BEAUTY ANTHOLOGIA: YARDLEY LONDON

Yardley of London is one of the oldest cosmetics, perfume and toiletry companies in the world. From 1620 to nowadays, they’ve produced, soap, fragrances and cosmetics, every time following the era trends. They exhibited at The Crystal Palace Great Exhibition in 1851 and even received two Royal Warrant during their career.

But we want to report this brand for his inspiring and catchy campaigns during the sixties.

The 1960s saw Yardley invest heavily in colour cosmetics. This was a major undertaking, as these lines are driven by rapid fashion changes that require shorter product turnovers in response and need bigger marketing budgets to be successful! Using an advertising campaign created by Jacqueline Brandwynne, Yardley promoted its London links, taking advantage of the exuberance of that brief period in the 1960s when Britain became the world centre of music and fashion, and London became the “Swinging London”, as epitomised by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Carnaby Street and King’s Row.

Make-up for the “London Look” consisted of a pale, matt skin finish with a heavy focus on the eyes. This makeup was given “funky” names – such as “Sigh Shadow” eye shadow, “Slicker Dolly” lipstick “Pot O’Gloss” lipgloss – and was packaged in the bright pop colours we now see as being signatures of the 1960s. This style was heavily promoted using the well known and more expensive English models Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy.

We leave you to a scroll down memory lane viewing those vintage campaign ads.

Text by Irene Pazzanese