Aerin Lauder, granddaughter of Estee Lauder spent 25 years working for the family business before “following her true passion” and launching her own beauty, home and lifestyle brand Aerin. Lauder says her brand is about effortless style and beauty, which to us, is the perfect pairing for THE SUPER ELIXIR.
You have said your lifestyle brand started following all the interest you received on the interiors of your home, why do you like creating such a beautiful space so much, what does it mean to you?
I always feel that beauty is my heritage, it’s very much in my blood. But my real passion is home and accessories. I’ve got two teenage boys, I have three dogs. We love life, I love to be comfortable and I love beautiful objects and picture frames full of memories. So I do feel that lifestyle is very important when it incorporates home and decorating and lighting and all those different elements.
Your grandmother obviously had a big influence on your life, can you tell us more?
She really taught me the importance of passion, hard work, and following your dreams. She always used to say “whatever you do, do it well, and do it with passion’’
Why do you think THE SUPER ELIXIR and Aerin marry in so well together?
Estee has this beautiful quote which was “everything can be beautiful if you can just take the time’’ and I think that applies to my philosophy of the home and Elle’s concept of life too. In that she is incredibly beautiful, she’s fit she has this incredible concept of THE SUPER ELIXIR, which is about creating a beautiful body from the inside out. I think the Gold Caddy is such an interesting concept for the holidays, it’s about wellbeing, it’s about beautiful packaging, it’s a fun collaboration and I think it’s great, great stuff.
What does holiday season mean to you, do you have a family tradition?
We always spend the holidays in New York City, and we spend it together, and there’s something called the 21 Club, which is very old-fashioned New York, and we go there for a holiday dinner on Christmas Eve. I think the holidays is all about family and gift giving, gifts that have wonderful meaning to them.
We love your interiors style, what’s the secret to keeping your family apartment looking so beautiful?
I don’t! With three dogs and two teenage boys, I think patterns play a huge role in my house. If you notice my couch in the country is leopard, I have leopard chairs in New York. I think pattern is a great way to live in an environment that might be including children and animals and all those different things.
Aerin's luxurious Manhattan offices (Images: Architectual Digest)
What are your thoughts on work life balance?
I think it’s very hard for a woman to balance – I do think you have to love what you do and when I go to work in the morning I’m excited to be with my team and to create something amazing and to create new products. And I think it’s very important for children to see being balanced. My priority has always been my children so I think that’s balance. You have to have priorities and some things will definitely be more important than others and I think that you just have to figure out what your priorities are, but there is that challenge of balance. For everyone all over the world, for women I think they’ve got children and a career and lots of different elements to their life – life is very full. That’s why it’s so interesting about the lifestyle concept for the internet because when people are asked about something they wish they had more of they say: time. So to be able to make shopping or fitness or what Elle is doing easier for someone I think that is very clever and very helpful.
Aerin is a beautifully chic lifestyle destination, what do you think sets it apart from other brands?
I think there’s something very interesting in that it’s based on the concept of effortless style and effortless beauty, and if you think about the collection it’s very edited, we just launched accessories, but it’s not 100 different bags, it’s 3 main colours, we have a leopard a black and a pink. It is a focussed, edited concept. It’s that very cohesive lifestyle concept that’s not overwhelming.
Holidays for many people mean time away, what’s your perfect escape?
Probably somewhere on a beach! Whether it’s Palm Beach in Florida or Turks and Caicos, my favourite escape is walking on the beach.
What’s your definition of a healthy lifestyle?
I think it’s about routine and it’s about balance. I love to walk and do pilates, so that’s my primary form of exercise. I think healthy eating and diet and water, I think you need everything in moderation. And I think if you want to go out and have something like a hamburger and French fries you should do that too, life is all about balance.
Aerin at the 2015 Met Gala (left) and at her home office in Manhattan (right)
New Year’s solutions?
Probably, to travel more. I would love to go to India. But a New Year’s resolution would probably be to exercise more, to use the Super Elixir and get in shape so I look like Elle! No, but honestly, I travel a lot for work so exercising during those travel schedules is very hard. So, my New Year’s resolution (or solution) is to balance my exercise a bit more, be a bit more consistent.
Thanksgiving traditions?
We always do thanksgiving at my parent’s home, they have a beautiful old early American barn, we do Thanksgiving dinner in there with a big fire, with about 40 people. It started with two or three families – that was 30years ago, now everyone’s married with multiple children so it’s become this incredible extended family and it’s a wonderful tradition. We always have the same food – the turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, all these delicious things and we always have the same people, my mother always uses the same plates. It is a wonderful tradition.
What exciting projects have you been working that we can share?
The two things we’ve just done that are very exciting are: we launched beauty in Korea, a beautiful, modern store designed by Peter Merino, and it’s an exquisite point of view. It’s very modern, fashionable, elegant. We also opened up a shop within a shop for Home in Harrods in London, so it’s exciting that we’ve gone into these two markets for both home and beauty.