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Helena Rubinstein: The Woman Who Invented Beauty
Author(s): Michèle Fitoussi (Author), Kate Bignold (Translator), Lakshmi Ramakrishnan Iyer (Translator)
- Publisher: Gallic Books
- Publication Date: 31 July 2014
- Language: English
- Print length: 404 pages
- ISBN-10: 9781908313461
- ISBN-13: 9781908313461
Book Description
This fascinating biography tells the rags to riches tale of cosmetics legend Helena Rubenstein.
‘Required reading’ Vogue
Helena Rubinstein was born into a poor Polish family at the end of the nineteenth century; by the time of her death in 1965 she had built a cosmetics empire that spanned the world. When Rubinstein opened her first salon in Melbourne, her scientific approach to beauty was an instant sensation. Women just couldn’t get enough of her innovative advice on skincare, and her beauty products were constantly sold out. Having conquered Australia, Rubinstein went on to open salons in Europe and America, at a time when women were barely seen in business, let alone running their own multinational companies. Dressed by Chanel and Yves St Laurent, painted by Salvador Dali and Picasso, and mingling with Colette and Proust, Helena Rubinstein not only enjoyed unbelievable success, but was also instrumental in empowering and liberating women. Helena Rubinstein was a total original, and her legacy can still be seen today in the methods used to market and manufacture cosmetics. This is her amazing life story.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘Required reading’ Vogue
‘This vivid account pops with fascinating detail and reads like fiction. Wonderfully, it isn’t’ Elle
‘The lively prose brings life to Rubinstein’s “impossible character,” tyrannical and tender by turns, and appeals to readers’ taste for scandal without turning its subject into a caricature’ Publisher’s Weekly
About the Author
Michèle Fitoussi was born in Tunisia to French parents, and has lived in Paris since the age of five. She has worked for the past twenty-five years at Elle magazine and has interviewed many influential decision makers and world leaders in areas as varied as politics, human sciences, sport, literature, and the media.
Kate Bignold read French and German at Manchester University. She began her career in the art and design world before becoming a French to English translator in 2000. She lives in southwest England with her two children.
Lakshmi Ramakrishnan Iyer has been a translator from French and Italian into English since 2004, following a ten-year career in journalism, publishing, and public relations in India and Italy. She lives in southwest France.
