The Glossy 50 honors the year’s biggest changemakers across fashion and beauty. More from the series →
Beauty is an intergenerational affair for designer Sam Sonntag. Growing up Mormon in Utah, where his great-grandmother owned a beauty store, he was immersed in the beauty rituals of the women in his family. “Beauty spaces have always been really sacred to us,” he said. “When we’re getting ready to go to dinner, it’s a big event. We have these photos that are sort of like those unintentional Renaissance photos, of my whole family in my mom’s bathroom.”
You may not know Sonntag’s name, but you’ve seen his work splashed all over your social feeds: Sonntag is the designer behind Rhode’s blockbuster phone case and lip gloss holder. When the phone case launched in February, it quickly sold out and inspired a 200,000-person waitlist, not to mention countless dupes. It’s now a staple of Rhode’s offerings, with new colors launched to match the brand’s popular lip glosses. The phone case has acted as both a practical accessory and an ingenious use of branding, with owners flashing their case and accompanying lip gloss to the world in countless mirror selfies.
Products like the phone case are exemplary of Sonntag’s understanding of just how integrated beauty rituals are in people’s daily lives. After studying design at Brigham Young University, he moved to New York City to intern at Mac. He joined Glossier in 2017, just as the brand was launching its seminal You fragrance. As the eventual brand design lead for Glossier, Sonntag experienced firsthand just how much consumers crave an immersive beauty experience — and the power of good merch, like Glossier’s popular stickers and sweatshirts, to create that experience.
“There’s something inherent about beauty that has to do with your identity and your values and who you choose to present yourself to the world as,” he said. “The beauty space is vast, and you really can choose what’s your flavor and who you resonate with, especially on social media.”
In his next phase, Sonntag will join Ariana Grande’s R.E.M. Beauty as senior creative director. But even as his work reaches new heights, Sonntag is ensuring he remains connected to the needs of the people on the ground — those beauty obsessives whose buying power makes them the real hitmakers of the industry.
“Invest in your creatives,” he said of his advice for beauty leaders. “Get a subreddit, listen to people’s comments, really put your ear to the ground and hear what you don’t really want to hear, and then be comfortable with that. Because it’s always good feedback.”
