Tom Ford

Tom Ford was born in Austin, Texas, in 1961. He studied interior architecture at Parsons in New York, worked as a fashion designer at Cathy Hardwick and Perry Ellis, then joined Gucci as Women's Wear Designer in 1990. He became Creative Director of Gucci in 1994 and then of Yves Saint Laurent after Gucci acquired YSL in 1999. He left both houses in 2004 amid a strategic dispute with Pinault-Printemps-Redoute ownership, and launched his own house — Tom Ford International — in 2005, beginning with eyewear, beauty, and fragrance. The fragrance line launched with Black Orchid that same year. In 2022, the Estée Lauder Companies acquired Tom Ford for 2.8 billion dollars — one of the largest beauty acquisitions of the modern era.

2005 — Black Orchid launches, the first Tom Ford fragrance. 2006 — the Private Blend collection launches, beginning with twelve scents including Tobacco Vanille, Oud Wood, Tuscan Leather, Tobacco Oud, and Champaca Absolute. 2007 — Tom Ford for Men, the brand's first mainstream masculine. 2014 — Soleil Blanc, Soleil Neige, and the rest of the Soleil sub-collection. 2018 — Lost Cherry launches, becoming one of the most TikTok-viral fragrances of the decade. 2020 — Rose Prick, Bitter Peach. 2022 — Estée Lauder Companies acquires Tom Ford. 2023 — Vanille Fatale, Cherry Smoke, and the continued expansion of the Private Blend cherry-and-leather sub-family.