An it-girl does not an it-brand make.
Welcome back to Brand Crush, an exploration of the brands that inspire me, delight me, or make me scratch my head— or some combo of the three.
This summer, actress and it-girl Blake Lively launched her haircare brand, Blake Brown Beauty.
It’s so confusing and decidedly uncool. And yet it still kind of works? Let’s talk about it.
Blake has been one of my personal stargirls for the better part of two decades. Her iconic role as Serena van der Woodsen in CW’s Gossip Girl, in particular, has been one of my most enduring sources of styling and, well, lifestyle inspiration (as evidenced by my 2012 homecoming look).
But Blake Brown Beauty is all over the place.
The styling.
In these promo photos, Blake's hair looks bad. Shockingly bad. Blake is known for her messy, carefree hair and there are plenty of good-natured memes about her character Serena missing a hairbrush. But ultimately, Serena (and Blake’s) undone hair comes across chic and effortless, exuding hot-mess confidence and charisma.
But these promo photos of Blake for Blake Brown Beauty are borderline unmarketable— not effortless and undone, as no doubt intended, but frizzy, greasy, and brittle. While the messaging touts, “hair styling solutions for beautiful, healthy-looking hair,” the photography depicts anything but.
The name.
The name “Blake Brown Beauty” is a tongue twister, and treads on the toes of existing beauty brand founders Bobbi Brown and Millie Bobby Brown. The bigger miss, however, comes down to the fact that Blake is known for iconic blonde hair, making “Brown” feel pedestrian and offbrand. Not to mention, “Lively” is right there. I mean, who doesn’t want lively hair? And when she says her products lead to “luxurious hair that feels healthier, smoother, deeply conditioned, hydrated, healthy and rejuvenated,” isn’t that what she’s promising?
Logo and packaging.
The logo is disjointed, amateur, ugly. It makes a bit more sense knowing that Blake designed the mark herself, creating a honeycomb shape out of two opposing “B’s;” shapes that are then echoed in the geometric packaging . . . nevermind that bees or honeycombs have nothing to do with the brand story itself. The type paired with the angular logo mark is awkwardly organic, juvenile, and dated, like something out of Seventeen mag or 2005’s The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie poster.
The result of all this is a brand that feels random, shabby, and incongruent. So, then. . .
Why does it still work?
At least for me?
Blake, duh.
Blake isn’t selling hair products, she’s selling herself. She’s selling the fantasy of being Blake. Her hair is just an extension of that, a part representing the whole. And Blake has never actually been cool. As one spicy Reddit user says:
“shocker blake lively comes out with something lookin juvenile, dated, and incohesive. swear that’s her whole aesthetic.”
I mean, for better or worse (and I’d say for better), it is her whole aesthetic. Her brand of coolness is rooted in, dependent upon being uncool. Blake— or, her persona, at least— is raw, uncalculated, and completely unselfaware.
This is because Blake is fully committed to and confident in her own vision and taste, without looking around and getting distracted by the trends, whims, or opinions of others. She famously styles herself, because she knows who she is and what she likes.
This internal focus, of course, can get her in trouble. Her undone bent can cross the line into ratty and disheveled, her self-styling can come across as garish and incongruent. Her lack of self awareness certainly contributed to her tasteless promotion of her brand and her movie this summer that landed her some pretty severe backlash.
But ultimately, there’s something powerfully attractive about being completely dialed in on your own path and undistracted by the rest. For every fashion miss, there's one that will go down in history. Even after getting canceled this summer, an outing with Taylor Swift draws the public right back in.
This is because Blake’s allure comes not from a perfectly polished presentation, but from her warmth and ease. Her charisma is natural, messy, and dynamic as opposed to stiff, styled, and synthetic (as perfectly represented by Serena’s foil, Blair). This is what makes her so magnetic. We are drawn to people who are beautiful and interesting (seemingly) without trying. Even with the misses and messes, effortlessness is always sexier than effort.
Because while Blake Brown Beauty's copy claims that their products will give you "healthy-looking, beautiful hair," if you read between the lines, the real promise is the possibility that you too could embody Blake's effortless and enigmatic charm, starting with unruly, unrelenting golden hair. While a coldly perfect, cohesive, and calculated brand might be more commercially successful but it would so not be Blake, and, therefore, would miss the point entirely.
Ultimately, however, I think Blake should stay away from entrepreneurship in general, and focus her light, warmth, and charisma all on her celebrity persona, rather than refracting it to sell seltzer and shampoo. But that’s just my two cents.
Curious about the ways your brand is or isn’t working for who you are and your goals? We can help. At Sprezza, we build brands from a foundation of strategy and research, to make sure we’re capturing what makes you magic and speaking your ideal consumer’s language. Get in touch today to see if we’re a good fit.
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