What Fashion Fair Needs…

Fashion fair, the largest cosmetic brand that produces cosmetics solely for African American women, is looking for a change.  They decided that after recruiting Cynthia Bailey as the face of Fashion Fair, they needed to make another change, and that was in the form of Sam Fine.  Fashion Fair announced to the public that Sam Fine would be their creative director and create a line to be launched in 2012.

Sam Fine is a true artist who understands women of color and has built an illustrious career unparalleled in the industry. His experience in the fashion editorial world with global beauty brands and celebrities will translate wonderfully with Fashion Fair, and our consumers will reap its benefits. We’re thrilled to have him with us, and you’ll be able to track his progress at www.fashionfair.com,” says Clarisa Wilson, the president of Fashion Fair.

Me personally, I am happy for Sam Fine. I think it is wonderful that an innovator like himself has been tapped for such a wonderful position, but I do not think it is enough to get Fashion Fair where they need to be in 2011.

Just like Krissy points out, Fashion Fair in the mall is not what it used to be.  What used to be a full counter selection of their makeup has turned into it being shared at the counter with other unpopular brands. There is little to no internet presence, I admin-ed a makeup forum for three years and maybe saw a thread about Fashion Fair once the entire time I was on makeuptalk. The last review of a FF item on makeupalley.com was in July, which is horrible considering there’s a MAC review posted just about every hour on the hour there. Specktra, MakeupGeek, Livejournal, and Pursebuzz, little to no information, thoughts or views on Fashion Fair.

What Fashion Fair needs is internet buzz, and a whole lot of it, and fast.  And this new change is not going to be enough.

And let’s face it, FF could be something special to the African American community. Think about it, what is the #1 reason why we love MAC so much? Because of their selection of foundation shades and their mantra, ‘all races, all ages, all sexes’. All the while, FF was always here. FF always had shades for every woman of color. They honestly don’t have a ton of youthful products, like brightly color shadows and lipsticks, but for the professional African American woman, FF, just like MAC, has each and every shade that you need for work, and it would be nothing for someone with decent marketing skills to get consumers to want these products.

So is it safe to say that lack of buzz and internet presence is the reason that we are not discussing Fashion Fair more?

I want Fashion Fair to succeed and be ‘that brand’. That go to brand for African American women.

We know that the internet has the power to turn a brand around, look at Wet n Wild. A few years ago they were the taboo cheap brand in your local drugstore. Now they are a very popular brand, beauty bloggers and makeup artists love the quality of their makeup for the low price. Total 180, thanks to blogs, forums and internet buzz.

So tell me what you think? Is the recruitment of Sam Fine going to be enough to give this company a boost?

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