Features:The exact composition of the early Maybelline cake mascara is unknown, but it was most likely a sodium stearate cake mascara. Maybelline came in two shades, black (containing lamp black) and brown (containing iron oxides). The box included a rectangular cake of product stamped with the name Maybelline, a small bristle brush and a mirror attached to the inside of the lid. The product was applied by first wetting the cake, then using a small brush to lift and apply the colour to the eyebrows and eyelashes.
Interesting facts:Thomas Lyle Williams, a young entrepreneur from Chicago, noticed his older sister Mabel applying a mixture of Vaseline, ash and coal dust to her eyebrows to enhance her eyes. Inspired by the potential of her homespun solution, Thomas used a chemistry set to make a better one, but his first attempt was unsuccessful. So he commissioned Park-Davis, a wholesale drug manufacturing company, to make a suitable product for sale. This first product was named "Lash-Brow-Ine". In 1915 Thomas Williams founded Maybell Laboratories - so named after his sister Mabel, and began to advertise and sell his invention as a mail-order product. In 1917, with the assistance of Park-Davis, he began production and sale of a cake eyelash and eyebrow beautifier: this new product was named "Maybelline". After losing a trademark dispute in 1920, Williams could no longer use the name Lash-Brow-Ine, and Maybelline took its place. In the 1920s promotion play an important role in the success of the company, with a lot of advertising featured famous actresses such as Phyllis Haver, Ethel Clayton, Viola Dana, Ruth Roland and Natalie Moorhead. In the same years, the company expands beyond Maybelline cake mascara by adding a waterproof liquid version (1925), eyebrow pencils and eye shadow (1929). In 1996 the company was acquired by L'Oreal, and in 2001 became "Maybelline New York".
Quote (Thomas Lyle Williams): «What if I told you every woman could have a bit of that beauty in her own life? Is that so wrong?»
Property: Maybelline Co. - Maybelline New York - L'Oréal
Maybelline, first packaging and first advertisement for "Lash-Brow-Ine", Maybell Laboratories' first product and precursor to Maybelline mascara (ad. from The Green Book Magazine, Chicago, Illinois, December 1915).
Maybelline, first cake mascara (1917)
Maybelline advertisement (The Meyer Brothers Druggist, Saint Louis, Missouri, January 1920)
Maybelline advertisement with American film actress Viola Dana (Photoplay Magazine, New York City, July 1920)
Maybelline advertisement with American film actress Ruth Roland (Photoplay Magazine, New York City, July 1920)
Maybelline waterproof liquid mascara, first packaging and advertisement (1925)
Maybelline, advertisement for eye shadow and eyebrow pencils introduced in 1929 (Photoplay Magazine, New York City, February 1930)
Maybelline, new packaging for cake mascara introduced in early 1930s
Maybelline, cake mascara 10-cent box (1932). During the Great Depression, Maybelline introduced a special smaller version of the original 75-cent box of cake mascara.
Maybelline, advertisement and packaging for cake mascara «in the new, ultrasmart gold and scarlet metal case» (ad. from Photoplay Magazine, New York City, April 1934).
Thomas Lyle Williams (Morganfield, 1896 - Los Angeles, Sept. 26, 1976), inventor of Maybelline mascara and founder of Maybelline Laboratories.
Maybelline New York celebrates its 100th anniversary(1915-2015)
Developers: Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller, under supervision of Ernst Thomke
Producers: --- ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse (founded in Grenchen, Switzerland, 1793) --- Ébauches SA (founded in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 1926) --- Swatch Ltd. (founded by Nicolas G. Hayek in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, 1983)
Prototypes made: Since 1980
Production start: --- October 1982 (Dallas, Texas, USA - first 10,000 pieces) --- March 1, 1983 (official debut in Zurich, Switzerland)
First price: CHF 39.90 to 49.90
Features: In the late 1970s, the Swiss watch industry was in deep crisis. The country's centuries-old traditional approach seemed doomed to disappear in the face of competition from cheap, mass-produced quartz watches. A radical approach was needed, and the drive to simplify was soon complemented by a search for innovative materials and methods that would allow the production of an entirely new kind of Swiss watch. A small team of visionaries, working in secret, got a solution. ETA SA engineers Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller, under the direction of the then ETA SA's CEO Dr. Ernst Thomke started with a one-piece case made of plastic, the bottom of which also served as the bottom plate for the movement; they also have managed to decrease the number of assembled parts from about 100 (as done by Japanese competitors) to a mere 51 - operation known as "Revolution 51" -, hence further reducing the manufacturing costs. Working in sinergy with the engineers, designers Marlyse Schmid and Bernard Müller represented the creative heart of the team: they designed the final version of the casing - the shape and the two additional bridges for stabilizing the mount of the strap, which is one of the main characteristics of Swatch watches; they have designed almost all dials from 1981 prototypes up to 1986 market models, integrating in a very intelligent way the fluctuations in style and changes in color preferences through the years. Even the Swatch logo, which is one of the easiest recognizable logos, has been created by them. The overall result was a youthful watch which combined the highest Swiss quality with a new, trail-blazing attitude: Swatch.
Interesting facts: The name "Swatch", initially conceived by marketing consultant Franz Sprecher as a contraction of "Swiss Watch", was also intended as a contraction of "Second Watch", meaning a low-cost, high-tech, artistic and emotional watch.
Slogan (1982): «The Swiss watch that knows life should be an adventure»
Swatch watches, sketch of an early prototype named "Vulgaris" (by Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller, March 27, 1980)
Swatch watches, logo study (bottom right the final version - by Marlyse Schmid and Bernard Müller, 1981/82)
Swatch watches, early prototypes (1981/82)
Swatch watches, first model launched to test market in USA (October 1982). 10,000 handmade pieces were product and distributed in Dallas, Texas. The introduction to the market was a flop; but soon these watches, handled as Fashion accessories, with new collections, fancy colors, crazy dial, and strap designs became a huge bestseller.
Swatch watches, advertising ("Texas Monthly", December 1982)
Swatch watches, first official series (12 models, debut in Zurich, Switzerland, March 1, 1983)
Swatch watches, first series released in USA (25 models - in the advertisement GB012 model is not shown - March 1983)
Swatch watches, "The Original Jelly Fish" (ref. GK100 SP, early 1983). Designed by Marlyse Schmid, the first transparent watch was launched in a limited edition of 200 pieces. This was the first "Special Model" introduced by Swatch.
Swatch watches, advertising ("New York Times Magazine", December 4, 1983)
Swatch watches, German advertising ("Penthouse", December 1983)
Elmar Mock (La Chaux-de-Fonds, 1954) and Jacques Müller (Porrentruy, 1947), the engineers who created the Swatch watch under the direction of Ernst Thomke, then CEO of ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse.
Marlyse Schmid (La Forclaz, 1946) and Bernard Müller (Reconvilier, 1953), the designers who developed the Swatch iconic design. If Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller represent the inventors of Swatch, Marlyse Schmid and Bernhard Müller gave it an identity.
Swatch celebrates its 30th anniversary (1983-2013) with a special release: "Est. 1983" model, which features a skeletonized see-thru case with gold years instead of hours.
Swatch 30 years celebration at the annual watch fair in Basel, Switzerland, April 2013. The spacious Baselworld booth became Planet Swatch, which evolved each day to reveal the rich diversity of the brand.
First producer:Société Française des Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (Safe Hair Dye Company of France, founded by Eugène Schueller on July 30, 1909)
Invented in: 1907 (patent granted on March 24, 1908) - Paris, France
Production start: 1909 - 3 Rue d'Alger, Paris, France
Features:In 1907 Eugène Schueller, a young French chemist, created the first synthetic hair dye: L'Oréal, a blend of harmless chemical compounds. The dyes was an outstanding breakthrough at the time, providing a subtle range of colors in contrast to other methods on the market, which use henna or mineral salts but produce a bright, somewhat artificial look. Eugène Schueller registered two names for his product: "Black and Gold", a logical brand name for a hair colorant with black representing the spectrum of dark shades and gold the warm tones - a brand name which was however never used; "L'Auréale", a name inspired by a hairstyle in fashion at the time called "L'Auréole" from the Latin "aureola", a luminous halo. A few months later the name was simplified to "L'Oréal".
Interesting facts: In 1909, Eugène Schueller founded the company that will later become L'Oréal: Société Française des Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux. L'Oréal hair dyes obtained a great success, even beyond the borders of France, breaking new ground in Italy in 1910, Austria in 1911 and the Netherlands in 1913, even reaching as far afield as the United States, Canada, the UK and Brazil. The small company founded by Eugène Schueller in 1909 has become the number one cosmetic group in the world.
Slogan (1909): «L'Oréal rendant aux cheveux leur couleur et leur vigueur» - "L'Oréal makes the hair color and vigor"
Eugène Paul Louis Schueller (Paris, March 20, 1881 - Aug. 23, 1957), the French chemist and entrepreneur who invented L'Oréal hair dye, and founded the company. Photo taken in his kitchen, then transformed into a laboratory, 1907.
L'Oréal advertisement (1909): "L'Oréal rendant aux cheveux leur couleur et leur vigueur" (L'Oréal makes the hair color and vigor)
L'Oréal, hair-coloring school advertisement (1910): "L'Ecole de Teinture L'Oréal" (L'Oréal hair-coloring school). Eugène Schueller sets up a hair-coloring school on Rue du Louvre in Paris, which he personally oversees, using a former hair stylist from the Russian Court to demonstrate his ideas.
L'Oréal advertisement (1911) from La Parfumerie moderne, Paris. "Si vous voulez vendre des Teintures pour Cheveux (...) Une seule marque: L'Oréal" (If you want to sell Hair Dyes ... A single brand: L'Oreal).
L'Oréal advertisement (Feb. 14, 1914) by M. Lancelevée, from L'illustration, Paris. "Ne vous désolez pas!... en 30 minutes L'Oréal vous rendra la couleur et la jeunesse de votre chevelure" (Don't worry!... in 30 minutes L'Oréal will make the hair color and youth).
L'Oréal advertisement (May 1, 1915) by Fromentgérald Pary, from L'illustration, Paris. "L'Oréal teint bien sans danger en toutes nuances" (L'Oréal colors good without damage in all shades).
L'Oréal celebrates 100 years (1909-2009) announcing the roll-out of 100 citizen projects around the world
Features: The Lacoste L.12.12 polo shirt was made from an entirely new fabric, "petit piqué". René Lacoste teamed up with loose-knit fabric expert André Gillier to fine-tune the design of his first polo shirts. Together, they created the famous piqué cotton - lightweight yet sturdy and breathable to let the body breathe while looking smart. Being a perfectionist, René Lacoste tested the first series of polo shirts himself, in search of any detail that could improve the design. The code name assigned was "L.12.12": L stands for Lacoste, 1 because it's totally unique, 2 was the factory code to say short sleeved, 12 for the winning prototype chosen.
Interesting facts:René Lacoste was a famous tennis player who achieved fame in two areas: tennis and fashion. Lacoste founded La Chemise Lacoste in 1933 with André Gillier, the owner and President of the largest French knitwear manufacturing firm at the time. In that year, they launch the revolutionary Lacoste L.12.12 polo shirt, and branded with the iconic crocodile. The true story of the "Crocodile" begins in 1923 after a bet that René Lacoste had with the Captain of the French Davis Cup Team, Allan H. Muhr, who promised him an alligator suitcase if he won an important game for the team. This episode was reported in an article in the Boston Evening Transcript, where his nickname of the «Crocodile» came to life for the first time. The American public grew fond of this nickname which highlighted the tenacity he displayed on the tennis courts, never giving up his prey. His friend Robert George drew him a crocodile which was embroidered on the blazer he wore on the courts. In 1951 the company began to expand as it branched from "tennis white" and introduced color shirts. The first Lacoste boutique opened in 1981, avenue Victor Hugo, Paris.
Slogan (1933): «Attention au crocodile... il n'y a qu'une CHEMISE LACOSTE» - "Beware of crocodile ... there is only LACOSTE SHIRT"
Lacoste: the original crocodile design (1926), ispired by René Lacoste nickname and designed by his friend Robert George
Lacoste: first appearance of the crocodile logo (1926), embroidered on the blazer of Jean René Lacoste (Paris, July 2, 1904 - Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Oct. 12, 1996), the French tennis player and businessman who invented the Lacoste polo shirt
Lacoste L.12.12: the original polo shirt, first Lacoste product ever (1933)
Lacoste advertising (1933): "Pour le tennis le golf la plage les véritables CHEMISES LACOSTE" (For tennis golf beach the real LACOSTE SHIRTS).
Lacoste advertising (1933): "Attention au crocodile... il n'y a qu'une CHEMISE LACOSTE" (Beware of crocodile ... there is only LACOSTE SHIRT).
