Key milestones in Revlon’s storied history

Advertisement

Advertise with us

NEW YORK (AP) — Revlon filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday, weighed down by heavy debt load, disruptions to its supply chain and surging costs. The one-time cosmetics juggernaut owns iconic brands like Almay and Elizabeth Arden. It was started in 1932 by brothers Charles and Joseph Revson and Charles Lachman who unveiled a revolutionary nail enamel. It began selling lipstick in 1939. Revlon in its heyday throughout much of the 20th century was the second largest cosmetics company by sales, behind only Avon. Now, it’s ranked number 22.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/06/2022 (1529 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK (AP) — Revlon filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday, weighed down by heavy debt load, disruptions to its supply chain and surging costs. The one-time cosmetics juggernaut owns iconic brands like Almay and Elizabeth Arden. It was started in 1932 by brothers Charles and Joseph Revson and Charles Lachman who unveiled a revolutionary nail enamel. It began selling lipstick in 1939. Revlon in its heyday throughout much of the 20th century was the second largest cosmetics company by sales, behind only Avon. Now, it’s ranked number 22.

Here are key milestones in Revlon’s 90-year history.

1932: Brothers Charles and Joseph Revson and Charles Lachman unveil a nail enamel under a company called Revlon.

FILE - Revlon CEO Debra Perelman, the company's first woman CEO in its 89-year-old history, discuss her role during an interview, Wednesday Aug. 18, 2021, in New York.  Revlon, the 90-year-old multinational beauty company, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Thursday, June 16, 2022, weighed down by debt load, disruptions to its supply chain network and surging costs. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
FILE - Revlon CEO Debra Perelman, the company's first woman CEO in its 89-year-old history, discuss her role during an interview, Wednesday Aug. 18, 2021, in New York. Revlon, the 90-year-old multinational beauty company, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Thursday, June 16, 2022, weighed down by debt load, disruptions to its supply chain network and surging costs. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

1935: The first Revlon advertisement runs in the New Yorker Magazine.

1937: Revlon introduces nail polish and starts selling it in stores and beauty salons.

1939: Revlon begins selling lipstick.

1952: Revlon’s iconic Fire and Ice lipstick and nail campaign highlights a Vogue partnership and celebrity endorsements (model Dorian Leigh).

1955: Revlon expands its business internationally.

1965: Revlon’s successful sponsorship of The $64,000 Question TV show drives sales and brand awareness. It also launches ColorSilk hair color.

1970: Revlon becomes the first cosmetics company to feature a Black model, Naomi Sims, in its advertising.

1973: Revlon’s Charlie Fragrance launches and becomes the number one global fragrance.

1975: Charles Revson dies and Michel Bergerac assumes leadership of Revlon.

1979: Revlon acquires Henry Colomer and launches Revlon Professional with Sensor Perm.

1980: Revlon’s supermodel campaign features diverse, famous and new models including Iman, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington.

1985: Revlon is sold to MacAndrews & Forbes, run by billionaire Ron Perelman. Bergerac resigns.

1991: Revlon ColorStay Lipstick launches as the first non-transfer lipstick.

1996: The company goes public.

1997: Revlon Age Defying, anti-aging makeup line launches.

2000: Revlon sells its Professional Products division to Beauty Care Professional Products Luxembourg.

2013: The company acquires the Colomer Group and reunites it with its professional products division. Brands acquired include Revlon Professional, CND, American Crew and Creme of Nature.

2016: Revlon acquires Elizabeth Arden, completes global acquisition of Cutex.

2017: Elizabeth Arden launches White Tea fragrance

2018: CEO Debra Perelman, daughter of Ron Perelman, becomes its first female CEO.

2022: Revlon files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

___

Source: Revlon.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

‘Strong sense of unity’

By Melissa Martin 6 minute read Preview

‘Strong sense of unity’

By Melissa Martin 6 minute read Yesterday at 5:14 PM CDT

Manitoba government and business leaders are rallying behind Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan to fight back, after a sudden collapse of trade talks between the U.S. and Canada sparked a new salvo of U.S. tariffs on some Canadian goods.

On Saturday, after Carney vowed to respond with retaliatory tariffs, Manitoba premier Wab Kinew said his government stood “100 per cent” behind the prime minister’s plan to respond to what Kinew called U.S. president Donald Trump’s “unjustified and immoral” tariffs.

“History will not be kind to Donald Trump, so we should never appease him,” Kinew said. “We should fight back, which is what Canada is doing today.”

Kinew met reporters for a brief news conference at the legislature on Saturday afternoon, about an hour after finishing a call with Carney and the other premiers. There was a “really strong sense of unity” on that call, Kinew said, and emphasized that he backs the federal decision to “walk away from what would have been a bad deal.”

Read
Yesterday at 5:14 PM CDT

Wait times for MRIs getting worse in Brandon, Dauphin

Rylee Gerrard 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

BRANDON — Wait times for MRI scans have surged in the Prairie Mountain Health region during the last two years.

Despite a campaign promise by the NDP in September 2023 to increase the number of allied health professionals capable of administering diagnostic imaging in northern and rural areas, wait times for MRIs have increased dramatically in Brandon and Dauphin.

Median imaging wait times tripled at Dauphin Regional Health Centre between 2024 and 2026, increasing from eight to 24 weeks, according to the province’s wait time dashboard.

The Brandon Regional Health Centre median wait times for MRI scans more than doubled during the same period, from nine to 23 weeks.

City inundated with thousands of complaints after launch of new transit system

Morgan Modjeski 11 minute read Preview

City inundated with thousands of complaints after launch of new transit system

Morgan Modjeski 11 minute read Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

Despite complaints from thousands of dissatisfied users, Winnipeg hasn't hit the brakes on the rollout of its new primary transit network. And it appears that ignoring the public response cost Winnipeg Transit millions of dollars in lost revenue and ridership.

Read
Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

Roadside giants towering symbols of Canada’s quirkiness

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read Preview

Roadside giants towering symbols of Canada’s quirkiness

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Could you imagine a Canada without Mr. PG repping Prince George, B.C.? Or the Big Nickel in Sudbury? Or, my personal favourite, Happy Rock in Gladstone?

Earlier this summer, CBC’s Cost of Living looked at the economics of these giant roadside attractions — of which there are more than 1,500 in Canada — and the cost of keeping them.

Some are falling into disrepair — this is why public art funding is necessary, by the way, not just for construction, but maintenance — and some towns are weighing whether or not that money is better spent elsewhere.

The main character of the story: Tyra the Tyrannosaurus, the rather literal symbol of Drumheller, Alta., a.k.a. the Dinosaur Capital of the World since 2000, who could be facing extinction after the lease agreement between the town and the Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce ends in 2029.

Read
Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Wooed by wood, Cedarella founder takes pride in handcrafted designs

David Sanderson 8 minute read Preview

Wooed by wood, Cedarella founder takes pride in handcrafted designs

David Sanderson 8 minute read Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

Marina Bulan is the founder of Cedarella, a two-year-old venture that turns out eye-catching wood products such as jewelry, kitchen decor, children’s toys and, most recently, metre-high outdoor planters that double as home street-number indicators.

Ahead of immigrating to Winnipeg a decade ago from their native Russia, Bulan and her partner thought it would be prudent to conduct some research on their soon-to-be new home, a city they knew next to nothing about.

Imagine their surprise as they were viewing the 2007 surrealist film My Winnipeg, which comically blends historical facts about our burg with what Winnipeg-born writer/director Guy Maddin has termed “mystical hypothesizing.”

(For instance, there is no proof that, as reported in the award-winning flick, Winnipeg is the sleepwalking capital of the world, and that residents keep keys to their former abodes on their person in the event they turn up there during a bout of somnambulism.)

Read
Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

Provincial teacher watchdog releases names, details in three disciplinary matters

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Preview

Provincial teacher watchdog releases names, details in three disciplinary matters

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

An Interlake teacher with a history of “intimidating” outbursts has been ordered to participate in counselling and study anger-management strategies after he made a child cry.

Read
Friday, Aug. 21, 2026