BROOKE, UNBOTTLED

Colleen Richmond • July 16, 2025

Brooke Shields is stepping into her power like never before, proving that confidence, vibrancy, and self-discovery don’t come with an expiration date. With a haircare brand rooted in community, she’s not just cheering on women 40+—she’s walking with them.

After nearly 60 years in the spotlight, Brooke Shields carries herself with more clarity and confidence than ever—grounded in the bold truth that she has nothing left to prove. In our conversation about life, legacy, and the authenticity behind her haircare line, she offered a refreshingly honest perspective that beautifully reflects the VIVANT spirit.

“It’s not about reinventing ourselves or changing the model of who we are; it’s about revealing more of who we are,” Brooke shares. “I never thought I was broken or needed fixing. I was one thing, but I had more to show, and it was just a matter of tapping into it. That’s how I feel about women in this era of their lives. We have done so much, and then people go, ‘Oh, well, you’re done.’ For me, it’s like, no! I’m just beginning because there are so many things that I haven’t explored yet, not only as a woman, but as a person.”


One of her latest discoveries? A renewed understanding of what self-care truly means at this stage of life, inspiring the 2024 launch of Commence—a science-driven product line that redefines CARE for women over 40. It has since grown from three to six products, with the first offerings founded around Brooke’s vision to elevate scalp care to the same level as skincare.


Each product features the proprietary COMMENCE Complex™, developed by chemists and combining peptides, pre- and post-biotics, plant stem cells, and alfalfa sprout extract to promote hair growth, boost volume, and restore scalp health. Powered by the highest concentration of active ingredients on the market, the line delivers ethical, science-backed results.

“We’re a care brand,” Brooke adds. “Meaning, a woman has spent her whole life caring for others, and then she gets to this question of: ‘What kind of care can I take for myself?’ It’s my turn, and even if I have to do it myself, that’s a luxury. For me, I’ve kept my mother alive, I’ve kept the public hopefully engaged, and I’ve taken care of babies. I’m all of these different things to everybody, and I often lose sight of myself. And it’s not anger; it’s an, ‘I now have the freedom and the finances to take care of myself.’”


Don’t mistake Commence for a typical celebrity brand. Brooke isn’t just the face; she’s the founder, CEO, and its fiercest believer. She affectionately calls the endeavor “the most precious and wonderfully pressured project” she’s ever taken on—from studying formulations alongside a team of chemists to visiting factories and gathering invaluable feedback from her community. The line is proudly US-formulated and filled, and almost entirely sustainable.


“This is my company, my money, my responsibility, and my legacy,” Brooke reiterates. “My whole life prior to this, I’ve represented other people who’ve slapped my face on something. The difference is that this is actually mine, and I know that difference because I’ve spent fifty plus years understanding it. Typically, a lot of things start with a brand or a product, and then the community follows. This began from the ‘Beginning is Now’ online community I started during the pandemic to have a discussion and learn what everyone was feeling in this over-40 era of their lives. Commence was built from, and for, that community.”


“It’s not about reinventing ourselves or changing the model of who we are; it’s about revealing more of who we are.”


Through shared stories and honest conversations, Brooke uncovered a missed opportunity in the market: addressing the biology of aging hair and scalp, and the unique needs of women over 40. The founder is open about her journey, admitting she never planned to become an entrepreneur or reenter the beauty industry after so many years—a responsibility she doesn’t take lightly.


For the first time, she’s creating from the inside out and it’s making all the difference.


“I’ve always been a soldier for other people,” Brooke shares. “It was the way I grew up and what my career was based on. This is the first foray I’ve made into something that is all mine. The way it began was from the very core place and point of being, which was a truth that I held, whether I was talking about depression or living with an alcoholic mother. They’re not ‘for me’ stories; they’re more like, ‘Hey, this stuff happened and I need to talk about it, not because I’m an expert, but because I don’t want to be alone.’”


And the conversation and connection haven’t slowed. Feedback from the rapidly growing Commence community shows the products are transforming daily routines with real, visible results.


“Everything hinges on this for me, but it’s only because the products actually work,” Brooke says. “The feedback has been so positive that people come up to me in the airport and say, ‘I’m obsessed with the Shine Enhancing Detangler,’ or one of the other products. I love my daily routine because now my hair reminds me of what it used to look like. My daughter’s roommate at college even ‘steals’ her Commence products. I’m like, ‘We’re not marketing to you guys!’ But it really is just that good.”


It’s apparent Brooke carries deep gratitude for the many ways her career has shaped her life, and a mission to give back serves as the guiding light for everything she does. In the process, she says she’s discovered an unexpected confidence that’s blossoming and opening doors to opportunities she never imagined.


“Commence, I think, reflects fifty plus years of living in the public eye, but then saying, ‘I actually don’t think that you know better than I do,’” Brooke adds. “This is such a source of confidence for me now, and it’s one that I never had in my abilities, my talent, or my looks. Now I watch myself in this new role, and it’s even making my acting better, because I’m not insecure in the same way I used to be my whole life. It just stems from being in this environment, which is so foreign to me—talking to VCs about cap tables, addressable markets, and margins—things that sound like grief to me, but I’ve learned them. Now I can walk into a room and be even more formidable, and I think that has greatly helped me with my life. There’s so much more ahead; this is only the beginning!”


Explore Commence at www.shopcommence.com.

BROOKE’S VANITY FAVORITE


2-IN-1 INSTANT DRY SHAMPOO


Because who over the age of forty wants to hear the word dry? This award-winning bestseller is lightweight, multitasking, and refreshes hair and scalp instantly. It’s boosted with quaternized hyaluronic acid to moisturize dry spots while delivering a clean, lifted, and voluminous finish.


“I put this instant shampoo in my hair every single night; I’ve never used a product more consistently in my life. I buy all my products myself...I’m my own customer, and that’s how you know it works.”

INSIDE THE MIND OF GENE S. JONES

By Colleen Richmond • July 16, 2025
The Art of a Life Well Lived

AMERICAN MONA LISA

By Georgette Gouveia • July 16, 2025
When John Singer Sargent unveiled Madame X at the 1884 Paris Salon, the reaction was swift and scandalous. Think red carpet wardrobe malfunction meets art world takedown—only this time, it was a jeweled strap that slipped and a reputation that shattered. “It may be the best thing I’ve done,” Sargent mused when he finally sold the portrait to The Met in 1916—just months after Madame X herself passed away. Visit The Met in Manhattan today and you’ll find the oil on canvas beckoning at the culmination of the museum’s “Sargent and Paris” exhibit. There she stands, gazing out over her ski nose and left shoulder, right arm resting on a table, her slim figure torqued in a velvet bodice with a sweetheart neckline and jeweled straps over a bell-shaped satin skirt. Her pale skin glows against the dark fabric, her left hand clutching a fan, a diamond crescent in her upswept hair. Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) has been many things to many people. As a symbol of chutzpah, failure, perseverance, and reinvention, it mirrors the country that claimed both subject and artist. Quite simply, it is America’s Mona Lisa. Much of the drama behind Sargent and Gautreau’s grand mis-fire has already become art-world lore. The dazzlingly talented, well-traveled Sargent arrived in Paris at 18 to study under portrait maestro Carolus-Duran and train at the École des Beaux-Arts—just in time to befriend Claude Monet and brush shoulders with the early Impressionists. But Sargent wasn’t chasing avant-garde fame. He wanted prestige and commissions, and for that, the Salon was king. What he needed was a muse—a showstopper to launch him into the stratosphere. “It was less a portrait and more a provocation, and society pounced.” Enter Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau —a woman seemingly plucked from the pages of an Edith Wharton novel. Born in New Orleans and raised in Paris after family tragedy, she married a wealthy banker 21 years her senior at just 19. But Amélie—always the main character—soon carved out her own identity in high society. With a flair for fashion, ghostly pale skin (thank you, arsenic-laced cosmetics), and a swirl of whispered affairs, she became a living ornament of the Belle Époque . Sargent was, frankly, thirsty. “I am a man of prodigious talent,” he boasted to a friend, hoping word would reach Gautreau. Basically: Have canvas, will flatter. Gautreau, though—bored by the reality of sitting for a portrait when she was busy with her daughter, mother, staff and social calendar—proved an elusive subject. Still, both persisted. She believed it would be a masterpiece. She wasn’t wrong. Just early. The crowds came to gawk—and gasp. That infamous fallen strap practically screamed, Oops, did I do that? It was less a portrait and more a provocation, and society pounced. Gautreau’s pallor and pose sparked outrage. Her mother wept. Gautreau begged Sargent to remove the painting. He refused. He did, however, repaint the offending strap into a more respectable position. But as Valerie Steele of FIT reminds us, the strap wasn’t doing the heavy lifting—literally. The dress’s sculpted bodice did all the work. The fallen strap? Pure stagecraft. The real scandal was structural: a gown so daringly engineered it made undergarments obsolete. Gautreau wasn’t your textbook beauty. Today’s red carpet queens—Blanchett, Theron, Henson—have recreated the look with more symmetry, more sparkle. Even Nicole Kidman struck the pose for Vogue. But none matched Madame X’s eerie allure or that thrilling sense of poised defiance. She wasn’t just dressed to kill—she knew exactly the room she was walking into. Sargent, bruised but unbowed, decamped to London the following year, where he became one of the most sought-after portraitists of his time. Gautreau? She kept posing, kept dazzling, and let the critics tire themselves out. Sargent may have idealized her, but he captured something deeper: Gautreau’s brazen delight in breaking the rules. That sideways glance? It’s not demure. It’s defiant. A century later, Madame X still whispers, Let them talk.

From Nantucket Harborside to Aspen Mountain Hideaway

July 15, 2025
From the salt-tinged air of Nantucket to the crisp alpine breezes of Aspen, White Elephant has long mastered the art of storytelling through space. Now, in a move as deliberate as it is daring, the beloved New England brand is trading in its coastal breezes for mountain majesty, debuting White Elephant Aspen in late fall 2025. For those who know the original, the essence is unmistakable. Born on the harborfront in Nantucket, White Elephant carved out its reputation with breezy elegance, soft coastal hues, and a certain wink of whimsy—think brass elephant knockers and rattan textures that felt both playful and refined. That heritage isn’t lost in Aspen. If anything, it’s reimagined. The new mountain retreat, designed by EMBARC, is a love letter to its past while boldly stepping into the future. The 54-room boutique hotel, nestled in Aspen’s West End, reflects a design ethos that is more curated than thematic. Imagine Roman clay walls washed in soft ivory tones, oil-rubbed bronze fixtures, leather headboards in shades of charcoal and forest green, and furniture that effortlessly bridges coastal charm and alpine cool. It’s the kind of place where a Nantucket soul might feel entirely at ease after a day on Ajax. Walk into the lobby—framed in curved glass and glowing like a lantern on Main Street—and the details begin to whisper their stories. Elephant trunk-inspired reception desks hint at the brand’s storied past, while hand-painted lampshades and custom ceramic pieces lend texture and depth. Every corner is imbued with quiet intention. Rooms vary from intimate retreats with mountain views to a showstopping 1,660-square-foot penthouse, complete with three bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a sprawling balcony made for star-gazing or après-ski prosecco. It’s luxury without the ego: unfussy, generous, and rooted in the idea of living well. Cultural cachet comes naturally here. More than 125 original artworks will grace the property, including rotating photography of the Maroon Bells and works from artists like Alex Katz and Orit Fuchs. White Elephant Aspen is also partnering with the Anderson Ranch Arts Center to offer gallery talks, installations, and family-friendly programming that position the hotel as a cultural fixture, not just a high-end lodge. Dining will take cues from the sea with Lola 41, the brand’s signature sushi and seafood restaurant, lending a saltwater note to this mountain story. It’s a cheeky nod to the hotel’s island origins—and exactly the kind of coastal-meets-crimson-pines twist that makes the White Elephant ethos so unforgettable. For those seeking a more permanent pied-à-terre in Aspen, three private chalet residences are in development next door. Each boasts over 5,000 square feet of thoughtfully designed living space and full access to the hotel’s concierge-style services, pool, outdoor hot tubs, ski lockers, and even courtesy cars. The chalets—like the hotel—are more than homes; they’re heirlooms in the making. White Elephant Aspen doesn’t just bring luxury to the mountains. It brings legacy, with a lightness of touch that feels distinctly Vivant—a destination not trying to impress, but designed to be remembered.
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