Does Tom Ford Support Israel?

Shelly Zimmerman Feb 28, 2025 3 min read

Short answer: As of July 2026, Tom Ford the person has no documented public position on Israel. Across a long, heavily covered public career he has never issued a statement, made a donation, appeared at an event, or joined a boycott for or against Israel, and there is no evidence he is Jewish or has personal ties to the country. The Israel talk attached to his name is really about his former beauty brand, Tom Ford Beauty, which is owned by Estée Lauder, a company whose heir and prominent leader Ronald Lauder is one of the best-known pro-Israel philanthropists in the world. Tom Ford himself sold the brand and stepped away in 2023, so he no longer controls it.

What Tom Ford has actually said and done

August 27, 1961: Tom Ford is born in Austin, Texas, and raised in Texas and New Mexico. His documented family background is Texan, with no Jewish heritage on the public record, per Britannica.
November 15, 2022: The Estée Lauder Companies announces it will acquire the Tom Ford brand in a deal valued at about $2.8 billion, at a net purchase price of about $2.3 billion for the brand. The sale makes Ford a billionaire, according to the Estée Lauder Companies press release.
April 28, 2023: Estée Lauder completes its purchase of the Tom Ford brand, with the fashion side passing to the Ermenegildo Zegna Group and Ford set to remain a creative visionary only through the end of 2023, as reported by Fashion Dive.
October 7, 2023: Ronald S. Lauder, Estée Lauder heir and World Jewish Congress president, denounces the Hamas attack on Israel and declares that the entire Jewish diaspora stands in "unwavering support of Israel." This is the pro-Israel figure behind the parent company, not Tom Ford, per the World Jewish Congress.
September 4, 2024: Haider Ackermann is named creative director of Tom Ford (after Peter Hawkings' 2023 to 2024 tenure), confirming that Tom Ford the person no longer runs or designs for the brand that carries his name, as reported by Hypebeast.
2025: BDS-aligned boycott lists include Tom Ford Beauty, targeting it because of parent Estée Lauder and Ronald Lauder's pro-Israel advocacy, not because of any statement or action by Tom Ford himself. This appears on the MasjidAlAqsa BDS list and is echoed by The Witness boycott tracker.

Why Tom Ford's name comes up in Israel searches

Tom Ford, born August 27, 1961 in Austin, Texas, built his career in fashion and film: he revived Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, launched his own label, and directed the films "A Single Man" and "Nocturnal Animals." His documented heritage is Texan, and there is no record that he is Jewish or has personal ties to Israel. The reason his name surfaces in Israel searches is corporate, not personal. When the Estée Lauder Companies agreed in November 2022 to buy the Tom Ford brand for about $2.8 billion, closing the beauty acquisition on April 28, 2023 (with the fashion side going to Ermenegildo Zegna), Ford served only as a transitional creative visionary through the end of 2023. He has since fully departed, and the brand's creative director as of 2024 is Haider Ackermann. Estée Lauder's heir and one of its most public figures, Ronald S. Lauder, has been president of the World Jewish Congress since 2007 and is a leading pro-Israel philanthropist. Because of that ownership and Lauder's advocacy, BDS-aligned lists place Tom Ford Beauty in the boycott column. That is a claim about Estée Lauder's leadership, not about anything Tom Ford the designer has said or done.

The bottom line

Tom Ford the individual is genuinely silent on Israel: no statements, no donations, no events, no boycott stance, and no Jewish-identity connection on the public record. If shoppers are weighing the "Tom Ford" name, the real Israel link runs through the brand's owner, Estée Lauder, and its prominent pro-Israel figure Ronald Lauder, not through Tom Ford himself, who sold the brand and stepped away in 2023. Anyone reading a pro-Israel or anti-Israel signal into buying a Tom Ford product is really reacting to Estée Lauder, not to the designer.

Wear your own answer

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Last updated July 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.