Julie Macklowe

Julie Macklowe at a Hamptons party hosted by Alison Brod. July 2011.

Julie Macklowe is an American beauty entrepreneur and businesswoman. She is founder and spokesperson of vbeauté, a luxury skincare line offering affordable Swiss botanical skincare products to all women helping them to feel confident and beautiful. She is also an investor, former hedge fund manager, philanthropist, and socialite.^[1][2]

Background

Macklowe was born in Aspen and raised in Arizona,^[3] the daughter of Harold Lerner who took over her grandfather's t-shirt company and turned it into a women’s sportswear company.^[4] She completed her B.A. in Economics and B.S. in Commerce with concentrations in Finance and MIS at the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce in 1999. During her time at UVA, she held internships at Goldman Sachs and Neuberger Berman.^[5]

In 2000, Macklowe worked with Chase Capital Management (now JPMorgan Partners) in Seoul and Hong Kong where she helped structure leverage buyouts. ^[4][6] Between 2003 and 2006, Macklowe was the Managing Director of Metropolitan Capital Management, and in 2006, she joined the investment firm SAC, where she managed investment portfolios for Sigma Capital Management. ^[5]

Career

Macklowe Asset Management

In 2009, backed by Millenium Partners, Macklowe opened her own $250 million hedge fund, Macklowe Asset Management. In October 2010, Macklowe closed the fund to pursue her own investments in fashion businesses.^[7]

^[8] In an interview the following year discussing her twelve years in finance, she said, "I haven’t looked at a stock since the day I left.”^[9]

Fashion Industry Investments

After leaving a career in hedge funds and finance, Macklowe turned to the fashion industry leveraging her prior business experience, understanding of the mechanics of the industry thanks to her family's clothing business, and her innate feel for style to search the fashion industry for good investments.^[4]

BaubleBar

In December 2010 Macklowe’s first fashion industry investment, BaubleBar, launched with help from Accel Partners.^[4] The online startup, founded by two Harvard business graduates with backgrounds in finance, sells jewelry direct from suppliers and designers which normally work with retailers.^[10] Macklowe helped the company in its initial efforts, raising over $1 million and she currently sits on the company’s board.^[4]

Macklowe was the muse for Zang Toi, whom she met two years earlier, for his Spring 2013 collection and debuted on the runway show September 9, 2012.^[11]

vbeauté

Macklowe launched her own skincare company, vbeauté on November 1, 2011.^[12] Vbeauté started as a luxury, travel-friendly toiletry kit that meets TSA regulations for a carry on, called the "It Kit", which was developed by CRB, a research lab in Switzerland. It has been praised by the New York Times for its unique packaging. In September 2014, vbeauté launched a deal with the Home Shopping Network to be sold exclusively at HSN and select boutiques. ^[13][14][15] After its first year on HSN, vbeauté became one of the fastest growing beauty brands on television. Vbeauté currently sells a wide range of luxury skin care products, and is part of Macklowe's simple approach to skin care, where stem cells from the Alpine Rose flower are harvested as its main ingredient. The Alpine Rose is a small pink flower which is known for its resilient properties and which can only be found in the harsh climate of the Swiss alps, where it endures high altitudes, extreme temperatures, and dryness.^[16]

The inspiration for this company came in 2009 as she was flying to her friend's wedding in France when her toiletries were confiscated by security. The replacement products she purchased in France gave her a severe allergic reaction. In 2011 her company raised $4 million and her product sold at 37 stores.^[17] As of 2013, the product line is sold in roughly 44 stores.^[18]

Macklowe stressed her dedication to being socially responsible when she launched the product line in New York City on her 34th birthday. When asked about the charitable component, she said: "social responsibility was very important. I think more corporations should do it.".^[19]

Macklowe said that she doesn't do things halfway, describing her search for a retailer for the vbeauté line—going through options one-by-one until she felt comfortable. She has utilized contacts that she has made throughout her time living in New York and expressed her enthusiasm for networking.^[20]

Personal life

In 2004, Macklowe married Billy Macklowe, president of Macklowe Properties, the New York real estate firm founded by his father, Harry B. Macklowe.^[21] The couple live in Manhattan with their daughter Zoe.^[4]

The family owns a house in the Hamptons. After Hurricane Sandy had destroyed much of New York, Macklowe and her family offered to take refugees into their Upper East Side home, accommodating as many as 10 guests and children at a time.^[22]

Macklowe has been photographed at various social and philanthropic events wearing a range of designers including Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Balenciaga and Oscar de la Renta. She has attended events such as the Couture Council and New Yorkers for Children fall gala.^{[23][24][9][25]} Macklowe also collects ball gowns, some of which have been showcased in Alexander McQueen's Savage Beauty (exhibition) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[26][27][28]

In 2008, Macklowe was named Vogue magazine's "It Girl".^[29]

In 2011 Macklowe hosted her 34th birthday party, which also featured the launch of her new VBeauté skin care line. The event was part of a cooperative effort to raise money for VH1's Save the Music Foundation.^[19]

Philanthropy

Macklowe sits on the board of VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, who’s mission is to restore music education in the United States.^[30] Macklowe stated that the VH1 Save The Music Foundation “has been near and dear to my heart” - it supports putting musical programs and instruments into schools that can’t afford them. Programs like Save The Music, help students “stay off the streets and get into places of further education”. Macklowe also said "having grown up in a situation...where finding money for a trombone was an actual problem, I can empathize with a lot of the students involved with the VH1 Save The Music Foundation.".^[31]

Macklowe and her husband co-chaired the 2015 concert dinner at their summer estate in the Hamptons for the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, where musicians such as Jason Derulo headlined.^{[31][32] [33]} The concert raised nearly $800,000, double the amount of 2014’s event.^[34][35]

Macklowe is also actively involved with the Seven Bar Foundation, which provides micro credits for impoverished women to become financially independent and New Yorkers for Children, which seeks to improve the lives of children and families.^{[36][37][38][39]}

Activities

Early in her career, Macklowe created the “Learn to Invest” class for the all-girls Cathedral High School in New York.^[21]

Macklowe currently sits on the Advisory Board of the McIntire School of Commerce and serves on the friends committees for both New Yorkers for Children and the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to whom she has contributed four of the exhibit's gowns.^[9] She is also a founding advisory board member for Fashion Week at Lincoln Center,^[5] a board member of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Couture Council, and she co-chaired the 2015 Couture Council Luncheon. ^[40]

References