Man About Town: Tom Ford Picks Up $150 Million Mansion In London

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 06: Tom Ford attends the 2024 Costume Institute Benefit 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)

It’s said you can’t buy style. So, when a member of the ultra-rich is a discernible tastemaker, we’re always eager to see where they spend their fortunes.

For newly-minted billionaire Tom Ford, the fashion designer put his money where his mouth is by picking up an abode in London’s Chelsea borough for an eye-watering AUD $150 million—the UK’s most expensive home deal this year.

Indeed, the 63-year-old reportedly purchased the property “nestled in a neighbourhood famous for its stucco-fronted mansions” earlier this year, according to “people familiar with the matter who weren’t authorised to discuss the transaction,” as Business of Fashion reports.

With fellow savant Victoria Beckham nearby in the ritzy Holland Park and Harry Styles, who wears Tom Ford Beauty’s Tobacco Vanille fragrance, a stone’s throw in Hampstead Heath, the street style capital of the area has increased tenfold. One can only imagine the fashions at their local neighbourhood watch meetings.

The streets of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. Credit: Getty

This investment has been Ford’s first big-ticket item since selling his company two years ago. As you may recall, the former Gucci creative director sold his eponymous label to Estée Lauder Cos. at a valuation upwards of AUD $4 million. The beauty conglomerate has been manufacturing, marketing and selling Ford’s self-titled cosmetics and fragrance line in a licensing arrangement since 2006, with BoF also acknowledging that the sale became 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: “Ermenegildo Zegna Group has forged a long-term agreement with Estée Lauder that will see it continue to make and sell the brand’s menswear, plus women’s fashion, accessories and underwear for the first time.”

Ford remained the business’ “creative visionary” until the end of 2023. Peter Hawkings, Ford’s protégé and right-hand man who worked at the company since its inception in 2005, was initially appointed as his successor before stepping down in 2024 after less than a year at the helm and one season. Haider Ackermann has picked up the mantle in his place.

But for Ford, this ‘revolving door’, as fashion commentators have called the constant rotation of creative directors, is nothing but chatter now that he’s stepped back from the industry. Perhaps he can invite Dries Van Noten over to his new pad and exchange stories…