Please Note: Madame Grey is running a holiday promo
Put It in the Bag: Madame Grey Edition.
Six months ago, we quietly released Madame Grey’s signature extrait de parfum. No press. No events. No media spend. Just 1,100 estate catalogues sent in the mail or delivered by hand to a curated list of art collectors. It felt like a dream come true, a dream that began sixteen years earlier on a mood board I taped to the wall of my dressing room.
This was three years before we raised the first seed round for VIOLET GREY—the company most people associate with my name, the one I sold to Farfetch in 2022 for an undisclosed amount (expensive). All cash. And later bought back with partners for another undisclosed amount (cheap). Cheap and chic.
During the rise of VIOLET GREY, I flirted with Madame Grey, like a mistress who gave me the attention I wasn’t getting at home. By day, I led a team who were building a brand that would help define a category; by night, slipping away to work on Madame Grey—my private world, my secret apartment downtown. A place where the rules were mine, where instinct mattered more than strategy, and where the work felt less like ambition and more like destiny.
I protected her fiercely. I carved out the IP in my employment contract. And when Farfetch asked for it in the sale, I refused, even when it strained the deal to the breaking point.
The acquisition eventually reshaped itself around that refusal. A seven-figure salary. Millions in Farfetch stock. An incubator built overnight so I could develop the next generation of beauty brands—with equity, autonomy, and the kind of promises that sound like opportunity when you’ve just had your first exit. They called me “talent.” They said “brilliant.” “Genius.” It was flattering. And perhaps, in retrospect, disarming. Just enough to get a deal done.
Three months in, I found myself on what would become my last Zoom meeting at the company. I was on with a dozen or so corporate executives who were pitching me their grand plan to become number one in prestige beauty e-commerce. I had a lot to say about their presentation, pages of notes, really, but I kept it polite and productive.
The final seven slides were nothing but focus group data, presented as proof that their strategy would win over the slippery “Gen Z” audience.
“I think Gen Z…and really, all generations, want authenticity and a product or service that genuinely adds value to their lives,” I said, trying to sound hopeful as I looked at a computer screen filled with expressionless faces. “Can we make promises? For example, can we deliver the best customer service in the industry and give people more than they expect, call it white glove e-commerce?” I continued. “Can we earn their trust, affection, and advocacy with every line of communication? Can we be the best at what we do?”
I was excited. In my mind, we were gonna crush the assignment.
Less than a minute after the meeting ended, one of the executives called me. “Everyone is so inspired by you and excited to work with you,” he said. “But we’d appreciate it if you could keep your feedback to yourself and support the plan already in place.”
Defeated, I thought: Check, please.
Corporations often believe they want entrepreneurs. What they really want is the energy without the disruption. So I transitioned into an advisor, returned to New York, and started working on Madame Grey full-time.
Now I am one of the owners of VIOLET GREY again, and my operating partners welcome my notes. Encourage them even. We formed VIOLET LAB, which is a team of what I believe are the best brand builders in the industry, who are leveraging the institutional knowledge, community and brand-building distribution of VIOLET GREY to incubate the next generation of legacy brands.
So these days, my work looks a little different: I’m writing my Substack (!), identifying brands for VIOLET LAB to champion, investing in entrepreneurs, and developing Madame Grey’s third collection—launching this spring.
Put it In the Bag: The Holiday Promos
With Compliments from The Madame Grey Estate
FROM COLLECTION N º 1
“THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY”
To introduce the limited-edition Madame Grey extrait de parfum, the Estate partnered with Manhattan’s FD Gallery on a sale of exquisite jewelry and decorative objects, each with a storied history. The 19 works were documented by the photographer Ben Hassett for the first volume of the Madame Grey Estate Catalogues, a biannual series of curated collections that take shape in print. Madame Grey was born from a reverence for estate catalogues: tangible proof of a life well lived, bound in a book of treasured possessions left behind.
LOT 19, ONE OF 1,100 BOTTLES SIGNED AND DATED
EXTRAIT DE PARFUM
MADAME GREY
$1,100
HOLIDAY PROMO: The Signature Gift. Order the Madame Grey extrait de parfum, and receive Mme Grey, Now For Traveling, with our compliments.
Because your signature scent should linger on the pillow after you’ve gone.
“MADAME GREY, NOW FOR THE HAIR”
Made for private dancers. Adopted by EIHGs*. Meet Pour Cheveux Strip-Tease by Madame Grey.
*Elusive (International) Hot Girls, a term coined by tariro makoni via her Substack, aptly titled “trademarked”
HOLIDAY PROMO: One For You, One For Me. Order Pour Cheveux Strip-Tease, and receive a second one, with our compliments.
Please Note: This product is a proven show-stealer—perfect for White Elephant, Secret Santa, a foolproof stocking stuffer, or a delightful gift for any of the eight nights. For every gift you give, gift yourself
FROM COLLECTION N º 2
“THE ZODIACS”
12 energetically charged scents for the home, one candle for each astrological sign, informed by Madame Grey’s astrologer-in-residence, Karen Thorne. Clean, sustainable, and effective—powering daily manifestation rituals everywhere.
HOLIDAY PROMO: The Daily Manifestation Ritual. sign up for The Zodiacs monthly subscription and receive the Heritage Pewter Lid, with our compliments. Burn the sign of each season and manifest its energy with us—your ritual delivered every month. Or consider gifting the chicest candle-of-the-month-club OF LITERAL ALL TIME—The Zodiacs subscription—and we will send it off with the heritage lid and a custom note on Madame Grey stationery, and gift box.
Please Note: As we embrace the final month of the year, jumpstart next year’s goals by burning The Capricorni Candle, calling in the discipline and wisdom needed to head into 2026 feeling composed, not chaotic
