Dec 2, 2021
This is part 2 of an interview with the amazing Kim-Van Dang, the former beauty director of Instyle turned serial beauty entrepreneur. In this episode, Kim and I chat about how her love of fragrance helped her build profitable beauty businesses.
Kim could see the writing on the wall before she decided to leave In Style. The internet and its impact on print publishing was going to change things significantly. So she began thinking about her next gig. She realized that she often gave free advice to CEOs about products, from naming to strategy and distribution, and it helped them make millions while she got a chicken salad lunch. That gave her the idea to launch KVDNYC, a 360-degree branding agency with an editorial edge. She worked with all the big brands: Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, P&G but was more gratifying was working with startup founders like Francesco Clark of Clark Botanicals to bring their brands to market. But then the 2008 recession hit and the phone stopped ringing.
But it was a package from the perfumer Francis Kurkdijan that set her off into new areas of business with her new husband, Anthony, fragrance distribution. She shares how she got the Maison Francis Kurdjian line into Bergdorf and Neiman-Marcus during a challenging recession. Other brands came calling too like Cire Trudon and Coqui Coqui among others. Then came her retail store, Havens in Sag Harbor, NY.
But her love of fragrance also inspired Kim to create an eponymous home line that has just launched in Bergdorf Goodman, Van Dang Fragrances.Find out what inspired the line, what makes it unique and its cosmic appeal.
Other stores that carry the line will include:
Marissa Collections in Naples, FL
Follow Kim on Instagram:@kvdnyc, @ilovehavens @vandangfragrances