Despite walking away from the fashion industry with a final collection that was released with little fanfare last year, Tom Ford is still getting showered with accolades for his trailblazing career.
The 63-year-old style superstar and film director is set to receive the Outstanding Achievement Award at this year’s Fashion Awards in London.
The honor will pay tribute to Ford’s “exceptional contribution to fashion, film and culture,” per the British Fashion Council which is behind the December 2nd award ceremony.
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“During my 35 years in the fashion world, I have focused on creativity and the love of beauty and style. Fashion and film are both collaborative efforts,” Ford said in a statement. “One has to have a vision and then communicate that vision to a team of talented people, and I would like to acknowledge all of those people who have supported me along the way.”
From Gucci to Tom Ford to… Instagram?
Ford spent over three decades behind some of the most iconic labels before his unceremonious departure last year.
After serving as creative director of both YSL and Gucci, the fashion mogul launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005. Over the next 17 years, the Tom Ford label became synonymous as the ultimate in menswear, womenswear, beauty, eyewear and accessories.
In 2022, he sold his namesake brand to to Estée Lauder for a whopping $2.8 billion, but remained its creative director.
However, that all came to a screeching halt following his abrupt exit with the debut of his final collection in April 2023.
While you would think his runway swan song would come with some sort of pomp and circumstance, the fashion bombshell news was released into the world by simply uploading photos and clips of the collection–which featured reissues of some of his favorite looks over the years–to Instagram and YouTube.
Film and family man
While the Tom Ford brand lives on, Tom Ford the designer has nothing to do with it any longer. Currently, Haider Ackermann is the brand’s creative director.
Ford’s break from fashion appears to have also refocused his film endeavors.
After previously writing, producing and directing A Single Man in 2009 and Nocturnal Animals in 2016, Ford is currently working on a couple of projects that he hopes to turn into films, including adapting one of Anne Rice’s books.
“As a director, it takes three years to make a movie. I have maybe time for five more movies in my life,” Ford said last year. “So they have to be meaningful.”
Ford has also racked up quite the real estate portfolio while raising his 13-year-old son, Jack. Ford and his late husband Richard Buckley welcomed Jack via a gestational surrogate in 2012. Buckley passed away in 2021 at the age of 72.
In 2022, he dropped $51 million on a sprawling Palm Beach, Florida estate, which has since become his main residence.
The Florida property, which features a massive home with over 10,000 square feet of living space, rectangular pool, and a 2-bedroom guest house, happens to be located about a mile up the road from the MAGA compound of the disgraced ex-president.
But then he set his sights on an equally-lavish blue state property.
Earlier this year, Ford purchased Lasata, the former East Hampton, New York home of Jackie Kennedy, for a whopping $52 million. The 8,500 square-foot mansion features 10 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms and sits on nearly 7 acres of lush green property.
Ford also owns residences in Aspen, Los Angeles, and NYC.
Time will tell if Ford being honored at the Fashion Awards in December will push the dapper designer to once again re-enter the fashion industry.
In the meantime, you can see him doling out some of his style expertise in the Hulu docu-series In Vogue: The 90s.
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abfab
Anyone else think that Melania should have recieved this award?
abfab
“Generations of Americans did not toil and sacrifice to build a country where children and their parents are placed in cages to advance a cynical political agenda.”
RIP Ethel Kennedy