Elizabeth Arden

Florence Nightingale Graham was born in the village of Woodbridge, near Toronto, Canada. She arrived in New York from Canada in 1907. She changed her name to Elizabeth Arden.

In 1910 Arden opened up a shop in Fifth Avenue with her partner Elizabeth Hubbard where she developed a line of Venetian beauty preparations, and identity choice lending the pricey lotions and powders prestige. But the partnership soured and Arden went solo. She borrowed from her brother to pay the salon rent on Fifth Avenue.

She decorated the salon, including painting the door red. That became her trademark. She named the salon Elizabeth Arden. Elizabeth came from her former partner and Arden came from Tennyson’s famous poem ‘Enoch Arden’.

Arden formulated her marketing and product philosophy very quickly through research and experimentation.
In 1914 a chemist compounded Elizabeth Arden new formula, and it was named Amoretta. This was the beginning of Elizabeth cosmetic empire.

In 1925 the Arden Company topped $2 million in sales, and by 1929 that figure had doubled.

In bold move, Arden expanded during the Great Depression; she believed that women would still be seeking ways to lift their spirits, and brought out such innovations as a lipstick kit, which contained several different shades.

During World War II, Elizabeth Arden expanded her domestic market coast to coast and company lines went into all of the major department stores at that time.

In 1945, Arden entered into a new enterprise, couture clothing, and thereafter continued to challenge her competitors by adding men’s fragrances and opening a men’s boutique in the 1950s.

In 1977 Elizabeth Arden was inducted into the Junior Achievement National Business Hall of Fame.

The company was sold to Eli Lilly, who later sold it to Faberge for $700 million, who sold it to Unilever in 1998 for about the same price. In November, 2000 FFI Fragrance bought it from Unilever for $225 million.
Elizabeth Arden