First Kylie Jenner, then Pat McGrath had their eponymous beauty empires valued at a billion dollars. Now, Tom Ford Beauty is being touted as the next billion dollar brand.
A new interview on Business of Fashion with the designer highlights how Ford's own understanding of the importance of digital storytelling, coupled with his strong point of view, is responsible for a beauty empire expansion so rapid he could soon become the next $1 billion brand.
The biggest instance of this happening was the release of Tom Ford's controversially named fragrance Fucking Fabulous. Estée Lauder wasn't initially pleased with the name but the designer insisted. Ford explained to BOF that “I kept calling it Fucking Fabulous and I’d get it back with an asterisk. I was like ‘No no, we’re going to spell it out on the bottle.’ They had such a hard time understanding that. They said ‘You can’t put it online, we can’t sell it in Neiman Marcus … Can you call it ‘F-in Fabulous?’
“[But] I knew it would be a hit with that name. I mean come on, for the person who has everything, what do you get them? You get them a bottle of Fucking Fabulous.”
Despite concerns the fragrance proceeded to go viral, and its projected $US400,000 in sales turned into $US25 million. Further, it won Fragrance of the Year: Women’s Luxury at the Fragrance Foundation’s FiFi Awards.
BOF considers it a testament to Tom Ford Beauty's brand power, which since launching its first fragrance Black Orchid in 2006 has proved a great asset to Estée Lauder's portfolio.
