PARIS — Troye Sivan has been named Rabanne’s first global makeup brand ambassador.
The brand owned by Puig, a perfume and fashion powerhouse, launched into beauty one year ago with a 90 stock keeping-unit makeup collection.
Sivan is an icon in the LGBTQIA+ community and fashion, as well as a social media superstar with a 39 million-strong fan base.
The two-time Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and actor will first front Rabanne’s Fresh Touch Foundation, which is previewing starting Monday.
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Sivan is no stranger to Rabanne.
“My first interaction was wearing the fashion and always just really loving it and feeling very playful and excited about the clothes, then incorporating them into some special moments for me and music videos,” he said in an exclusive interview.
Recently, for his tour called “Something to Give Each Other,” Sivan wore a metallic chainmail jumpsuit and matching bandanna around his neck. (Rabanne creative director Julien Dossena and the brand’s studio designed two custom outfits for the tour.)
But Sivan’s link with Rabanne harks back even further.
“I wore a chainmail dress in the ‘Rush’ video,” he recalled during the interview, done while driving through the Netherlands countryside after wrapping the tour’s European leg. “I’m seeing some cows. That’s the vibe.”
Back to Rabanne fashion, Sivan said: “I loved the look that I wore to the [spring 2024] fashion show. It’s an incredible chest piece that was also in the ‘Got Me Started’ video.”
At the show, he wore Rabanne makeup, too. Sivan described his relationship with the brand as “really organic.”
“When it came to working together on the beauty, it was such a no-brainer for me,” he said.
Talents appearing in Rabanne campaigns come with a wide variety of styles, ethnicities and interests.
Time magazine called Sivan “the perfect pop star.” His accolades have included six Aria Awards, a Billboard Music Award, three MTV Europe Music awards and two GLAAD Media Award wins.
Sivan’s “Revelation,” a collaboration with Jónsi for “Boy Erased,” was up for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song — Motion Picture and shortlisted for an Oscar.
“We chose Troye because we’ve always had such a strong link with music,” said Rabanne vice president Jérôme Leloup. “He’s bringing something very gender-fluid — our makeup is not gender [related], so it’s really important.”
Sivan, who was born in Johannesburg and raised in Perth, Australia, resonates strongly in most of Rabanne’s top markets, especially in the Anglo-Saxon countries.
Even with his gender-fluid image, makeup came later in life for the 29-year-old Sivan.
“I definitely fantasized about playing with makeup as a kid and never really allowed myself to do it,” he said. “I would watch my mom do her makeup, or I would watch my sister or my friends. My favorite thing was I would get ready for a party in like five minutes then race to my friend’s house and watch them get ready over the course of two hours.
“It’s this very kind of ritualistic experience that I cherish,” Sivan said. “I love doing it by myself. I love doing it with other people. Even now, on tour — we’ve been on tour for the last month — it became a really important part of our pre-show ritual — me and the six dancers sitting, all doing our makeup and exchanging products and tips.
“It really centers you, puts you in the zone, can elevate you and make you feel your best,” he continued.
Sivan said he was drawn to the Rabanne makeup ambassadorship also because of what he describes as the brand’s effortless, genuine cool and edginess. And, of course, there are the clothes.
“So then the beauty felt like such a natural extension of it,” Sivan said.
While shooting the campaign lensed by Louise Thornfeldt and Maria Thornfeldt, wearing the makeup mood created by Diane Kendal, Rabanne’s beauty creative director, he felt so much himself.
“It’s this kind of elevated version of yourself, and that’s the way that I like to use makeup,” Sivan said. “Sometimes I want to do something really, really bold and transform, and it’s about that. But most days for me, it really is just about putting that extra little pep in your step before you walk out the door, where you just feel like you, and it’s not about hiding anything or covering anything up.
“It is really about celebrating what you have,” he said.
The first time Sivan had makeup done for art’s sake was for his “Bloom” music video. James Kaliardos helped conceive the handful of looks, each of which made Sivan felt different, to create that “memorable makeup moment.”
Sivan was intimidated but that gave way to enjoyment.
“Then I felt this surge of empowerment, once I allowed myself to,” he said. “It was a big moment for me personally.”
Next up for Sivan music-wise is the “Sweat” tour in the U.S. with Charli XCX, starting mid-September.
Rabanne makeup launched as the brand unified its image and storytelling for fashion, fragrance and beauty under a strategy dubbed One Rabanne.
The clean, vegan products have a high percentage of natural ingredients and are often shown in fashion-intensive campaigns.
Makeup, explained Leloup, “is the one area of the brand that really helps us bridge the story, the style and, of course, the femininity of Rabanne and Julien, who has been very involved in creating the makeup with us.”
“It’s really strategic, this category for Rabanne,” agreed Vincent Thilloy, Rabanne and Jean Paul Gaultier chief brands officer. “Because so far, we are super strong, among the top-five worldwide fragrance companies. This category helps us to really build the house, the same way as fashion is building the house.”
Rabanne strives to galvanize young generations to forge a more inclusive and creative future, Thilloy said.
“That is why we have Troye, for example,” he explained. “We are going to have more and more collaborations like this.”
Inclusivity, art- and music-related tie-ins are in Rabanne’s DNA.
“Paco Rabanne [had] been doing it himself since the ’60s,” Leloup said.
“That is something we are reinvigorating now,” Thilloy said.
Leloup continued: “Inclusivity comes from people coming together through cultures, subcultures, arts, music, visual arts and dance.”
Rabanne has three makeup product categories: Eyephoria, the bestselling segment, especially with mascaras and palettes; Rouge Rabanne, and Arts Factory, with the most artistic products.
Top markets for Rabanne makeup, which is sold in 300 doors, are the U.S., U.K., France and Italy.
The new fourth category, born Monday, is Nudes. The name nods to a book, “Neues,” which Paco Rabanne and Jean Clemmer collaborated on in the ‘60s. The book also helped inspire Dossena’s spring 2024 ready-to-wear collection for Rabanne.
“Julien’s obsession is always that metal on your skin is something very erotic and sensual. It’s very cold and hot at the same time,” Leloup said. “It reveals your skin in a very subtle way.”
This helped inspire the Fresh Touch Foundations, which are billed to be like a high-pixel metal mesh on skin, for a high-definition finish. The products, in metal tubes, are vegan, clean, 91 percent natural and with lots of skin care ingredients. These were made to have a high level of sensuality in the textures and give “gorgeous, glowy skin,” Leloup continued. “We don’t want people to notice you are made up.”
The sheer foundation also took a cue from what Kendal conceives for the brand’s runway shows. There will be 30 buildable shades, said to give 24-hour radiance and hydration.
“We’re trying to make foundation fun, sexy and glam,” Leloup said.
The line includes, as well, Everywear Concealers in 15 shades; five Mini Blushy Palettes, with a balm-to-skin tinted blush for cheeks and lips, and four Mini Palettes with eyeshadow in nude hues.
Nudes will start being sold on Rabanne’s direct-to-consumer platforms on Monday, followed by Ulta Beauty in the U.S. on Aug. 5, Selfridges in the U.K. on Aug. 12 and Sephora Europe, Aug. 26.
For the first time, Rabanne co-developed a TikTok campaign, which went viral last summer. For it, the brand leveraged lip-dubbed custom music — called “Lick My Lips,” by Only Fire — and collaborated with almost 100 TikTok creators across six main markets for content linked to color cosmetics drops.
Sivan will reveal his collaboration with Rabanne on Monday across TikTok and Instagram.
The Nudes campaign, coming with a tagline #NoFilterBeauty, is set to break in August.