According to statistics lipstick is the bestseller among cosmetic products. We think that lipstick emphasises the features of one’s face as much as shoes define your style and gait.
Lipstick has a long and remarkable career. So did the inventor of the product we know today. Her name was Heather Bishop (1906 – 1998) and this is what she did for fashion.
The Colourful History of Lipstick
Archaeologists discovered that already the Sumerians put some sort of colour on their lips. This dates back to 3500 BC. In ancient Egypt men – foremost worriers – coloured their lips.
In Europe, lipstick had good and bad times. While it seemed almost inexistent during the European Middle Age, Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) emphasized her lips by a reddish colour and added even more contrast by putting white powder on her face. Some centuries later Queen Victoria (1819 – 1901) decided that lipstick was unsuitable, and it was deemed as such until about 1920.
Hazel The Lipstick Queen
Hazel Gladys Bishop was born in New York in 1906. She was a chemist and as from 1942 she worked in oil companies where she made some important discoveries concerning the fuel quality for planes.
Besides her day job she experimented on non-drying, non-irritating and long-wearing lipstick, a quality she called «kiss-proof».
In 1950, she founded Hazel Bishop Inc. to market her product. The brand was instantly accepted. Her lipstick was introduced and Lord & Taylor in summer 1950 for 1 US Dollar per tube. The entire stock was sold out on the very first day!
Lipstick was a growing market and Hazel’s company soon captured 25% market share. The lipstick war had started, as the company Revlon was also an important player in this market.
In 1954, the company sold 10 million US Dollar per year and Ms Bishop fought a war with her majority stockholder over financial issues. She left the company that year in order to set up another enterprise by the name of Hazel Bishop Laboratories that developed household and personal care products. But due to legal problems with her former partner she was not allowed to use her own – meanwhile very renowned – name.
IF YOU ARE SAID, ADD MORE LIPSTICK AND ATTACK.
Coco Chanel
The Perfume Consultant
Hazel was not the type to give up easily.
In 1962, she became a stockbroker for Bache & Company and later a financial analyst for Evans & Company. Given in the 1960s and 70s, the fragrance business was booming she was the person to talk to and her advice was sought after.
Financial newspapers quoted her, and she lectured within the US.
The Fashion Educator
Apparently, Hazel Bishop was an ardent teacher.
Her third career was in fashion education. In 1978, she became an adjunct professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. She lectured in a programme that was designed to prepare young people for careers in cosmetics.
In 1980, she was appointed Chairwomen of Revlon Cosmetics and Marketing.
Yes, the very same company that once was her fierce competitor.
