British pop star Rita Ora is the latest celebrity wattage to team up with Rimmel. Ora will be creating a collection of nail polishes and lip colors.
Rimmel began a rebranding process in 2001 when Kate Moss became the face of the brand, a role she still maintains 12 years later. Other celebrity faces in the Rimmel family include Georgia May Jagger, Zooey Deschanel, Coco Rocha, Lily Cole and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
Like many British girls, Ora fell in love with Rimmel as a teenager, when she would spend her lunch money on cover-up. "I had spots; I still do," she explained. "I was in school and I had, like, 5 or 6 pounds [about $8 or $9.60 at current exchange]. I wasn't the richest kid on the planet. I would go and buy a red lipstick that I couldn't wear with uniform and I'd have to wait until 3:30 p.m. to even put it on, which I always did, even though my mum thought I looked ridiculous."
Her collaboration includes seven chubby lip shades and 12 colors of 60 Seconds nail polish all of which feature Ora's image done in a Warhol-sequence pop-art style. Ora said her favorites were "Ora-gasmic Orange" for nails and "Richer The Better," a true red, for lips. The prices have yet to be determined but will be out in February.
Rimmel hasn't confirmed as to whether the collaboration would continue into future lines or seasons, but Ora is keen to grow the collection. "I wanted to start small because it was my first thing," she explained. "I wanted to see how that goes and, if it works, we expand, that's the aim. I see what they like, what they don't like and kind of evolve and make it right."
"We wanted to do an artist collaboration with someone with a real point of view," said Friedemann Schmid, vice president of Rimmel London, of this partnership. "The plan is to do a different collaboration with a London artist every year. Whether that be with a pop star like Rita, or an artist, or a fashion designer."
