24 accessorizes to reclaim and create an identity for themselves, and with my brand I feel I am creating a beauty brand that is specifically catering to that consumer: the consumer that is confident enough to wear a colour or a style that wasn’ t made with them in mind, and then make it their own thing. When I was working on the counters- and I worked in places like Selfridges, Boots, House of Fraiser, etc. – I was working for conservative brands and I would wear a skirt, a shirt and tie my hair up and I would feel really uncomfortable because I wasn’ t being myself. And a group of girls looking all cool, wearing the kind of stuff that I would wear, would come to my counter and I could physically see that they felt nervous because they didn’ t want to touch anything because it wasn’ t a fully immersive environment created for them. I thought on how much it took for those girls to build themselves up and come to the counter just to buy a powder, and I though“ what if I created a counter that they come into and they never want to leave?”. Because retail is not the prescribed thing. The world is becoming a lot more diverse, people are from different backgrounds, subcultures and tribes and I felt that fashion was better at creating that. From the high-end obsession in the 90’ s came the streetwear movement, and that is why you have brands like Supreme that people can identify with. At the time I started my brand, I felt that there was no one really doing that, and all the brands that existed were keeping to the same pattern. It’ s a funny thing because I’ ve read on Elisabeth Arden and Estée Lauder, and a lot of the things that are standard in beauty nowadays are things that they created. Before Elizabeth Arden, you couldn’ t buy makeup from a department store, you would have to go to a pharmacy. Before Estée Lauder, you would never get a gift with purchase, makeup was really protected and they would have to bring out the collection and it wasn’ t really displayed in an attractive way. Max Factor, for example, made makeup for professionals and now you go to Boots and there it is …
What about before MDM Flow? I feel that before MDM Flow, makeup was very serious in some ways and it was also very based on a dictatorship, on a conversation happening downwards from the brands. Brands saying to costumers“ you need to buy this! This is what you need to complete your life!”. Whereas with MDM Flow we encourage a message coming from the consumer saying“ you are catering to me! I need this and that from you”. Even now, as a growing brand, we have a very open relationship with our customers, because I am not embarrassed to have an open conversation with my costumers on Instagram about what colours they want, for example. I used to work for L’ Oreal’ s social media and all the responses were always very planed and generic, almost insulting to the customer, very patronizing. The language that my brand uses is very real to real life, like speaking to somebody and that it’ s just comfortable for our consumer to recognize that it’ s not just about me, it’ s about them and what they want. It’ s about creating an experience that they’ d be excited with.
Do you have any first memories of becoming aware of the misrepresentation in the beauty industry? As a child, I was very self-aware, but I was also very stubborn. When I would go in to Boots with my friends, I knew that the colours weren’ t suitable for my skin tone, so I just looked at nail polish because I knew that was the only thing that I could relate to. I think in some ways my defiance was what enabled me to start my business. I think that I’ ve always been someone that, if I can’ t relate, I just block it out and I don’ t even make it a part of me, and as I got older instead of just being accepting of things that I couldn’ t participate in, I’ ve become more active in it and in expressing that. When I worked in makeup counters and they had launches in which I couldn’ t wear the products, I was vocal about the fact that I was disappointed. And maybe when I got the opportunity to create products that were wearable, I did it. I don’ t know the exact moment when I became aware of beauty but I’ ve definitely always had an attitude that I think now translates into my career in the beauty industry.
What did you feel that needed to change in the beauty industry? The number one thing that I needed to change was representation. We need to see more diversity, you need to see black women, Asian( specifically Indian) women in the industry at all ends. I think that in the industry, when diversity is put in, it’ s still standardized. For example: here is a black woman, and she is just super dark and has an afro, and she represents every black woman. No! It’ s crazy that if you want to name a black model, or an Asian model, or a short or bigger model there are only a hand full of names that you can think of. Brands like mine exist to make the industry truly diverse and representative of all the woman who buy their products. If all women saw closer representations of themselves in media and in beauty, they would have less issues of self-esteem.