Marcella Borghese, born Marcella Fazi, (1911 – January 19, 2002) was a manufacturer of cosmetics.
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Marcella Fazi was born in Sicily in 1911. In 1938 she became the second wife of the widowed nobleman Paolo Borghese, Duke of Bomarzo and Prince of Sant’ Angelo of San Paolo, and acquired the title of Princess. Records of her titles and that of the family can be found in the Office of Consulta Araldica in Rome. She gave birth to two twin boys, Francesco and Livio, the same year. She also had a daughter, Anita Mauritzi, from a previous marriage.
The fashion-conscious princess had toiletries, including makeup, made specifically for her using the natural ingredients found around the Villa Borghese in Rome, where the family lived. She wanted to create a line of lipsticks in a wider variety of shades than what was available at the time, and once Pope Pius XII gave the cosmetics his blessing, pushed forward with the idea.
In 1956, Italian-American businessman Gino DiGrandi introduced Borghese to cosmetics magnate, Charles Revson, the founder of Revlon. The two struck up a lifelong friendship, as he helped her to create her cosmetics line, and bought it as a subsidiary of the company.
Revlon, a mainstay brand in department stores at the time, was losing market share to newcomer Estée Lauder, whose higher price points and limited distribution strategy edged out the more established brands. Most of the competition took notice, and countered with department store-exclusive brands: Coty launched Dina Merrill; Fabergé had Juliette Marglen; Charles of the Ritz purchased the already established Alexandra de Markoff and Lanvin; Max Factor's contribution was called Geminesse; and, of course, Revlon's contribution was Princess Marcella Borghese. While most of these names invoked status and prestige, Revlon's was the only one associated with legitimate royalty.
One of Borghese's first collections included brightly colored lipsticks and nail colors to match the vivid colors of her fashion designer friend, Emilio Pucci's knitwear. Her Montecatini Cosmetic line, named after her favorite spa, (and an ancient town in Tuscany), used the healing properties of the Terme di Montecatini mud and the mineral waters. The innovative Princess was one of the first people to create a skincare line which was based on the natural therapies of a spa.
Borghese (as the line came to be known as) was the most enduring and successful of the aforementioned brands.
After Charles Revson's death in 1975, Revlon president Michel Berjerac pulled the Revlon brand out of department store distribution altogether, citing rising costs, changing consumer tastes, a corporate shift from cosmetics to consumer goods at Revlon, and the progressively shrinking significance of department stores. Without Revlon's millions of dollars in sales, Borghese (and the entire Revlon prestige portfolio) became very small, insignificant players in an arena that would be dominated by Cosmair (later L'Oréal) and Estée Lauder. Borghese's presence began to weaken, as retailers consolidated floor space to the more profitable brands. Revlon's entire prestige portfolio would stagnate for the next several years, trailing along as rivals ate away at their increasingly shrinking market share.
Ownership of Revlon changed in 1985 (in the infamous takeover by Ronald Perelman's Pantry Pride), and new ownership sold off Revlon's non-cosmetics businesses to renew its focus on beauty. Borghese was infused with marketing and research & development capital. The brand regained market share as a luxury niche brand.
Although the prestige portfolio, under Ronald Perelman's leadership, would grow to include many other high-end brands, by 1996 Revlon sold Borghese and the Halston fragrance license to Saudi investors. Halston-Borghese, as it became known, was owned by the investment group until 2000 when it was sold to American Georgette Mosbacher, who had success with the La Prairie brand in the early 1990s. She dropped the Halston reference and again the line was known as simply Borghese.
In 2007, Georgette Mosbacher took the brand into Costco, launching a sub-brand called Kirkland Signature by Borghese. The classic Borghese line is currently exclusive to Lord & Taylor and Bloomingdale's department stores. It is also sold in regional apothecaries and drugstores. In an October 2008 Vogue magazine interview, Georgette Mosbacher stated, "Borghese is a profitable name. I have plans to turn Borghese into a lifestyle brand over time which will include bedding, home furnishings and personal accessories. In the face of so much consolidation, brands need to think beyond the obvious markets. I feel we can reach new groups of consumers with these additions."
In October 2009, Borghese became the first cosmetics house to launch a line of home textiles for the bedroom. The Villa di Borghese collection is composed of bed pillows, comforters and throws. It is the result of a licensing agreement between Borghese Inc. and United Feather and Down. The line launched in Bloomingdale's on October 15, 2009 and will be exclusive to Bloomingdale's stores.
There is also currently a Borghese nailcare collection available in most major drugstore chains including Walgreens, CVS, Longs and Rite Aid. The nailcare collection launched in 2008 through a licensing agreement with Coty Inc.
Plans are in place to introduce an eyeware collection through a licensing deal with Icon Eyeware.
Marcella Borghese remained involved in the line named after her until her death in 2002 in her home in Montreux, Switzerland. She was 90 years old, and was buried in the family crypt at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.
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