Spice Girl Geri Halliwell the Latest in a Long Line of Pop Stars' Lifestyle Brands

Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell just revealed her lingerie collection for Next in the UK. Available in spring 2012, Halliwell made no bones about her goal: "Basically, my aim was to make boobs look bigger and bums smaller."

Halliwell is just the latest pop star who has discovered that licensing her brand for a consumer line is far more lucrative than making music. From Kylie Minogue to Jessica Simpson to Jennifer Lopez to Gwen Stefani to Lady Gaga, pop stars and brand licensers are making beautiful, profitable music together.

At 43, Kylie Minogue is a marketing juggernaut. In just the past few years, the star has cashed in to appear in adverts for Agent Provocateur, Ford Ka, H&M, Eurostar, Dolce & Gabbana, Lexus, VW, and Pepsi.

But the pop princess has also extended her brand beyond endorsements. Minogue already has her own "Love Kylie" line of lingerie. And, indeed, who doesn't want to get into Kylie's bed? Or at least her Kylie Minogue At Home bedding line.

In what seems long overdue, Lady Gaga is finally going to follow in the footsteps of Gwen Stefani (L.A.M.B.) and Beyonce (House of Dereon) and launch her own clothing line. (As an aside, Lady Gaga just launched a battle to protect her brand against a "Lady Gogo" Moshi Monster avatar.)

And while some of these extensions fight for good reception (e.g., Jennifer Lopez's), others sell like gangbusters. A much-repeated, though nonetheless fantastic, statistic is that Jessica Simpson's line is approaching $1 billion in sales per year. One billion.

Launched in 2005, Simpson's line now consists of 22 categories and continues to grow, even as the singer herself has shrunk from her former high profile. As fashion industry analyst Catherine Moellering recently told the Daily Herald, "With Jessica Simpson, her association with the brand is not a good thing or a bad thing. At this point most consumers are buying it because it's actually really good. Her sales of near a billion dollars are so disproportionate to where her fame is.
 
And that's untimely what we all want right, to be able to retire and coast on our good name?