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The global enterprise of the Estee Lauder Cos. is centered on the 40th floor of the General Motors Building in Manhattan. Here the realm of very Big Business meets the world of Estee Lauder--intensely refined, every woman's dream office. It has been the office of a businesswoman and mother, where work and family mingled seamlessly for decades in a major corporation--the Holy Grail of many working women today (her grandchildren are in key positions). Carol Phillips, who founded the Clinique line for the company, describes Lauder's management style as highly creative. She conducted business in subtly elegant comfort. "Her conference room was like a dining room, and everything was perfect. In the office were all the pleasant things that go with running a household."
And what households. Estee Lauder loved to "entertain," as giving large dinner parties was once called. She enjoyed "beautiful people"--celebrities, the rich and famous--and could invite them to dine with her at a table that could seat 30 without extensions. The food and the wines, lovely. She didn't miss a thing. She learned as she grew up. She watched; she enjoyed her world.
A word that must be added to the definition of Lauder: focus. She kept her eye on the world around her and on all women wherever they might be. She "liked to think about beauty and was determined to give women the opportunity to feel beautiful," says Leonard.
Beautiful didn't necessarily mean fashionable. Having edited two leading women's magazines over the past 25 years, I am hard pressed to think of a trend that Lauder started. The company never made any effort to be the makeup choice in the fashion shows. What you had with Estee Lauder was the quality of her view, of her demand for an ultrafeminine portrayal of the product. Every woman in every ad was the essence of femininity. Is that the kind of women we are talking about now? I'm not sure, but women know who Lauder is. Hers is a product with a focus--it's not MTV.
You will recognize the brand names, and what they stand for, as you would a friend's name: Estee Lauder, Prescriptives, Clinique, Origins and Aramis. The company has even bought hot new lines such as M.A.C., Bobbi Brown Essentials and Tommy Hilfiger fragrances. Lauder's company may not be able to set trends, but it is never going to be left behind by them. The boss--and her son after her--would never allow it. Says the company's vice chairman Jeanette Wagner: "No matter how she aged in years, she was still the youngest thinker in the room."
Grace Mirabella, who was editor in chief of Vogue magazine for 17 years, is the founder of Mirabella magazine