003: Cult Beauty & Women Artists

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 🗞️

Another hot and humid week with a touch of thunderstorm here in New York, but alas welcome to another weekly dispatch, highlighting the very best in fashion and culture from the diaspora and beyond.

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DISPATCH 003 —

This week, our team revisits the quiet luxury trend and discovers a new interior design book to add to the collection. We also compile compelling beauty brands with recent funding rounds or exits of note. Plus: a slate of openings by a formidable cohort of women artists. But first, a sneak peek of cult beauty and what’s to come with British brand LIHA.

THE INTERVIEW / LIHA

To become a cult classic takes a special combination of exceptional product, enviable word of mouth, and ease of access. Natural skin and self-care brand LIHA Beauty takes that to a new level with a philosophy based on ‘buying less and buying well’ — nothing unnecessary and everything multi-purpose. Their soothing oils and shea butters sourced from West Africa are beloved by a bevy of celebrities, including FKA twigs. PROTOChic sat down with co-founder Abi Oyepitan on bringing their almost decade-old brand stateside.

What have you been working on lately?

One of our cult products is our IDAN Oil, the one everyone talks about. Because of the scent, we always get asked for the candle version. We are finally bringing our IDAN Candle out in September, ready for candle season, and a liquid version of our Ose Gidi black soap.

Secondly, we’ve bought a van! The whole idea is to have a LIHA experiential space. The van is currently livable, but we are going to semi-gut it in order to have a boutique and showroom on wheels. We only bought the van less than a month ago, so we plan to launch early next year and take LIHA up and down the UK and across Europe.

How do you hope the Brooklyn Museum x ALÁRA shop will help the brand?

ALÁRA curated the store and they asked us if we would love to be involved and we obviously said yes. Working with ALÁRA is a dream come true. The Brooklyn Museum is historic. The Africa Fashion exhibition showcasing the best of African fashion, history and textiles is such an amazing exhibition.

We’ve got quite a community of people who love the brand in New York. It’s bringing awareness as we are still a very small brand. People seeing, feeling and touching LIHA, we hope the space will help us do that.

What beloved products would you recommend?

Our IDAN Oil, our Gold Shea Butter, and Ivory Shea Butter. We’ve gotten amazing reviews on those products and coming soon, our new IDAN Candle.

This interview has been condensed for clarity and length.

QUIET LUXURY WITH ABIOLA OLUSOLA

While the trending phrase of quiet luxury had its social media re-reckoning with HBO’s Succession and Sofia Richie Grainge’s nuptials in the South of France, let us not forget that the last time quiet luxury became mainstream was in another economic period of uncertainty. It was all about the ultra-affluent paring down, so as to let the wealth whisper instead of scream.

Much of today’s hubbub goes beyond the ultra-affluent and has become popularly adopted by younger consumers drawn to aesthetics. It has led to constant name-dropping of The Row, Brunello Cucinelli, and Khaite, aka brands with high quality materials and relative conservatism, or better yet, trying to achieve the look for less. That said, the idea of dressing a client in a timeless wardrobe that avoids trend and serves as a subtle signifier of wealth is not relegated to Western brands alone. Here is where Lagosian brand Abiola Olusola enters the picture.

Founded in 2017 by Abisola Adeniran-Olusola, the eponymous womenswear label offers classic elegance with soft silhouettes in sensual fabrications. Trained at Istituto Marangoni Paris as well as internships at Lanvin and Givenchy, Adeniran-Olusola built a solid brand by leveraging the “edge that education can provide” both in the classroom and in the broader world.

In the past six years, Abisola Olusola has further sharpened its point of view using powerful storytelling to celebrate its feminine minimalism and homegrown craftsmanship. The latest collection is available for pre-order now. www.abisolaolusola.com

THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY

On the back of a new documentary project The Black Beauty Effect, it got us thinking about the present start-up landscape of beauty founders, recent funding rounds and sizable exits. We’re highlighting recent standouts from the past year that are changing the beauty conversation and doing serious business — here’s hoping for an empire in the making.

Briogeo | Haircare | Sold to Wella Beauty in 2022 for an undisclosed sum. Founder Nancy Twine remains at the helm. Gross annual sales floated at the $100 million mark prior to acquisition. www.briogeo.com

BREAD Beauty Supply | Haircare | Founded by Maeva Heim in 2020, the LA-based brand raised a multi-million dollar seed round led by Fearless Fund to support product line expansion, research and development, and marketing efforts. www.breadbeautysupply.com

Topicals | Skincare | Raising an incremental $10M in venture capital put founder Olamide Olowe in a rarified position as one of the youngest Black women to raise an eight-figure investment for her brand. www.mytopicals.com

ON OUR RADAR

kennedi carter, visual artist behind that British Vogue cover with Beyoncé amongst other highlights, is unveiling a solo photography exhibition ‘A Meditation on the Untitled’ in Santa Monica, CA at ROSEGALLERY. (Link)

Catch the final week of inaugural solo exhibition by Christina Kimeze in Paris featuring ethereal paintings and works on paper at White Cube centered on the interior self and the expanse of possibility. (Link)

While now well-known for her gallery trifectate of Chicago, Paris, and Mexico City, Mariane Ibrahim started it all in Chicago. Take a look at ceramics group show ‘Terra Recognita: A Ceramic Story’ featuring a range of emotion-stirring vessels from artists including Leena Similu open now through August. (Link)

For a BTS look at how celebrity homes come together, look no further than a new interiors book Livable Luxe from LA-based designer to the stars, including Gwyneth Paltrow’s home, Brigette Romanek. Her collection of images lives up to its title of aspirational, yet accessible luxury. Pre-order now. (Link)