The woman behind the brand, Elizabeth Arden was a true inventor and a legendary entrepreneur. She was born Florence Nightingale Graham and traveled from Canada to New York to fulfill her dream. She opened her first "Red Door Salon" on Fifth Avenue in 1910, which was nothing less than sensational for that time. This for two reasons - first of all, women barely wore makeup at all and secondly women didn't have their own businesses.
Elizabeth Arden's fundamental belief and vision was that beauty shouldn't be created with makeup, but through a collaboration between science and nature. She lived by the mantra "to be beautiful is the birthright of every woman."

The first skin care product took its starting point in highlighting the skin's own strengths rather than hiding them. She was a great supporter and advocate for health, fitness and nutrition, and she insisted on taking the scientific route to the best results.
Elizabeth Arden was 100% uncompromising in her vision of creating the world's best products, packaging and services that women both wanted and had to have. She created the classic Eight Hour Cream, the legendary Bluegrass perfume and a bold red lipstick that matched the red uniform many American women wore during World War II. This was mainly developed for women in the military and the lipstick quickly became a symbol of women's strength.
Elizabeth Arden was also the first woman ever to be portrayed on the cover of Time Magazine.

In the 1930s Red Door Salons opened in most of the major fashion capitals of the world and was top three of most known american brands around the world alongside e.g. Coca-Cola.

Through the building of the empire and a whole new industry Elizabeth Arden was committed to quality and innovation that today are the the whole base of the company. You could say that Elizabeth Arden's the one who established the american beauty industry all together.