INTRODUCING POIRET
Cassandra Grey tells the origin story of a compelling new beauty house, inspired by a legendary couturier and shepherded now by an industry savant. The result is skin care worth obsessing over.
Written by CASSANDRA GREY
Photography by BEN HASSETT
FROM THE DESK OF CASSANDRA GREY
Re: Introducing Poiret
When I was starting out in beauty, I knew my way around the counters at Barneys and Bergdorf—but I didn’t know anyone in the industry, or much about the business. I never felt qualified. Still don’t. What I had was grit, divine naivete, and trust in my intuition. I had just gotten engaged to my late husband, Brad Grey, a film and television producer who taught me everything I now know about pace, power, and storytelling. “Startups are like movies, Cassandra,” he told me. “You’re the director. You’ve got the vision—now surround yourself with the best, and listen.”
The best, in beauty, was Leonard Lauder. I studied his story like a sacred text — how he moved, who he trusted, the quiet loyalty he inspired. Leonard is his mother’s son, but also a connoisseur of excellence and audacity. He didn’t let many in—but he kept John Demsey closest. John had Anna Wintour’s rigor, with more appetite for the eccentric. I knew that if I wanted a seat at the table, I had to find John. And I had to be unforgettable.
More than a decade later, he chose me to join him in building what I believe will be his next great legacy: Poiret.
The brand is both a resurrection and something entirely new—named for Paul Poiret, the Parisian couturier who, in 1911, launched a pioneering fragrance and beauty house. A century-plus later, the modern Poiret arrived quietly in Asia, but the whispers traveled fast. Katherine Ross, who received early samples, tracked down replenishments while in Seoul. She turned Lynda Resnick onto the line, who passed the obsession to me. That’s how the best in beauty spreads—woman to woman, like a secret.
I knew I had to get it into the hands of the VIOLET GREY Committee. Experts who’ve seen everything. Who can spot the sublime before it hits THE SHELVES. The verdict: glowing. Formulas from the most revered labs in Japan, France, and Korea. Stem cells. Peptides. Textures so decadent they feel illicit—and results you can’t argue with.
Paul Poiret was a collector of beauty and a radical at heart. He was one of the first to liberate women from the corset, and he believed beauty could be just as freeing. He imagined his house “at the service of women and their secret ambitions” — which might as well be the mission statement of VIOLET GREY. Getting dressed starts with skin. Getting undressed does, too. And lately, that ritual revolves around Poiret’s signature double-cleanse system—my current infatuation.
Poiret is another mark of John’s brilliance. And it’s an honor that VIOLET GREY is the one to launch it in the U.S.
It’s rare to witness something this refined from the start. We knew the moment we touched it. You will too.
La Crème Démaquillante
This is the kind of cleanser you look forward to using—it melts off everything, leaves your skin silkier than it found it, and makes washing your face feel like a ritual, not a routine.
Shop now
