SMART SET
The Story of Elizabeth Arden
GENRE
Women’s Biopic
LOGLINE: Cosmetics icon Elizabeth Arden, aided by her faithful assistant, Irene Delaney, creates a fashion empire, transforming royalty, celebrities and everyday Post WWII women into the stylish “Smart Set.”
SYNOPSIS: The day IRENE DELANEY, makeup and makeover magnate ELIZABETH ARDEN’S faithful assistant retires, she feels compelled to tell the story of her elegant employer’s stellar rise to realize the American dream. Helping Arden create an era of the “smart set,” transforming everyday women into glamour queens, Delaney’s Manhattan reception desk welcomes royalty, movie stars and housewives through the famed Elizabeth Arden Salon “Red Door.”
Swept into the world of powder pink lipstick, flawless signature pearls,
The day IRENE DELANEY, makeup and makeover magnate ELIZABETH ARDEN’S faithful assistant retires, she feels compelled to tell the story of her elegant employer’s stellar rise to realize the American dream. Helping Arden create an era of the “smart set,” transforming everyday women into glamour queens, Delaney’s Manhattan reception desk welcomes royalty, movie stars and housewives through the famed Elizabeth Arden Salon Red Door.
Swept into the world of powder pink lipstick, flawless signature pearls, and beauty regimens, women are whisked away to exercise and treatment rooms, to combat the 1947 tolls of war and peace, feast and famine, and heavy household responsibilities.
Aided by other Arden employees, Delaney relates how the once “Florence Nightingale Graham,” a Canadian nursing student, transforms herself into America’s powerful premier makeup magnate, while nursing her passion for breeding and racing horses. Using charm and finesse to get what she wants (which is basically everything), Arden is off to the races, turning a few pennies and jar of cream into a multi-million dollar, global cosmetics dynasty. We learn about her fascinating journey via the viewpoints of those who helped her climb the ladder to international fame and success. Fearing no man, Arden is terrified of the dark, although she brings light to so many women’s lives.
Eternally youthful Arden, looking twenty years younger, is taken by surprise by her own mortality in 1966, leaving behind a legacy of exquisite fashions, cosmetics, creams, and the strikingly stylish spirit of the exclusively sought after “Smart Set.”