Haider Ackermann Is Tom Ford’s New Creative Director
The American luxury fashion house appoints French designer Haider Ackermann as their newest creative director.
Following the departure of Peter Hawkings, who left the helm of the brand after just one year, Haider Ackermann has been appointed as the new creative director of Tom Ford.
In initial statements after being named creative director, Ackermann expressed his gratitude and respect for the brand's legacy.
"It is with immense pride that I will seek to honor the legacy of Tom Ford, a man I have always admired and for whom I have the utmost respect," Ackermann said.
Who is Haider Ackermann?
Haider Ackermann, born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1971 was adopted by a French family. He grew up between Ethiopia, Chad, Algeria, and, finally, France, before moving to the Netherlands during his adolescence. In 1994, he moved to Belgium to study fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, from which he was expelled in 1997.
After an internship with John Galliano, Ackermann worked as an assistant for Belgian designer Wim Neels and other brands such as Bernhard Willhelm and Patrick Van Ommeslaeghe, before becoming a designer for Mayerline.
If in 2009 Ackermann was among the candidates to succeed Galliano at Dior and Martin Margiela at his eponymous fashion house — as revealed by Susannah Frankel in 2012 on the pages of the Independent —, a year later, in 2010 Karl Lagerfeld described him as his ideal successor at the helm of Chanel in a famous interview given to Vogue by the Kaiser of fashion.
In 2013, Ackermann launched a menswear collection, and in 2016 collaborated with Berluti as creative director introducing a more fluid and feminine aesthetic in his designs. In 2024 he was appointed creative director of Canada Goose, and now Tom Ford.
When will Ackermann's first show be with Tom Ford?
In his role as creative director, Haider Ackermann will report to both Guillaume Jesel, president and CEO of Tom Ford and luxury business development at Estée Lauder, and Lelio Gavazza, head of Tom Ford Fashion at the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, which is the licensee of the brand.
Ackermann will be based in Paris and will debut the ready-to-wear collection in the French capital next March, during Paris Fashion Week.
