Moda Operandi to enter the beauty market

Moda Operandi, an online pureplayer for pre-ordering runway fashion, is expanding into the beauty segment.

The New York-based company said expanding into beauty is a logical next step, after growing its offer to include in-season ready-to-wear, homeware and jewellery. Chief brand officer and co-founder Santo Domingo said “Our customer comes to us for our curated point of view on personal style across fashion, fine jewelry and home. With the launch of this category, Moda will become a complete lifestyle destination.”

Moda Operandi confirmed it appointed Harper’s Bazaar’s former beauty director Jessica Matlin to head up the category. A buying team is expected to be put in place and report to Matlin, with categories including skincare, fragrance and makeup to be available by the fourth quarter of this year.

“I am excited to be leading this category launch, embracing a unique lens on luxury beauty with a thoughtful mix of content and commerce centered around exclusive access, elevated editorial, and brand discovery,” Matlin told WWD. The former editor is also a cohost of a podcast called Fat Mascara.

Many luxury fashion platforms have expanded into beauty, with Net-a-Porter being the first back in 2009 with just 11 brands. More recently companies including Farfetch, MyTheresa, Matchesfashion and thegreenlabels have unveiled beauty launches, increasing competition between the bigger platforms for a slice of the 500 billion dollar global beauty industry.