Look at this! Angelina Jolie is the new face of Tom Ford Beauty, specifically representing their lipstick line. Angelina has done high-profile ad campaigns before, and she’s currently the face of Guerlain perfume (and she’s godmother to Guerlain’s Women for Bees program). I’ve always wondered if Angelina has gotten significant beauty-contract offers for years and she’s turned them down for various reasons. But this year, she’s got an Oscar-bait movie (Maria) and she probably wanted the money from a lucrative beauty contract, so here we are. WWD had the exclusive and I found the business side of this fascinating:

It’s full steam ahead for makeup at Tom Ford Beauty, starting with a renewed focus on lip and a top-tier spokesperson. Angelina Jolie, the brand’s first-ever celebrity face for beauty, will front Runway Lip Color, which rolls out globally in full distribution in September with 18 shades — 10 existing, eight new. It replaces the existing Lip Color lipsticks franchise. The refresh also entails Runway Lip Pencils, available in eight shades. Prices range from $46 for the pencils to $62 for the lipsticks.

The push comes at a pivotal time for the business. An SEC filing from parent company the Estée Lauder Cos., which acquired Tom Ford for $2.3 billion in 2023, noted that in the fiscal year 2024, “net sales [for makeup] from Tom Ford decreased, primarily driven by lower net sales from the lip subcategory.”

The health of the business depends on getting lip back on track. It is among the largest categories of the business overall after fragrance, and the largest of Tom Ford’s makeup offering, said Guillaume Jesel, the brand’s president and chief executive officer, who assumed the top slot last year after nearly a decade working on the brand.

Ford departed the company last year, and was succeeded by Peter Hawkings as the helm of its creative leadership. Hawkings announced his departure last month. Jesel declined to comment on the search for new creative talent, but did say, “together with the creative director and the licensees, we have to uphold [Ford’s] vision.”

Jesel’s mandate is “to continue to run Tom Ford as a united brand across verticals and unify the strategy, the brand codes, the innovation across fashion, beauty and eyewear,” he said. “We need to attract world-class talent, and that means in the creative product development and marketing.”

To that end, Jolie’s campaign, lensed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, echoes Ford’s own work as an auteur. “In terms of the celebrity aspect, the connection of film is something that’s been there naturally. Tom is a filmmaker and he shot a lot of his own photography,” said Jesel. “The connection to film and the cinematic aspect of the visual imagery that he created for this brand set it aside from anyone else and has been integral to our DNA.”

In the visuals, Jolie sports hero shade Scarlet Rouge. “It’s a beautiful color and texture,” Jolie said via email. “A good red lip needs little else. It’s worn with intention. That was part of the discussion.”

Her appeal mimics the wide net Jesel is casting with the relaunch. “She appeals to a broad demographic, and she has global appeal. We are branded very internationally, and are well diversified around the world. And her appeal to Gen Z is very interesting,” he said.

In September, stills of the campaign will roll out, followed by a film in October. “Lip is a category that is used in public, and when we talk about makeup, we talk about the power of transformation for makeup and finding a different persona in yourself,” Jesel said.

[From WWD]

Basically, the Tom Ford brand needed a huge star to reboot their Beauty line and Angelina is a global star who tested well across several demographics. “Her appeal to Gen Z is very interesting” – I’ve noticed that too. Younger people who didn’t grow up in the Brangaloonie Wars see Angelina as a cool person and a “mother.” It probably helps that she’s actually a mother to several Gen Z kids. Also: once you see it together, you’re like, oh, right, Angelina has some of the most famous lips in the world, how has she never done a lipstick campaign before now? I’m looking forward to the “film” too – I wonder where they filmed it. For some of her Guerlain campaigns, she got them to film at her home in Cambodia. I wonder if this campaign is more LA/Hollywood/vamp.

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