Beauty brands push products into public view as wearables, from lipstick hair pins to gloss phone cases

Rhode's lip gloss phone case, released in 2024, carved out a hybrid space in which a product could be consumed and displayed at the same time. Two years on, brands are still hunting for ways to make beauty items as visibly branded as a logo T-shirt.

At Paris Fashion Week in October, Sarah Burton showed her Spring/Summer 2027 womenswear collection for Givenchy, built around sharp silhouettes in primary colours. Burton described the intent as bringing "precision and simplicity to dressing as we speed through the multiple perspectives and perpetual motion of all our lives."

That idea carried into accessories. The Givenchy presentation sent out face powder compacts repurposed as belt buckles and tubes of lipstick worn as hair pins, turning everyday cosmetics into functional parts of the outfit.

Mathilde Riba, beauty insights manager at trend forecasting agency Spate, linked the shift to the way social platforms have opened up personal care. "Social media made private routines — skin care, body care, fragrance, oral care, etc. — public in feeds," she said, adding that branded beauty merchandise works as an extension of that, letting consumers signal to others, in person or through a phone, which products they use.

The visibility has also bred imitation. Knockoff versions of the original Rhode case have proliferated on marketplaces including Temu and AliExpress.