This morning, Tom Ford’s parent company, Estée Lauder, announced that current creative director Peter Hawkings will be leaving the brand. Hawkings took over the reins last year after more than 20 years as Tom Ford’s right-hand man. While a successor has yet to be announced, the brand is set to present its Spring 2025 collection at its Milan showroom this September.
During his tenure as creative director, Hawkings presented two ready-to-wear collections: the first paid homage to Gucci’s founder and the radical, ultra-sexy vision he created at the house in the 1990s, while the second included classic navy peacoats with gold buttons, slinky sequined dresses, and of course Ford’s signature tailored, figure-hugging suiting.
Hawkings worked for Tom Ford for more than 20 years. In 2006, he became senior vice president of the brand’s menswear collections and helped grow the business into the mega success it is today. Ford decided to retire last year and sold his eponymous brand to the Estée Lauder Companies. Italian luxury house Zegna has also licensed the brand’s fashion business. Zegna is widely reported to be looking to boost sales of women’s clothing, which have historically lagged behind Ford’s hugely profitable fragrance, beauty and eyewear collections.
Whoever takes on this role will need to be strategic about the overall vision of the brand and focus on developing a new line of It bags that will help drive the women’s collection forward. The luxury market is currently in a bit of a crisis with rising prices, market uncertainty, and vacant (or soon to be vacant) seats at some of the major fashion houses such as Chanel and Givenchy. The jockeying over who will sit where and when has been intensifying for the last six months or so, and with this latest news from Tom Ford, the stakes have been raised even higher and more names added to the rumor mill. It’s tough for designers right now, but we shouldn’t forget that Hawkings put in so much work to build one of the most iconic fashion brands of all time. Cheers to him and his next endeavor, and best of luck to everyone currently taking the whirlwind as fashion creative director.
Brooke Bobb is the Fashion News Director at Harper’s Bazaar, covering both print and digital publications. Previously, she was Senior Content Editor at Amazon Fashion and worked as a Senior Fashion News Writer at Vogue Runway.
