Celebs who were ahead of their time in terms of ideas?
I was listening to You Must Remember This' episode on Isabella Rossellini and learned that she was booted out of her Lancôme contract after turning 40. Citing that she was "too old" to be the face of their brand.
Isabella studied Lancôme's market research and found out older women responded well to seeing older models in ads. "Because they looked at me and were not frightened to grow older." She tried explaining this to Lancôme but it fell on deaf ears.
That moment was eye opening for her, it got her to think about how real women don't really see themselves in beauty marketing and products. With her experience from Lancôme she decided to launch her own makeup line. "Isabella Rossellini's Manifesto" Her products were practical.
They were small and easy to fit inside bags or pockets. They catered to all kinds of skin tones. Her models were meant to look like real people. Their ages ranges to 14 and 67. Some had braces, some were plus sized, and many nationalities were represented. This may be common now but during the 90s and 2000s it was revolutionary.
Isabella explained during an interview that "I always thought there was something offensive to take a white 20-year-old blonde and take her to represent all women."
Sadly she was too ahead of her time. The makeup brand had flopped. Now they only sell perfumes.