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Three friends applying makeup at ladies' room

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The Fashion Fair Beauty Brand is historic and influential in the Black beauty world. Founded in 1969 by Eunice W. Johnson, the creator of the Ebony Fashion Fair Show, the beauty brand traveled internationally with Black models who were modeling high end designs. Johnson founded the company when she noticed models in the show were mixing their own foundations to create the right blend to match their skin tone.

Now in a time when almost every brand is offering multiple shades, pushed heavily by Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty line, Fashion Fair is going up for sale. Hilco Streambank has been retained by Miriam R. Stein to run the sale of the brand. Gabre Fried, CEO of Hilco Streambank stated, “Fashion Fair was developed at a time when the leading beauty brands did not make products which met the needs of African American women. Mrs. Johnson, ever the entrepreneur, developed and cultivated the Fashion Fair brand to a highly devoted audience.” A visionary indeed. The issues with models having foundation to match their skin tone was an issue up until recently; illustrating the impact of Johnson’s beauty creation.

Fried shared, “Eventually, the brand expanded its product lines to address the needs of many other women of color, vaulting the brand to the global stage.” At the height of its success, the brand was generating over $56 million in wholesale sales, according to their press release.

Personally, I would love to see this brand remain Black owned, especially with it’s iconic history. Could Rihanna potentially scoop up this beauty brand and add to her arsenal? It’s founded on the very principles she strives to uphold by offering women the right to have their own foundation shade. Will Beautypreneur extraodinairé Richelieu Dennis add this brand to his growing portfolio? After all, he did recently purchase Madam C.J. Walker’s mansion in upstate New York to turn into an incubator for Black women. Will the brand be bought by a big company and absorbed into their portfolio of brands?

We’ll find out soon enough. Offers to buy the brand are due by October 24, 2019 and an auction will be held on October 28, 2019. Are you balling and interested in buying Fashion Fair? You can find more information here.

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