’t that he got lucky, his preparations were, for the time, quite revolutionary and scientific and he was one of the first ‘skin doctors’ as we know them today.
Laszlo made the move to New York in 1939, with a very poor command of language, making opening a skin institute very difficult. However, he managed it (even turning down an offer from Helena Rubenstein to buy his business) and it didn’t take long before the luminaries of the day were flocking to see him.
So, it’s no surprise that the brand is launching with a star-studded line up of products, using updated customised versions that were created for the stars they are named for. Eva Gardner Instant Eye Repair, Marilyn Monroe Morning Beauty Rescue, Katherine Hepburn Intensive Porcelain Veil, Grace Kelly Refresh Moisture Infusion and Greta Garbo Velvet Night Cream will all be making their UK debut as The Hollywood Collection, along with the rest of the Laszlo range (some of you may have heard of Black Sea Soap which is a cult product).
What I like about Laszlo is that apparently he was very forthright.. there’s a story of him accusing Ava Gardner of lying and not using his cream properly. In fact, he famously refused to treat ladies who didn’t follow instructions to the letter. Blimey!
Erno Lazslo died in 1973 and it is now owned by Charles Denton, ex-Molton Brown.
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6 comments
I use his ritual since August 2010 and my skin becomes better and better
I was using this soap, but i irritates my skin. Use it for shower only now((
I use and love the pHelityl soap every night. I have normal to dry skin and the sea mud soap dries me out but the other soap is perfect. I’ve been using it for over 4 years. I really like the skin care too but it can get pricey.
Have been using the 12 ‘o clock Laszlo ritual on and off for 10 years and it really does make your skin glow. But you have to use the products as prescribed including 30 or 40 splashes in warm – hot soapy water! And the toner seems to be pure alcohol. But it works. Probably seems a bit old fashioned in these days of quick cleansing wipes and 2 in 1 products. They have brought out a slew of “anti aging” products in the last 5 – 7 years but the core products and eyecare are the stars. Highly recommended. Just hope they get the price right in the UK. In US a soap is $40 so really in the UK it should be £27 – £30.
This is fantastic news, I used Erno Laszlo skincare when I live in the US, his black soap was the product to use in the 90’s.
I used to work with Charles Denton at Molton Brown when he was the retail director! I worked for the hotel division but our paths crossed often.
The Lazslo line originally started out being mixed up in small batches by the Doctor himself and his chemists and was only available to his personal client list of maybe 300 people. As many of those clients were very famous (Marilyn, Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn etc.) Erno came under pressure to make the preparations more widely available. His initial foray into this was unsatisfactory to him as he didnt feel he could treat customers without knowing their skin so he withdrew his line from sale. After a manufacturing deal with Cheeseborough Ponds the line was re-introduced in the 1960s to a limited number of high end stores (I.Magnin, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks) and became a runaway sucess. It maintained its popularity through the 70s and early 80s despite insisting that customers joined the “institute” in order to buy products. To join you had to buy the full line prescribed to you – you coudlnt just buy the soap! Princess Diana used to send her ladies in waiting to buy her supplies from Harrods. At some point in the 80s the line started to fall from view as more and more new brands joined the market and the Lauders and Lancomes stepped up their marketing. By the 2000s we had endless doctor endorsed high tech lines (Sebagh, Perricone, Brandt etc) as well as the luxe ” I’m expensive so i must be good” such as La Mer & Sisley. It will be interesting to see how the Laszlo re-launch goes in the current saturated marketplace. Will linking product names to famous but long dead film stars work or should they have paid Cheryl Cole?! Hmmmm.