“I just want to shout the words ‘humanity’ and ‘joy’: Haider Ackermann’s bright future
STYLING JULIA SARR-JAMOIS
With a design handwriting that is as powerfully precise as it is startlingly sensual, you can just tell when it’s Haider Ackermann. Jerry Stafford charts his journey
In fitted black leather trousers, a gossamer-fine charcoal grey cashmere knit and an effortlessly draped midnight blue silk scarf, Colombian-born designer Haider Ackermann exudes an old school romantic charm. He has the discreet elegance of the silent screen and the sensual insouciance of the Parisian Rive Gauche, part Rudolph Valentino part Antonio Lopez.
We meet in the hushed confidentiality of the Tom Ford studio space which looks out over the bare tree-lined geometry of the Palais Royal gardens in Paris. Mood boards pinned with photographic references and sketches, some familiar, others esoteric and abstract add to a rarified atmosphere of creative intimacy and industry.
Ackermann, now 54 years old, is relaxed and loquacious as we discuss his position as the creative director of the Estée Lauder Companies-owned American fashion house, and also his work with the Canadian outerwear brand Canada Goose, for whom he has been designing a capsule collection, Snow Goose, since 2024.
ZIQI WEARS WOOL-JERSEY SKIRT (WORN AS DRESS) FALL/WINTER 2009, AND LEATHER BELT, FALL/WINTER 2011, BOTH HAIDER ACKERMANN FROM PASSAGE ARCHIVES. LEATHER GLOVES, THOMASINE. LEATHER BOOTS, JUDE
VASKO WEARS SHEARLING AND COTTON-BLEND COAT, HAIDER ACKERMANN. CHARMEUSE SHIRT, VISCOSE MESH TANK TOP, AND TWILL PANTS, ALL TOM FORD RESORT 2026
After finally resolving his legal wranglings, and regaining authorship of his work and name, the designer was offered, in 2023, the opportunity to design the spring/summer couture collection for the house of Jean Paul Gaultier. The presentation was an extraordinary flight of exquisite artistry and imagination and posited him firmly back into fashion’s collective conscience. (That same year, he also released a brash capsule collection with sports and streetwear brand Fila, which brought an irreverent and audacious refinement to that bastion of urban masculinity).
Ackermann’s exploration of the couture silhouette and commitment to the technical pragmatism and performance of sportswear design have been a rewarding combination, and his ability to straddle two seemingly opposing worlds led to his nomination in 2024 at Canada Goose, and later that year he crowned this triumphant return to center stage with the appointment as creative director at Tom Ford.
The last 12 months have been an intense and highly prolific period for the designer, seeing him travel to some of the most remote parts of the planet to promote his extreme outerwear collections for Snow Goose.
He has also presented two highly acclaimed Tom Ford ready-to-wear collections of menswear and womenswear, plus a Resort collection, in Paris whose slick, polished and high-octane glamor have secured his place on every red carpet this year. He relaunched the iconic house fragrance, as Black Orchid Reserve, with a party of close friends and collaborators in the decadent grandeur of a Venetian palazzo. Little wonder, then, that the fashion world is head over heels in love with Haider Ackermann.
This acceleration of activity in the designer’s celebrated career has come after he endured and survived a long and traumatic legal battle with his Belgian ex-financier which effectively brought to a close the production of his own signature brand after 20 years. During that period, Ackermann refined a highly sophisticated design portfolio known and admired for its razor-sharp tailoring for both men and women, its discreetly sensual eveningwear and its dramatic leather-work, in an often lavish jewel-box color palette.
Between 2016 and 2018, Ackermann also designed three collections for the LVMH-owned brand Berluti, a nomadic exploration of understated luxury and graceful masculine elegance which were the perfect companion pieces to his own more eclectic and personal collections.
The enigmatic beauty of his clothes and their emotional catwalk presentations have always been fused with a soulful core, a reflection of the much loved designer’s own heartfelt commitment to his creative process and his close collaborators. He has also consolidated some of the most scrutinized red-carpet relationships with actors like Tilda Swinton and Timothée Chalamet whose iconic fashion style has become synonymous with the designer himself.
ZIQI WEARS EMBROIDERED SILK TOP AND MATCHING SKIRT, AND METAL RINGS, ALL JEAN PAUL GAULTIER HAUTE COUTURE BY HAIDER ACKERMANN, SPRING/SUMMER 2023
VASKO WEARS WOOL SWEATER, NYLON SHORTS AND LEATHER JOCK STRAP, ALL TOM FORD SPRING/SUMMER 2026
So, how does it feel to be Haider Ackermann these days?
It feels like I’m standing at dawn and there are bright horizons ahead of me. It feels like the start of new adventures, new dialogues, and new conversations.
You’ve been working in the business now for ..
Quite a few years, yes! [laughs].
Do you find you refer back to your previous body of work as you approach new design challenges?
It feels like all of these creative paths I’ve travelled over the many years have led me to where I’m standing today and that gives me the confidence to feel like my best years are yet to come.
When you wake up, what are your first thoughts?
My first question is always what time did I fall asleep and is it a Canada Goose day, or is it a Tom Ford day?
Do you dream about work?
I don’t dream about work, but I write about work, in tons of notebooks and on my phone the whole night in bed, putting everything into words so I can explain things to my team the next day.
You’ve always been a deeply emotional designer, someone who invests so much of himself into the work…
It wasn’t a choice but a necessity as work was always a reflection of this search for myself, but now I feel more anchored, more confident.
You had quite an itinerant childhood, which became important in your work…Important and complicated at the same time. I had experienced this golden childhood in Africa, this very austere adolescence in Belgium and some crazy times in Holland and [my collections were] a potpourriof all those ideas. I think people sometimes found it hard to frame me. [They’d ask], “Who is he? What is his signature?”
Do you think you’re more objective about your choices and decision-making now?
Well, I’m certainly more aware of where my emotions lie and of what I’m doing. I know the rhythm, I know the discipline. When you’re young, you’re searching every kind of corner. Now, I understand structure and I know the path I have to follow.
You worked within the LVMH group for Berluti, and now for Tom Ford and Estée Lauder, do you believe this structure comes from being within a group?
Yes, but also, the moment you don’t carry your name, there is a distance between you and your work – a very healthy distance. It allows emotions to be stronger, not weaker. When you carry your own name, there’s so much insecurity. When you’re at the service of another house, the distance allows you to have much more perspective.
ZIQI WEARS STRETCH-GEORGETTE DRESS, TOM FORD FALL/WINTER 2025. VASKO WEARS LEATHER AND CASHMERE COAT, WOOL JACKET AND MATCHING PANTS, COTTON-POPLIN SHIRT, SILK TIE, LEATHER GLOVES AND LEATHER BOOTS, ALL TOM FORD FALL/WINTER 2025
VASKO WEARS COTTON AND POLYESTER COAT, AND RECYCLED-POLYAMIDE HAT, BOTH SNOW GOOSE BY CANADA GOOSE, FALL/WINTER 2025
You’ve always surrounded yourself with an intimate family of friends and collaborators.
I’m very fortunate that my friendships have longevity and that my friends are truly loyal, and power lies in that. In my work, I need that closeness. I need trust. I need that shared sensitivity. If you have that security, it allows you to take risks, to go further in your work and be less fearful.
You began working with Canada Goose on the Snow Goose collection two years ago. What attracted you to the brand?
I was not the obvious choice, and [I appreciated] the fact that my CEO took a risk with me and trusted me. I had come out of this very turbulent period but they embraced my nature and invited me to work on something which seemed so much more silent, peaceful, and more related to breathing. I was intrigued by this unexpected path. It felt like a learning process and I embraced this world of silence and authenticity. There’s not that much space for fantasy, but there’s space for adventure. I arrived from this very niche world to work with a company who has massive production with logos and stores everywhere, but I don’t have this noise, the same expectations or pressure on me; or rather it’s a different kind of pressure, it’s a silent pressure. You’re certainly ambitious, but there’s no competition there.
The environmental aspect of your collaboration with Snow Goose, and the storytelling behind the clothes, have had an enormous impact. Tell me about these extraordinary adventures you have undertaken to Iceland, Utah, or Canada and how important have they been to your deeper understanding of the brand?
Canada Goose is not a fashion brand, and it has never been my goal to make a fashion brand out of it. The idea behind these expeditions came about because I wanted people to feel what I felt when I first visited the polar bear research station at Churchill on the Hudson Bay. I wanted the press and spokespeople to experience the quality of the garment and the only way I could make people understand was to invite them on those adventures. I also wanted to create something intimate, I wanted people to feel like they could lose themselves in nature. When you lose yourself in nature, you become closer to the people you are with, it’s all about intimacy. Of course these clothes keep you warm in cold places, but I wanted this to be more about humanity.
I’ve been lucky enough to be on those trips, and the takeaway really is a feeling of closeness to your fellow. There’s an intense emotional cohesion..
When you are in these remote places, you feel like time stands still. You are at once far away from yourself, but so much closer to yourself and you can also take the time to reflect and to ask yourself the right questions. It is very important for us to show the beauty of those places, to preserve those places and to protect them. One of the reasons I signed with the brand was because for 20 years they’ve been supporting and financing Polar Bears International up in Churchill.§§
And you worked with activists Jane Fonda and Ethan Hawke on this environmental collaboration even before your first Snow Goose collection.
I wanted to have a conversation with someone who could teach me, and there’s no better person than Jane Fonda. She’s been at the barricades for so many years, and has been arrested for her causes!
You were saying that Canada Goose is not a fashion brand, but you did do an extraordinary campaign with the artist Jack Pierson for your first Snow Goose collection. I don’t think extreme weather gear has ever been so sexually charged! What was your ambition with this campaign, and with your work with the artist?
Working concurrently with the house of Tom Ford, where everything has been so sexualized over the years, definitely influenced me! Working here made me think about the work there. Of course there’s sexuality in hiking, there is something both very masculine and very feminine about this outdoor spirit, and I wanted to provoke, and of course I wanted to play. The fact that it is unexpected, unconventional, and unfamiliar is the interesting part. Those extreme environments allow you to feel extreme emotions and I think Jack Piersonis very good at creating longing and desire in his work.
VASKO WEARS COTTON-MIX COAT, FLEECE HAT, AND ACETATE SUNGLASSES, ALL SNOW GOOSE BY CANADA GOOSE, FALL/WINTER 2025. LEATHER GLOVES, TOM FORD FALL/WINTER 2025. LEATHER BOOTS, GIANVITO ROSSI
ZIQI WEARS SILK COAT AND LEATHER SHOES, BOTH JEAN PAUL GAULTIER HAUTE COUTURE BY HAIDER ACKERMANN SPRING/SUMMER 2023
It’s interesting that the call to head the House of Tom Ford came when you had already signed with Canada Goose. Were there any doubts or hesitations? What was your first reaction?
Respect. Which always brings hesitation, but the instinct was immediate and even when Mr Ford and I had these initial conversations, I was already thinking about collections, garments. I was already there. There was a very natural connection between us.
He attended your first show and he’s obviously very supportive of the work you’re doing.
He gave a beautiful speech at the dinner. He’s very generous and very attentive. Whenever I call him, he always picks up the phone, and we have these beautiful exchanges. He will never get involved with the creative side but he makes you feel like he’s always there if you need him. I love designers, I respect my peers. I have great admiration for many of them. I love it when a designer does a terrific collection. It makes me ask, “What am I going to do?” It helps.
What do you think the difference is between your vision of Tom Ford and Tom Ford’s Tom Ford?
I think the tension is very different. I think my approach is much more sensual. I do believe that power can exist in restraint. I think the objectification of women is different now and I think it’s up to the woman herself to show her power whenever she’s ready — it’s not up to us. We are different in our approach, but we have the same notebook.
You’re not only in charge of the fashion house, but also the beauty and fragrance. Your new iteration of Black Orchid was launched in Venice last September with Tilda Swinton as the face of the fragrance. What was the impulse behind that choice?
Venice was a celebration of many, many things. It was a celebration of my work on this perfume, but also a celebration of 20 years of friendship. When I think about the spirit of Black Orchid, there is something about it which is elusive, rarified, mysterious. It is there, but not there. I wanted again this quietness and silence. It is not all about seduction, it’s also about presence, about something you can’t quite reach and, despite my very close friendship with Tilda, there’s always something unreachable, unfathomable about her.
Why Venice?
I didn’t want to do it in Paris, New York or Los Angeles. I was searching for a place which had a similar ambivalence as Tilda, both approachable and unapproachable. It’s there, it’s not there. There’s something very poetic about a city based on water, an amorphous quality, with a grace, a silence and an elegance which Tilda also has.
Music and sound design has been of such importance in both your signature collections and now for Tom Ford. Your use of silence, the spoken word, breathing, heartbeats creates a profound connection with the audience. What does it mean for you?
Emotional architecture. If people make the effort to come to my show, I should like to give them the chance to forget themselves through the music, the models, the clothes and hair and makeup. The music transports you. For the last 20 years I’ve worked very closely with the composer Senjan Jansen on every little second and fragment and it’s always a very personal reflection on my state of mind or what the world is going through. My choice to use Into My Arms by Nick Cave for my first Tom Ford show is a good example, I’ve always been a big admirer of Mr Cave, but I’d never found the right moment to use his music. The vulnerability I felt presenting the first Tom Ford collection and the expectation around it drew me to his music and words, to say, “Listen, I’m naked in front of you guys, come into my arms, I’m inviting you. Come with me into this story.”
For the last Tom Ford show, Nick Cave’s wife, Susie, walked your runway, an epic and iconic fashion moment. Can we talk about your relationship with her and the emotional impact of that moment for you?
It’s difficult for me to express what I felt, because it was so deep. I felt like a little child who could finally reach out to something that he always thought would be unreachable. We’ve all seen the pictures of Susie in those extraordinary Tyen makeup campaigns for Christian Dior or in Nick Knight’s Yohji Yamamoto campaign. Such women evoke a certain mystery, and I think that’s where desire lies. You can’t capture them. I wish I could have sat in the audience and not backstage. I really wanted to live that moment. There was something almost sacred about it for me.
She will also feature prominently in the next Tom Ford campaign. What was it like to work with her?
Her presence is so powerful. These women understand their bodies so perfectly. They know each of their muscles; they know the tension they can bring to the tips of their fingers. They are so present, so precise, and have such grace. And they understand the clothes, the sensibility of the fabric — especially Susie!
Exactly! We all know the red carpet loves you, and you love the red carpet, and in a house like Tom Ford, it’s very important. Do you have particular priorities and motivations behind the choices of who you dress?
It is always about an exchange, about play companions and making the other person feel more confident. It is a very emotional connection and I’m very specific about my choices. I want to meet the person before I dress them. I want to understand them. I’m not going to just dress a celebrity for the sake of it. It’s such a vulnerable moment for both of us, especially for the person who is on the red carpet. You are there to support them, to understand them and make them feel confident in those moments, which can be quite anxiety-inducing!
Is there a particular mood you are exploring for the new Tom Ford collection in March?
In this aggressive world, perhaps we need to be quieter. I’m searching for this alternative quiet elegance and at the same time exploring a dialogue with Tom Ford’s past.
Does that come through a very specific approach to materiality?
Oh, yeah, of course. The fabrics are cashmere, silks, leather; it’s all about sensuality. I’m very specific. I want all the wool to feel very soft and very tender so that the moment you hug a person wearing it, you really feel the quality. It’s all about intimacy as well. I think that’s really, really important because that’s what we need. That’s what we search for. We all want to be together. We need to hold together in this world. So, the moment you take a person into your arms: I want to evoke that kind of emotion.
There’s so much uncertainty and fear about the future. Do you have a mantra that gets you through the day?
I just want to shout the words “humanity” and “joy”. The word joy means so much, but we need to find it. We need a world with fewer lies and more understanding. It’s hard to even comprehend the extent of what’s going on at the moment. So, what am I searching for, and what is my mantra? One word: Humanity.
PHOTOGRAPHY JAMES ARI KING.
STYLING REBECCA PURSHOUSE AT ARTWORLD.
HAIR MICHAL BIELECKI AT JULIAN WATSON AGENCY.
MAKEUP HELENE VASNIER AT HOME AGENCY.
CASTING PIERGIORGIO DEL MORO FOR DM CASTING.
PRODUCTION KIT PAK-POY AT BIRDHOUSE.
PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANTS
JULIETTE GILLOUX, MARGAUX JOUANNEAU.
STYLING ASSISTANT AGNES SOLHALL.
CASTING ASSISTANT JULIUN WILLIAMS FOR DM CASTING.
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT AMELIA HEFFERNAN.
RETOUCHING SPARKPOST STUDIO.
MODELS VASKO LUYCKX AT RAPTURE MANAGEMENT
AND ZIQI ZHAO AT WOMEN MANAGEMENT
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