Hourglass: The High Performance, Haute Luxury and Cruelty-Free Makeup We All Want To Unwrap This Christmas
Celebrating 20 years of modern luxury with a Barney’s New York City pop-up, Hourglass Founder and CEO, Carisa Janes talks to Harpers Bazaar Arabia on the journey of innovation and total luxury
How would you describe Hourglass in one word?
I would say performance. If I say luxury, it doesn’t sound enough. It’s the products really that perform. When I launched Hourglass, my vision was modern luxury, and that to me meant high-performance, skincare and design all in one.
What inspired you to start Hourglass, and what was your initial concept?
Honestly, it really goes back to that idea of modern luxury at that time. There were the make-up brands that my mother and grandmother wore that were beautiful but didn’t speak to me with the formulas and the colours. And then there were the make-up artistry brands. I really thought there was an opportunity to do something that felt modern from the design standpoint, formulation, and bring skincare ingredients into the products. I wanted the beautiful design and gorgeous packaging, but then I also wanted great product that you could trust and you could rely on. Nowadays there’s something for everyone, whereas 20 years ago, it was dominated by the big players; there weren’t as many niche, independent beauty brands at the time.
Congratulations on your Barneys x Hourglass pop-up. Can you share the inspiration on visualising the pop-up and bringing it to life?
Internally we were brainstorming our 20-year milestone, asking ourselves how are we going to celebrate? We reflected on the journey, the beginning, where Hourglass started, which was in Barney’s New York, 20 years ago. As we were reflecting we thought, wow, Barney’s was such a New York institution. It was such an incredible place for discovery and a launch pad for so many young creatives and designers. Would it be possible to bring it back? We wanted to really deliver something that isn’t Barney’s, but is the essence of Barney’s. The edit, exploring, discovery, all of that fun and humour, all those little elements in a 1,500 square foot space. Julie Gilhart, the fashion director, is really the reason we were able to do this because she brought in all these incredible designers, and Simon Dune the creative director at Barney’s for so many years. Him signing up early on really gave us the confidence we needed. We knew we had the right team on board with authentic elements of Barney’s that we could bring into the pop-up.
Talking of the pop-up experience. Can you describe it in three words?
Curated, creative and fun. You know, it’s funny, you know how people say, if you cook with love, the food tastes better. There’s something about this project where everyone came together, this creative community. It was almost like the Burning Man of fashion and beauty. Everyone came together to do something that was important to them and it is by far a highlight for me.
As you celebrate your 20th anniversary, are there any products that have been part of your line since day one that are still going strong?
All of our early products have evolved. Over time ingredients change and formulations get more sophisticated. It’s probably better that there isn’t, as the brand reflects advanced, sophisticated formulas and innovation and technology, so, no, but that’s considered a good thing!
Hourglass is known for its commitment to cruelty-free products. What motivated this ethical stance from the beginning, and how has it influenced the brand’s development today?
I’m an animal lover. I rode horses, rescued dogs… animals have always been a part of my life. I was always cruelty-free. We never said anything about it, it was a personal choice, not a marketing idea. It wasn’t until around 10 years later people would discover it and we realised this is important to communicate and became more vocal about it. I was in a restaurant, and could overhear two ladies at lunch. The woman asked her friend ‘Have you heard of Hourglass? It’s the cruelty-free brand.’ That was an indicator that there was a real appetite for cruelty-free products. We started to communicate and bring that to life in a bigger way. Now we have charities that we donate to, and we created the vegan replacement, Red Zero (lipstick). It’s become a real part of our brand and our ethos.
What does the future hold for Hourglass?
Right now the holiday collection is what I look forward to this time of year – we have introduced beautiful brush tins, perfect for your dresser, and vegan make-up bags, which are great for travel. Future-wise, I’m very interested in being disruptive, telling interesting stories and innovating, whether it be a product or a collaboration, or how we bring something to life. I want Hourglass to be a brand that people are excited for what’s coming, and think we’re going to do it differently and do it well. Ultimately, it’s about surprising and delighting the customer. We don’t do traditional. As long as we have ideas and a great team we’re just going to continue to surprise. Always surprising.
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s December 2024 issue.