Tom Ford named Haider Ackermann as its creative director on 4 September 2024, with immediate effect. He takes creative charge of every Tom Ford fashion category, including menswear, womenswear, accessories and eyewear, and will show his first collection at Paris Fashion Week in March 2025.
The appointment came less than two months after the label announced the departure of Peter Hawkings in July 2024. Hawkings had worked with the brand in various roles since 2006, and his exit left the house without a creative lead just as its fashion business was settling under new ownership.
Ackermann, a Frenchman of Colombian origin, graduated from the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts and ran his own ready-to-wear label from 2003 until he suspended it in 2020. He was creative director of the Paris menswear house Berluti from 2016 to 2018, and has since worked with Maison Ullens, Fila and Jean Paul Gaultier. In May 2024 he was named the first creative director of Canada Goose.
“I could not be more excited to see what he will do with the brand.”
Tom Ford, quoted by FashionNetwork.com
Who owns what at Tom Ford
Tom Ford was founded in 2005. The Estée Lauder Companies, its beauty licensee since 2006, agreed to buy the brand for $2.3 billion at the end of 2022, and the deal was completed in 2023. The fashion business is licensed to the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, which had held the Tom Ford menswear license since 2006 and saw that license widened after the sale to cover all Tom Ford fashion, accessories, underwear, fine jewelry, childrenswear, textiles and home design. Eyewear is licensed to Marcolin.
Ackermann is based in Paris. He reports to Guillaume Jesel, Tom Ford's president and chief executive, and to Lelio Gavazza, chief executive of Tom Ford Fashion at the Zegna Group. In July 2024 Zegna reported that Tom Ford revenue rose 4.7% to $167 million in the first half of the year.
Under the Zegna arrangement, Tom Ford clothing is produced inside an Italian group with long experience of making suits, while the creative direction now sits with a single designer whose record includes two years at the head of a Paris menswear house. Ackermann's remit covers the full range, from suits and outerwear to accessories, so the tailoring will be shaped by him directly.
For customers, nothing changes immediately. Existing collections remain in store, and the first Ackermann pieces will not arrive until after the March 2025 show. Guillaume Jesel described him in the company's announcement as one of the most visionary talents in fashion and the ideal steward for the brand's future.
For customers, nothing changes immediately: existing collections remain in store, and the first Ackermann pieces will not arrive until after the March 2025 show. Guillaume Jesel described him in the company's announcement as the ideal steward to take the brand into its next chapter.
The appointment is one of several moves by the Zegna Group to build up the Tom Ford fashion business since its license was widened. Ackermann's debut, scheduled for Paris in March 2025, will be the first chance for buyers and customers to see how he handles the label's suits and evening wear.
