With the acquisition of Tom Ford’s company by The Estée Lauder Cos., changes are afoot.

Charlotte Blechman, chief marketing officer of Tom Ford International, who has worked closely with the designer since 1995 when he was at Gucci, is leaving Ford’s namesake company, effective May 31.

She had been at Tom Ford since 2017, overseeing various departments from marketing to brand image and digital and was chargeable for all global promoting, visual display, customer relationship management, events, marketing, communications and marketing initiatives for your complete Tom Ford brand, including all licensed products comparable to beauty, eyewear and timepieces.

Blechman also took on all philanthropic efforts, including the creation of the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize, brand partnerships and dealing closely with the Council of Fashion Designers of America when Ford took over as chairman from Jan. 1, 2020, until May 31, 2022.

“After 17 years of working closely with Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole — first at Gucci, then YSL, and most recently on the Tom Ford brand, I even have made the choice to embark on a recent skilled chapter,” said Blechman Wednesday. “The Tom Ford brand is entering an exciting recent phase and is in great hands with a particularly talented team in place, and I sit up for watching the further evolution of the Tom Ford brand as considered one of the preeminent global luxury brands of the twenty first century,” she said.

Ford and De Sole, chairman of Tom Ford International, were unreachable for comment.

As for her plans, Blechman said, “Within the near term, I plan to take the summer off and spend time with my family; in the long term, I’m open to possibilities for what the longer term may hold and I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.”

Blechman first joined Gucci in 1995 and was promoted to director of worldwide celebrity relations in 1998. In 2001, she transitioned to Gucci Group’s Yves Saint Laurent division as vice chairman of public relations under Ford, eventually rejoining Gucci from 2004 to 2010. From there, she went to Barneys Latest York when Mark Lee, Gucci’s former president and chief executive, joined the retailer as its CEO. She stayed at Barneys from December 2011 to January 2017.

Reached for comment, Lee said Wednesday, “Charlotte is the perfect. We actually worked together in three different firms: YSL, Gucci and Barneys Latest York. She is known and chargeable for an enormous a part of all of the communication and magic that we created in those various incarnations.”

Steven Kolb, chief executive officer of the CFDA, said, “When Tom took over the CFDA, there wasn’t a call we made on the CFDA that Charlotte wasn’t involved in. She was really engaged, strategic, thoughtful and questioning. She really helped us with messaging, which is her expertise in fact, and the business and programming development.”

Last November, Estée Lauder acquired Tom Ford’s company in a deal valued at $2.8 billion. Lauder previously owned Tom Ford Beauty and Tom Ford Parfums since 2006. Under Lauder, Ford’s men’s and girls’s ready-to-wear is licensed to Ermenegildo Zegna Group, which previously held the license for menswear. Zegna also owns Thom Browne.

As reported, Guillaume Jesel has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Tom Ford, while Peter Hawkings has been tapped as creative director. Zegna has appointed a CEO of Tom Ford Fashion, who is predicted to be revealed in July and can be chargeable for the collections, merchandising and production, in addition to retail and wholesale distribution. That executive will assume the role within the third quarter of calendar 2023.

Blechman’s successor can be named at a later date. Within the interim, Tomaso Galli will provide strategic guidance and support, in line with an Estée Lauder spokesperson.