Tom Ford for Estee Lauder

[Acid]

i think he failed to realise that you cant just bring out a fragrance because you like a name you came up with, it has to be more than that, much much more

 

[lady grey]

thats for lady grey.. seems the rift is not really such a big deal

this is for YOU Lena,....

April 11, 2005 -- Estee Lauder's attempts to woo Tom Ford have opened a split in the Lauder family over how best to revitalize the flagship brand, The Post has learned.


Leonard Lauder — the chairman, former chief executive and son of the company's founder — has opposed a plan championed by other family members that calls for Ford to help turn around the ailing Estee Lauder brand, raising the possibility that the deal could fall apart, sources said.

On the other side of the debate is Aerin Lauder, a granddaughter of the company's founder, who has joined with John Demsey, the Estee Lauder global brand president, in wooing the designer, best known for revitalizing the Gucci Group.

The impasse has given rise to a plan B — producing a new line of products under the Tom Ford name. But here, too, disagreements have erupted over who would own the rights to the line.

Ford has been much in demand since he left Gucci last year, and is likely to capitalize on his star power by driving a hard bargain. Sources said he is demanding more than $10 million over five years, a price Estee Lauder considers steep. A spokeswoman for Estee Lauder declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Ford did not respond to an e-mail.

The discord exposes an important difference between two Lauder factions — those who are loath to give too much control to outsiders and those who want to infuse the company with fresh talent.

Despite the death last April of company founder Estee Lauder at the age of 97, the Lauder family retains tight control of the cosmetics giant, owning roughly 45 percent of the common stock and 88 percent of the voting shares. William Lauder, Estee's grandson, was named chief executive in July. And various other Lauders hold key positions at the company, including Aerin, who handles advertising for the Estee Lauder brand.



The Lauders have been known to closely manage every facet of the company, sometimes with unfortunate results. When Estee Lauder in 1997 bought jane, a brand of cosmetics that it hoped would be an entrée into discount stores, Leonard personally oversaw sales of the product, despite having little experience with mass merchants, a source said. Clad in $3,500 Brioni suits, Leonard would hop on his Gulfstream jet and fly to Bentonville, Ark., where he would meet with Wal-Mart's cosmetics buyer, this person said.

"He didn't trust anyone else to handle the business, and that's one reason it failed," this person continued.

Estee Lauder has since sold jane.

Given that history, Estee Lauder's willingness to go outside its ranks for something as delicate as the flagship brand is a sign of the troubles the company is facing, analysts said.

Though exact figures were not available, one analyst estimated that sales of the Estee Lauder brand, which now totals $1.7 billion, have been on the decline for the past two years, as newer lines from makeup artists and dermatologists have gained market share.

Estee Lauder has in recent years diversified by developing new brands — including Mac Cosmetics, Bobbi Brown and Jo MaLone — but the Estee Lauder line still accounts for about 35 percent of the company's overall sales, which totaled $5.8 billion last year.

Joining forces with the charismatic and talented Ford would seem like a smart move for the cosmetics giant.

But as negotiations intensified, the deal attracted opposition from Leonard, who voiced concerns about bringing in an outsider, especially someone with the star power of Ford, who he feared would eclipse the Estee Lauder name, sources said. As such, one sticking point in the negotiations has been how to incorporate Ford's name on the Estee Lauder packaging, these people continued. Ford wanted top billing, and vetoed one suggestion put forth by the cosmetics company, "Estee Lauder by Tom Ford," these people said.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04112005/business/42501.htm

the above article is april 11, 2005. whats the date on YOURS?
thats for you, lena.

 

[kimair]

the wwd article is from april 12, 2005...i just finished reading it. and imo i would put more stock in the wwd article that something from the post...

tom and dom doing beauty should be interesting, but they did have 2 very successful fragrance launches, envy and nu...i'm sure they will collaborate with some top people on the beauty line...

 

[Lena]

lady grey, here some more extracts from the wwd article regarding the Ford/Lauder family supposed rift

Contrary to published reports, Ford was never in discussions to become creative director of Estée Lauder, sources pointed out. In fact, development of a stand-alone Ford line with Lauder was always the ultimate goal of negotiations. Also contrary to published reports, the prospective deal has stirred no rift within the Lauder family. One executive close to the Lauders noted that Leonard Lauder has given “an absolute 100 percent blessing” to the Ford deal and maintained that reports of a familial falling-out are fabricated, saying, “Leonard and William [Lauder’s ceo] are on the same wavelength.” William Lauder and John Demsey, the Estée Lauder division’s global brand president, were primarily responsible for putting the deal together after Leonard had an initial discussion with De Sole, his neighbor in Aspen.

As speculation has mounted in recent weeks, Ford and the Lauder organization have been silent on the deal. A knowledgeable source said that ”Tom Ford will be working directly with the Estée Lauder brand, but not as creative director….He will not be employed within the brand.” Instead, Ford’s subbrand of beauty products will be marketed parallel to the flagship brand.

 

[Mr-Dale]

I think that Ford will be pretty good for Estee Lauder and that Estee Lauder would be very good for Tom Ford. Because lets face it, Estee Lauder isn't very succesfull or popular as a fashion brand and Tom Ford isn't very succesfull or popular as a non-fashion brand. I think this is a good deal for both parties, cause I have full confidence Tom Ford would revise Estee Lauder very well.

 

[taz]

Really?
Despite their high quality all YSLBeauty's products launched under Tom Ford's control has failed (like his Rive Gauche ready to wear collections) :M7, KINGDOM, RIVE GAUCHE HOMME sales are pretty bad , NU is considered by many cosmetic professionals "a disaster" and the make-up line "INTENSE" is discontinued.
CINEMA sells well but it was just launched to forget NU and has nothing to do with Tom.

well you should visit basenotes.net community it is no.1 fragrance forum, nu, kingdom are popular among both sexes, rive qauche homme & M7 are the first choice for many guys there, M7 was voted as the best fragrance for last year and we -as the forum community- wore it in the day of the vote.

nu edt is the favirote of my wife & I am using the edp version since it is more masculian.
& m7 is a legend by itself, YSL beaute is moving well here in my place.

the summer version for YSL runned out by September last year

 

[taz]

I just forget to add that LINE INTENSE has just been expanded with new fluid eye shadows for this summer, so how it is discontiued?

but what I didn't like personally is the sophie dahl adv. for opium & his first Paris relaunch adv. they weren't YSL

 

[lady grey]

image

My personal opinion is Im interested in what Tom does, whomever he does it with/to.

is estee lauder the best match for him....? not sure.

TF takes some risks in offending conservative sensabilities; lauder usually tries to do the opposite.

If aerin is strongly behind tom, I like that: but Im uncertain as to how this will play out. we'll see.....

 

[Arturo21]

It would be a smart move to revitalize Estee Lauder by having Tom Ford be involved creatively. As of now, I see Estee Lauder is the ultimate Mid-America Housewife brand.

 

[nqth]

well you should visit basenotes.net community it is no.1 fragrance forum, nu, kingdom are popular among both sexes, rive qauche homme & M7 are the first choice for many guys there, M7 was voted as the best fragrance for last year and we -as the forum community- wore it in the day of the vote.

nu edt is the favirote of my wife & I am using the edp version since it is more masculian.
& m7 is a legend by itself, YSL beaute is moving well here in my place.

the summer version for YSL runned out by September last year

Yeah, M7 and Kingdom are very good scents, but they seem, like many good scents, donot sell very well. There were rumours about M7 being discontinued. I don't know if it is true:-)


I think I read somewhere (Vogue perhaps) that many people criticized Ford for not giving enough "time" for YSL Beauty, indeed.

 

[taz]

I saw him on tv yesterday on the BBC news, i like the way he speaks, his low voice. happy to see him back

I think that estee lauder & tom ford are will blind smoothly since they are part of the american heritage.

I mean he deals with gucci & ysl eouropian culture with an american twist.

do u remember that crit. on his approach is like trying to make L.A french.

 

[Diorling]

Yeah, M7 and Kingdom are very good scents, but they seem, like many good scents, donot sell very well. There were rumours about M7 being discontinued. I don't know if it is true:-)


I think I read somewhere (Vogue perhaps) that many people criticized Ford for not giving enough "time" for YSL Beauty, indeed.

Ive notcied that YSL tends to have very strong fragrances (maybe a French thing) because both Opium and M7 are just so strong. You have to really be careful, I overdosed and had to change my whole outfit cause I couldn't stand it. That could be one reason for the sales but Angel is strong but that sucker moves.

 

[haruki]

Tom Ford Joins With Estée Lauder for Beauty Line
By SUZY MENKES
International Herald Tribune

Published: April 12, 2005



PARIS, April 12 - One year after he left Gucci Group, Tom Ford has come back smelling of roses - or whatever fragrance the beauty giant Estée Lauder creates with the designer.

Mr. Ford and his alter ego Domenico De Sole, who brought the buzz and the bucks to Gucci in the 1990's, announced today that they have formed a new company to create a Tom Ford luxury brand, and that they have formed two strategic partnerships: a deal with Lauder to create beauty products and ultimately a fragrance; and an eyewear partnership with the Marcolin Group of Italy.

The Tom Ford company, of which Mr. Ford is chief executive and Mr. De Sole chairman, will roll out products over the next five years. But in an interview by phone from New York, Mr. Ford said it was premature to say that he was going back into fashion. He imagined a big beauty business by 2010 and a Tom Ford brand that would get back to the core of genuine luxury.

"But I am taking one step at a time and one of the reasons I am not starting women's ready-to-wear is that I am also very serious about my directing career," said Mr. Ford, 43, referring to his hopes for a Hollywood career.

Calling Mr. Ford "the most talented and successful designer in the history of fashion," Mr. De Sole said that together they planned to create "the first true luxury brand of the 21st century."

"We are in the process of working it out, but we do not intend to stop at fragrance and eyewear," Mr. De Sole said. A design studio is being established in London and an office in Los Angeles.

Mr. De Sole said that setting up the company required no outside financing or partnerships. He declined to reveal the amount of the investment.

"We are a great team - I have tremendous respect for Domenico as a business man, and as a person I admire and trust him implicitly," said Mr. Ford, who met Mr. De Sole in 1990 when he first joined the ailing Gucci. The pair, who built Gucci Group into a $2.4 billion company with a roster of brands, left in April 2004 after disagreements over strategy and compensation with its parent company, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, which is shortening its name to PPR.

No figures were disclosed in the Lauder deal. But John Demsey, president of Estée Lauder global brand products, called it "the first ever creative collaboration" with a designer as partner.

But first will come a "Tom Ford for Estée Lauder" range for the 2005 holiday season, expanded for the following spring. That will consist of limited edition beauty items, like lipsticks or powder compacts, given the streamlined Ford design treatment.

A stand-alone Tom Ford beauty brand will create a women's fragrance for autumn 2006, followed by a men's version.

This is not intended to be just one more celebrity fragrance, following Lauder's deal with Donald Trump or Coty's initiative with the soccer star David Beckham. Mr. Ford says he will be involved from the ground up, using his experience at Gucci, where the "Rush" fragrance was a best seller, although the designer was less successful at Yves Saint Laurent Parfums.

Although the Tom Ford brand is likely to be welcomed by retailers and fans, more skeptical members of the fashion business might ask why this startup should succeed when so many others have struggled to break even, and inquire whether Mr. Ford can really be both designer and cinéaste.

"I have quite a few directing projects and I plan to have two parallel careers," Mr. Ford said. "When you think that any musician or actor these days is trying to have a clothing brand, it does not seem so strange."

 

[Lena]

here comes the ...visual proof

from wwd of today

 

[lady grey]

good news, i think

tom is hawt. always.

I hope he can jazz up that saggy brand....

 

[Lena]

finding him extremely crossed eyed in this wwd cover shot

 

[botoxmolecula]

well you should visit basenotes.net community it is no.1 fragrance forum, nu, kingdom are popular among both sexes, rive qauche homme & M7 are the first choice for many guys there, M7 was voted as the best fragrance for last year and we -as the forum community- wore it in the day of the vote.

nu edt is the favirote of my wife & I am using the edp version since it is more masculian.
& m7 is a legend by itself, YSL beaute is moving well here in my place.

the summer version for YSL runned out by September last year

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against those fabulous fragrances. I myself wear NU but a fragrance needs more than the basenotes members's love to be successful and NU, KINGDOM, etc...are sadly unsuccessful .
Afterall, AQUA DI GIO for men is N°1 in the whole world and the entire basenotes community hates it.

Whatever expectations Estée Lauder has concerning Tom Ford, he is definitely a better choice than Donal Trump IMHO.

 

[newprincesita]

Here´s some pics of the launch:
http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/search/FrameSet.aspx?s=EventImagesSearchState|1|0|30|0|0|1|0|0|0|52619866|0|0|0|0|0||0|0|0|0&p=3

Aerin Lauder always looks like a million bucks!

 

[MTRLB]

Full Story from Estee Lauder Companies

Multi-Year Deal Will Create TOM FORD Beauty Business
NEW YORK, April 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Estée Lauder brand today announced a first-of-its-kind creative collaboration with world-renowned fashion designer Tom Ford. The alliance represents Mr. Ford's first announcement as a result of the formation of his new company, TOM FORD, and is the first major business initiative from newly-appointed Estée Lauder Global Brand President John Demsey. The alliance with Mr. Ford marks the first time that the Estée Lauder brand itself has partnered with an outside fashion designer.

The collaboration is a multi-year deal involving two phases. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

For the first phase, Mr. Ford will collaborate with the Estée Lauder brand in the creation of a TOM FORD for ESTEE LAUDER line to be sold at Estée Lauder counters. In this capacity, he will design a limited range of products in time for the Holiday 2005 season for specialty distribution, followed by a more extensive collection for Spring 2006 for broader distribution. This approach allows the Estée Lauder brand to incorporate Mr. Ford's design point of view into the brand quickly, and capitalize on the style and luxury trends that drive consumer purchases during the holidays.

For the second phase, Mr. Ford will launch a separate, stand-alone TOM FORD beauty brand to create and market fragrance and other related products. The TOM FORD branded products will begin launching in Fall 2006.

"We are thrilled to welcome Tom Ford to the Estée Lauder family," said Mr. Demsey. "Tom Ford is a fashion industry icon in the same way that Estée Lauder is a beauty industry icon. It's a perfect match of luxury, style and beauty which we are confident will resonate with consumers around the world."

Tom Ford is among the most highly respected and successful designers of the last decade. Mr. Ford is widely credited for reviving both Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent through influential collections and provocative ad campaigns that pushed the fashion envelope. Tom Ford joined Gucci in 1990 as womenswear designer and in 1994 was named Creative Director. During 10 years as Creative Director at Gucci and Gucci Group, sales increased from $230 million in 1994 to almost $3 billion in 2004, making Gucci one of the largest and most profitable luxury brands in the world. Tom Ford has won numerous design awards including four from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and five VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards.

"Estée Lauder has always partnered with the best talents of every generation," said Aerin Lauder, Senior Vice President, Global Creative Directions, Estée Lauder. "Tom Ford is a true visionary who instinctively knows what consumers want and how to communicate a strong, style-driven image. I'm excited to work closely with him to bring his viewpoint into the world of beauty, and the world of Estée Lauder."

"I could not be happier," said Tom Ford, President and Chief Executive Officer of the newly-created TOM FORD company, the formation of which was announced separately today by Mr. Ford. "I am delighted to be working with Aerin and John on the creation of the TOM FORD beauty brand. This has been a long time plan of mine and I am very excited to have Estée Lauder, the world's expert in the field of beauty and prestige fragrance, as my partner."

Estée Lauder is a division of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The Company's products are sold in over 130 countries and territories under well-recognized brand names including Estée Lauder, Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Origins, M.A.C, Bobbi Brown, Tommy Hilfiger, La Mer, Donna Karan, Aveda, Stila, Jo Malone, Bumble and bumble, kate spade beauty, Darphin, Michael Kors, Rodan + Fields, American Beauty, Flirt! and Good Skin(TM) and Donald Trump The Fragrance.

SOURCE Estée Lauder -0- 04/12/2005 /NOTE TO EDITORS: For access to electronic press materials, event photos and domestic and international satellite coordinates to b-roll footage, please visit: http://www.dogmatic.com/esteelauder For trouble with satellite feeds or accessing the site, please call +1- 212-333-0714 For hard copy requests, please call +1-310-450-3884 or email [email protected]./ /CONTACT: General Inquiries - Colleen McCarthy of Ketchum Public Relations, +1-646-935-4366, [email protected]; or Estée Lauder Inquiries - North America: Melissa McCarthy, +1-212-572-4435, [email protected], or International: Geri Schachner, +1-212-572-4453, [email protected]; or Tom Ford Inquiries - Lisa Schiek, +1-212-725-4771, F: +1-212-725-0206 / /Web site: http://www.elcompanies.com / (EL)

 

[helena]

I wonder if the same appetite for Tom Ford will still prevail....Things seem to have moved on quite a lot from that Fordiam notion of glamour.....but maybe thats just my impression.