NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 06: Tom Ford attends the 2024 Costume Institute Awards Gala for “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
They say you can’t buy style. Therefore, when a wealthy individual has discerning taste, we are always keen to know where they spend their wealth.
For new billionaire Tom Ford, the fashion designer has put his money where his mouth is by snapping up a residence in London’s Chelsea district for a staggering A$150 million, the most expensive home purchase in the UK this year.
In fact, the 63-year-old reportedly bought the property “located in a neighborhood known for its stucco-facade mansions” earlier this year, according to “people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss the deal,” Business reported. Fashion reports.
With colleague Victoria Beckham nearby in upscale Holland Park and Harry Styles, wearing Tom Ford Beauty Tobacco Vanille, a stone’s throw away on Hampstead Heath, the area’s street style capital has increased tenfold. One can only imagine the fashions at local neighborhood watch meetings.
Streets of Royal Kensington and Chelsea in London. Credit: Getty
The investment was Ford’s first big-ticket product since selling his company two years ago. As you may recall, the former creative director of Gucci sold his eponymous brand to Estée Lauder Cos. for more than A$4 million. The beauty conglomerate has been manufacturing, marketing and selling Ford-themed cosmetics and fragrances in a licensing arrangement since 2006, with BoF also admitting that the sale had become crucial for the giant as Tom Ford Beauty was one of its “most lucrative businesses”. .
As for the fashion division, BoF reported at the time of the sale that: “The Ermenegildo Zegna Group has entered into a long-term agreement with Estée Lauder that will see it continue to manufacture and sell the brand’s menswear, as well as women’s fashion, accessories and lingerie. For the first time.”
Ford remains the company’s “creative visionary” until the end of 2023. Peter Hocking, Ford’s protégé and right-hand man who has worked at the company since its inception in 2005, was initially named as his successor before stepping down in 2024 after less than a year at the helm and a season one. Haider Ackermann took over the mantle in his place.
But for Ford, this “revolving door,” as fashion commentators have called the constant rotation of creative directors, is nothing more than chatter now that he has stepped back from the industry. Maybe he could invite Dries Van Noten to his new platform and swap stories…
