Speaking on the phone as she was driving through Manhattan, Emily Weiss turned the conversation to cocktails while discussing the fragrance offerings from Glossier, the beauty brand she founded 10 years ago this month.
Its first perfume, You, introduced in 2017, has a formula that is intended to smell a bit different on everyone. Glossier has said it sells units of the scent every 20 seconds. Building on its popularity, the company has released two follow-ups: You Doux, a version with notes of violet and palo santo, and You Rêve, which has sweeter elements like buttercream and toasted almond.
“From the early days of creating this, what came to mind right away was a martini,” Ms. Weiss said. “If you think about a classic martini, you can have it with olives or a lychee martini. They all have different ingredients on top of the same vodka base.”
The fragrances, each $78, are meant to align with the company’s strategy of offering moderately priced makeup and skin-care products that enhance a person’s natural features. That approach has resonated with millennial, Generation Z and now Generation Alpha consumers, who can often be seen lining up outside Glossier stores in cities like New York, Atlanta and Chicago.
Over the past decade, Ms. Weiss, 39, Glossier’s executive chairwoman and former chief executive, has steered the brand through highs (landing a lucrative Sephora distribution deal in 2022) and lows (a poorly received line of makeup in saturated colors, called Play). Much of its history was written about in “Glossy,” a dishy book about the company published last year.
Glossier’s “growing pains and hiccups,” Ms. Weiss said, have helped the brand forge a stronger bond with its shoppers.
“Glossier is a very personal brand, so I think we are proud of the way we have been personal in response to those challenges,” she said. “We have been honest and very intentional about how we have learned, and that’s fostered resilience and trust with consumers.”
Ms. Weiss, who founded Glossier after starting the popular Into The Gloss beauty blog, has been in the public eye since she appeared as a Teen Vogue intern alongside Lauren Conrad on MTV’s 2000s-era reality TV show “The Hills.”
She now shares parts of her life on social media. Ms. Weiss, who lives in New York City and recently bought a multimillion-dollar home in Brooklyn Heights, also has a residence in Copenhagen, where she can be seen in photos wearing clothes from some of that city’s buzzy designers, like Saks Potts and the jewelry brands Sophie Bille Brahe and Jo Riis-Hansen.
Success, to her, is not measured by what she has afforded. “My definition of success is that I still have the same five best friends from college,” Ms. Weiss said.
“I’m just human like everyone else — I’m not perfect,” she said. “I think I’m a resilient person, and I think Glossier is a resilient brand. It comes from a sort of core value.”
Shop Talk: Jewelry from Coast to Coast
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John Hardy, the fine jewelry brand with a workshop in Bali, Indonesia, where some 400 artisans produce most of its pieces, is bringing its baubles to a pop-up shop in Rockefeller Center. Opening on Oct. 17 for at least six months, it will be the first John Hardy location to carry the label’s new Black Sand collection developed by its creative chairman, Reed Krakoff, who joined the brand in 2022 after holding top design jobs at Tiffany & Company and Coach. Pieces, which start at $895, were inspired by Mr. Krakoff’s trips to Indonesian black-sand beaches.
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Mociun, a fine jewelry brand founded in Brooklyn and known for its engagement rings, is staging a shop-within-a-shop on Oct. 18 and 19 inside the San Francisco location of the Future Perfect design gallery. A selection of Mociun’s wedding jewelry will be available along with other best-selling pieces from the brand, like a seed pearl bracelet ($195).
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Rings made by J.B. Blunk, a multidisciplinary artist and artisan who died in 2002, served as inspiration for a new line produced by J.Hannah, a fine jeweler in Los Angeles, in collaboration with Mr. Blunk’s estate. The reproduced rings, now available for pre-order, are made of silver and 18-karat gold and start at $680.
Spotted: Wet Seal Is Having a Gilded Age on Resale Platforms
It has been almost a decade since Wet Seal, the fast-fashion mall brand, went bankrupt in 2015 and started to disappear from the retail landscape. Its clothes — inexpensive and trendy, even if slightly tawdry — had their heyday in the 1990s and early 2000s, a time that has recently been sartorially revisited by young people seeking nostalgic fashions.
So it might not be shocking that items from Wet Seal have started to resurface on resale platforms like Depop and Poshmark. But the fact that a handful are being sold for $100 or more may be surprising.
Peter Semple, Depop’s chief marketing officer, said that 1 percent of Wet Seal products sold on the platform in September were priced over $100. (Based on the roughly 8,800 pieces currently listed as from Wet Seal on Depop, that would mean about 88 were sold at three-figure prices.) Searches for the brand on the platform have increased 75 percent since January, he added.
A recent comb through the offerings on Depop and Poshmark turned up two Wet Seal pieces that were listed multiple times at prices over $100: a cropped magenta top shaped like a butterfly (listed for as much as $176) and a sequined bikini top with a sheer midriff panel (listed for as much as $190).
Erin Miller, a content creator in Des Moines who focuses on ’90s and 2000s culture, and who has roughly 3.7 million combined followers on Instagram and TikTok, found herself in disbelief when she received a message from a follower tipping her off to the pricey Wet Seal items.
“I shopped there in college if I wanted a chic going-out top for $8, but you were never sure if it would survive the night,” said Ms. Miller, 35. In her recollection, she added, “the most expensive thing in the store was $35.”
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