Great though portrait photography may be, it rarely captures the complete nature of the subject. Only in person is the charm of Evelyn Lauder and the delicacy of her features fully apparent. Obviously she has fantastic skin; after all, she has been the daughter-in-law of cosmetics queen Estee Lauder for almost 40 years and is now the company's senior corporate vice president. Despite being closely involved in a very successful global organisation, however, she retains an appealingly understated manner and an interest in many fields outside the beauty business.
Managing to juggle a variety of different undertakings has been the norm throughout her married life. Obviously, even before her 1959 wedding to Leonard Lauder she knew an association with the family firm was inevitable. Relatively small in those days, Estee Lauder employed just six people including herself; Evelyn used to answer the telephone for the company and then use different voices to suggest a greater number of staff. Now Estee Lauder has some 10,000 employees "and that does not include beauty consultants," she says. Instead of an annual turnover of around $850,000 - the figure when she started - the company, which went public almost three years ago, is now a multibillion dollar corporation with a presence in 105 countries around the world.
Nerve centre for the entire operation is still New York, which is where Evelyn Lauder and her husband are based. Gregarious travellers, they were both in London recently for the launch of the latest Estee Lauder fragrances, a pair of orchid-based scents sharing the same name, Dazzling.
This is one of the areas in which Evelyn Lauder has particular interest. "One of my main responsibilities is that all fragrance development reports to me," she explains. Evelyn is also on the marketing team for all new Lauder products "and that's how I keep in touch with every department".
Dazzling, packaged in either gold or silver, looks set to be every bit as successful as its Lauder predecessors. Number one best-seller is Pleasures, one of five Estee Lauder-owned perfumes that are among the top 10 most popular in the US. Also maintaining their appeal are White Linen, Knowing and Beautiful, for which Evelyn Lauder can take considerable credit. Outside the realm of perfume, she makes a point of trying as many other Estee Lauder items as possible: "my closets are stuffed with things to use".
But she is keen to refute any suggestion that the company's image might not be attractive to younger women. "Right across the generations," is how she describes the Estee Lauder customer. "In fact, we see teenagers in the stores; our line is very broad and we have products for each age group." Evidence of the company's cross-generational character can be found within the Lauder family: Leonard and Evelyn's son William is vice president/general manager of the newest Lauder company, Origins Natural Resources. No wonder, therefore, that she can say, "Estee Lauder inspires great loyalty" because this has certainly been true in her own case.
