George Barrie
In 1964, Rubin sold Fabergé Inc. for $26 million to George Barrie and the Rayette cosmetics company. In 1964, Rayette changed its name to Rayette-Fabergé Inc., then in 1971, the company name was changed again to Fabergé Inc. From 1964 to 1984, under the direction of Barrie, Fabergé launched many successful cosmetics products and hired celebrities to endorse them. In addition, a media division made feature movies.
Barrie supervised the introduction of the popular Brut toiletry line for Fabergé, which was promoted by football players Joe Namath, Paul Gascoigne and Kevin Keegan, as well as boxer Henry Cooper and actress Kelly LeBrock,[5] among others. Brut became the best-selling cologne in the world at that time.
In 1967, movie star Cary Grant was appointed as a "creative consultant" to Rayette-Fabergé. He spent a year attending sales conventions and visited Fabergé plants around the world. In May 1968, Grant was elected as a member of Fabergé's board of directors. He received a salary of $15,000 per year, a rent-paid luxury apartment in New York City (where Fabergé's HQ was located), unlimited travel expenses and use of the company's private fleet of planes and helicopters. By 1970, Grant divided his time between Los Angeles and New York. He never endorsed specific products or appeared in commercials.
In 1970, future James Bond actor Roger Moore became another celebrity board member. Also in 1970, Barrie established Fabergé's film-making division, Brut Productions, which produced the Academy Award-winning movie A Touch of Class in 1973, and other feature movies.
Barrie launched the 'Babe' fragrance in 1976 which, in its first year, became Fabergé's largest-selling women's fragrance worldwide. The granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway, model and actress Margaux Hemingway, received a $1 million contract to promote the 'Babe by Fabergé' perfume in a very popular advertising campaign. Her famous Babe campaign was remembered again by millions after her mysterious death in 1996. Babe received two awards from the Fragrance Foundation for its launch – 'Most Successful Introduction of a Women's Fragrance in Popular Distribution' and 'Best Advertising Campaign for Women's Fragrance'.
In 1977, Barrie launched the Farrah Fawcett hair product and fragrance lines, and he signed the actress and star of Charlie's Angels to a promotional contract with Fabergé. A famous Fabergé TV ad featured Joe Namath being shaved by Farrah Fawcett.
By 1984, the company had expanded its personal care products to Aphrodisia, Aqua Net Hair Spray, Babe, Cavale, Brut, Ceramic Nail glaze, Flambeau, Great Skin, Grande Finale, Just Wonderful, Macho, Kiku, Partage, Tip Top Accessories, Tigress, Woodhue, Xandu, Zizanie de Fragonard, Caryl Richards, Farrah Fawcett, and Fabergé Organics.
