After three years as the chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Tom Ford is stepping down.
“On May 31st, I will be ending my three-year term as Chairman of the CFDA. When I began my role as chairman in June of 2019, my goal was to help the American fashion industry become more globally recognized for its talent and importance.
Ford assumed the position of CFDA chairman in 2019, following the departure of CFDA chairwoman Diane Von Furstenberg. Ford’s tenure, for the most part, overlapped with the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. During his tenure he launched the CFDA’s A Common Thread initiative with Vogue, donating over $5 million to the fashion industry in the United States.
“The pandemic challenged all of us to think about our businesses in new ways—from the design process and production, to how we reach and speak to our customers,” he continued in his statement. “We were forced to come up with creative new ways to run our companies.
At the 2021 CFDA Awards, held at the Four Seasons’s Pool Room and The Grill, Ford hosted his first in-person CFDA ceremony. “I’m excited to show how American fashion has impacted the rest of the world, whether the rest of the world is ready to acknowledge that or not,” he said. “That is my goal, to help the rest of the world understand how much they have taken and how much America has given to fashion globally.
Ford will stay in his advisory role through the summer while the CFDA votes for a new chairperson. Ford will remain on the board of the organization; Steven Kolb will serve as the interim Chair of the CFDA.