HTSI editor’s letter: life in the fast lane

Charlotte Tilbury launched her beauty brand in 2013, a rose-gold coloured smorgasbord of products that blended a blow-out glamour with hard-wearing durability. I was first introduced to the range by a fashion stylist who swore by her concealer, the optimistically named Magic Away. Sceptical as I was of the lofty claims on the packaging, it did indeed erase my spots.

In the years since, I’ve watched Tilbury’s business empire grow: it hit a billion-dollar valuation when she sold a majority stake to Puig in 2020, and has become a cult brand among consumers (go into any department-store concession around Christmas time, and you’ll know exactly what I mean.) Earlier this year, Tilbury announced a brand sponsorship with the F1 Academy, the women’s league led by Susie Wolff. In an arena dominated by more macho sponsorships, it’s amusing to see her race car emblazoned with pink lipsticks. She’s also bringing a welcome pouf of power glitter to a sport cringing from accusations of sexual misconduct and pervasive sexism. In her first assignment for HTSI, the FT’s US investment correspondent Madison Darbyshire went to Miami where she found Tilbury in the pit, in a catsuit and platform heels. Will her femme energy inspire a new generation to build an asphalt empire?

Toteme is one of those labels that people you know all seem to wear

Another entrepreneur, Elin Kling, the co-founder of Toteme with her husband Karl Lindman, reflects on a decade of business at the Swedish fashion house. Toteme’s success has been a stealthy process, built on honouring the working wardrobe and championing clean design. It’s also positioned at a price point that is more accessible than many others, which has no doubt contributed to its popularity. Toteme is one of those labels that people you know all seem to wear: I’ve lost count of the times I’ve checked someone’s jacket label or their shoe to discover the now-familiar Toteme logo. As the creative director of the business, Kling is supported by Lindman, who oversees the branding. The couple sat down with Louis Wise to discuss their plans for the future, and why success has never smelt so Swede. 

Gwen Whiting rose to prominence with The Laundress, pioneering a luxury cleaning range. She then sold that business to Unilever for a reported $100mn, and is now returning with an eco, aromatherapy-infused cleaning line. The Fill is designed to be kind to the environment and to your skin: it’s another great example of a female-founded business that has identified potential in a market that its more male-run counterparts don’t always see. 

Lastly, for this week’s fashion shoot we were very lucky to be granted access to a rarely seen corner of Battersea Power Station: built between 1929 and 1931, Control Room A was the building’s original control centre, and helped electrify the capital. It powered Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament, and at its peak generated one-fifth of London’s electricity. Having survived a bombing by the Luftwaffe, the building was eventually decommissioned in 1983. Now after a decade of restoration, the rooms have been opened once more. The control room can be hired as an events space, a perfectly preserved slice of art deco history. It forms the backdrop to a fashion story, shot by Johnson Lui and Ben Canares, in which we posit that denim should be worn for work and play. Denim, like the architecture of the building, was created for utility. And I think the combination of control room and blue jeans makes for a fitting tribute to the endurance of great design.  

@jellison22

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