The American fashion designer Tom Ford is retiring from the eponymous brand he co-founded in 2005, after its sale to Estée Lauder last November.
Ford’s longtime associate Peter Hawkings will succeed him as creative director, while Guillaume Jesel becomes chief executive and president, taking over from Domenico de Sole, the brand’s other co-founder.
The news follows the beauty conglomerate’s agreement in 2022 to buy Tom Ford for $2.8bn (£2.2bn).
The company includes a lucrative beauty line, a successful fashion line and an eyewear business through a licensing agreement with the Italian group Marcolin.
Estée Lauder will handle Tom Ford’s cosmetics and fragrance businesses, while the Italian menswear group Ermenegildo Zegna has acquired a 30-year licensing deal. This allows the Zegna Group to use the Tom Ford brand and trademark, and it is now responsible for all men’s and women’s fashion, as well as accessories and underwear. Marcolin will continue making the eyewear.
At the time of the announcement of the acquisition, Estée Lauder released a statement explaining that Ford would remain as the brand’s “creative visionary” until the end of 2023. However, in a surprise move this week, Ford released a “final collection” featuring 90s supermodels, including Amber Valletta, wearing archive designs from the past 13 years.
Before launching his own label, Ford, 61, held posts at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.
Hawkings first began his career under him at Gucci in 1998. He joined the Tom Ford brand in 2006 and most recently held the role of senior vice-president of menswear. “In Peter Hawkings the brand has found the perfect creative director,” Ford said in a statement.
A separate statement announced that Ford was pivoting to the film industry via his production company, Fade to Black. He previously wrote, produced and directed the widely acclaimed A Single Man starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore in 2009, and Nocturnal Animals starring Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal in 2016.
Born in Texas, Ford studied architecture in New York. His first fashion job was at the American sportswear brand Cathy Hardwick.
He joined Gucci in 1990, rising quickly through the ranks before being named as creative director in 1994. He is widely credited with saving the Italian brand from bankruptcy, transforming it into a coveted symbol of sex and glamour. His 1995 collection featuring velvet suiting and satin shirts was an instant hit.
While his provocative approach was often controversial, with a 2003 advertising campaign featuring a model with pubic hair shaved in the shape of Gucci’s logo nearly banned in the UK, Ford propelled Gucci into becoming an era-defining label.
He left in 2004 to start his own brand, telling Women’s Wear Daily at the time “it was about control”.
