Since its debut in 1953, Rouge Dior has maintained its position as a timeless symbol of elegance—an icon of colour, femininity, and couture beauty.
Worn by generations of women, it has continuously evolved while staying true to its essence: empowering lips with bold colour and confidence. Now, in 2025, the House of Dior turns the page with its most audacious chapter yet.
Rouge Dior On Stage is a modern reinvention, shaped by the vision of Peter Philips, Creative and Image Director for Dior Makeup. This latest evolution pushes the boundaries of performance and design, offering two new finishes—coated shine and blurring matte—that deliver lasting impact and exceptional comfort. The shine shades will be launched this month, while the matte finishes are set to arrive early next year.
Since joining Dior in 2014, Peter Philips has redefined the brand’s creative identity across runway and beauty, bringing a bold yet refined sensibility to every product. Known for marrying technical innovation with artistic expression, Philips has played a pivotal role in developing Rouge Dior On Stage from concept to final creation. From pioneering the dual-phase formula to rethinking the packaging and silhouette, every detail of this lipstick reflects his forward-thinking approach and deep understanding of how beauty should feel, function, and inspire.
As Rouge Dior On Stage takes its place in the spotlight, Peter Philips shares the story behind its creation, the innovation that powers it, and how this new lipstick marks a bold step forward in the Rouge Dior legacy.
Tell us about Rouge Dior On Stage and why the name “On Stage”?
Rouge Dior On Stage is the next generation of the product. We wanted to create the most beautiful shine and the most beautiful matte textures in a new version with new packaging, more elegant, sleeker, to give Rouge Dior an edgy sister. “On stage” could represent a photoshoot, a catwalk, a dinner or any moment where you are in the spotlight and the star of your world.
How does it differ from the previous product?
Rouge Dior is our pillar product. It’s timeless, iconic. It has a great formula and finishes. It has been around for a long time and has been evolving and growing. We have made several adaptations, including a liquid version and a sparkling version, and we have created many variations on the packaging, and it has always been somewhat of a family affair. This product is a new addition to our family, and we wanted to take it a step further, giving it a new twist.
What was a significant change you made in the formula?
Rouge Dior is a classic lipstick in a traditional format, featuring a solid stick. The new product is in a guided stick, which means we could create a formula that is less solid. It gave us the opportunity to work more freely and create a formula that is almost a liquid because it is kept in a tube. That’s where the opportunity arose to create different formulas and versions that are more long-lasting and non-transferable, because you’re not only looking for ingredients that keep your lipstick in place. We went in two directions with both matte and a shine version.
How was technology used to help with the development of this product?
We focus on finding a balance of caring ingredients without compromising the beautiful results of the makeup. Ensuring that when we have a claim, it is justified, and that the formula is optimized to its best potential. For example, if we claim a matte lipstick is non-transferable, it must be non-transferable. We use what’s called Two-Face technology to do this. It’s a very thin film that you apply to the product, it sets on your lip and then, after a minute, you see the blurring effect. The shine has the same principle. You apply the product, it sets, and then the shine appears. And that’s very technical to achieve. We have worked with a formula that’s fluid, almost like a liquid, it’s very smooth. And when it sets, the pigments place themselves in a way that gives that required effect, whether that’s matte or shine.
How many shades are we expecting of this product?
We have ten shades for each finish. The packaging also reflects each version – so shiny for the shiny version, matte for the matte. It’s a timeless range of shades with a spectacular result. We have beautiful nudes and berry tones.
What can we expect from Dior Makeup for Fall/Winter 2025?
The Fall/Winter collection is very rich in colour and diversity. We are launching a collection featuring three themed palettes, each accompanied by matching products. It’s a celebration of Miss Dior with customised packaging to put the shadow palettes in. We have a special edition cushion foundation and palettes in various tones that complement all skin tones, featuring a range of shades that allow for different variations. It’s very bold, quite colourful, but very stylish and chic.
When you are developing the colours, how do you arrive at the final selections?
We test on a huge diversity of types of skin – age, skin tone, texture, volume – and for this product, the starting point was the formula – we wanted results. And then once we decided that was a laboratory success, we looked at the shades. We tested on different skin tones and skin of various ages, as you need to see how products sit on more mature skin and younger skin. We didn’t want to make it too complicated, so we decided on ten shades and two finishes so that any woman can find something that suits her.
Where is lip liner today within a woman’s makeup routine? Do you think there is less need for that product, given that lipsticks are becoming more precise?
Lip liner is very much present now, but not as a tool to help you draw your liner, more as a makeup statement. There are numerous ways to apply lip makeup now, including using a visible lip liner as a contour, to create volume, add plumpness, and achieve a desired finish. The classic approach to lip liner, for example, was to use a tone-on-tone technique, so the colour of the liner perfectly matches your lipstick. Now, a bit like in the nineties, there is a trend of outlining or overlining the lips, but in a lighter or darker shade, so you can see the outline. Lip liner is not dead at all; it’s actually having a revival, but not only in the context of pure lip liner as a tool to help you draw a perfect lip.
What else is in the pipeline?
We are working on upcoming collections, including the Backstage line, with several new launches on the horizon. This is really exciting. We are focusing on the younger generation. This generation knows so much about makeup that they don’t need an expert palette because they are experts themselves, so we have created something that’s a bit more playful in terms of textures and products. They are really beautiful products. The lip glow butter, for example, is a lip balm in a tube with a buttery texture. It’s fantastic. And we have reformulated Rosy Glow powder; the packaging is now square, and we made it even easier to apply.
