The former designer of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, who regained his independence in 2004, presented the ultimate collection of his brand. This one had been sold last November to Estée Lauder. The result is an intense concentration of the multiple talents of the man who gave his letters of nobility to porno-chic and the expanded function of the artistic director.
Tom Ford turns the page of fashion with a bang.
He has just orchestrated the latest collection bearing his name, highlighted by a striking campaign and video directed by Steven Klein.
This collection is presented as a “tribute to women.” But it is the Texas designer with the perfect physique, who had dreamed of becoming an actor in Hollywood before studying architecture and fashion design, who occupies the role of the central star in the campaign. Even if, like a fashion James Bond, the sexy sexagenarian (61 years) dressed in a suit and dark glasses shares the stage with several models who have more recently enameled his brilliant career: Amber Valetta to Joan Smalls through Karlie Kloss, Karen Elson, Caroline Trentini … The staging, assumed around a white alpha male, did not necessarily please the supporters of the Woke …
13 years of design and counting…
The other star of this campaign is a select sample of designs inspired by his 13 years of women’s design under his name, but also partly from his great years at Gucci (1980 to 2004) and Yves Saint Laurent (2002 to 2004): bias-cut and draped dresses, leopard pants, sequined dresses or soccer jerseys. …Informed observers recognized, in particular, the white hooded dress worn by Gwyneth Paltrow at the 2012 Oscars or the spring 2020 bib worn by Zendaya at the Critics Choice Awards.
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In the photo campaign, Tom Ford observes the models posing in glass boxes in a rather voyeuristic setting. In the video, the muses, also installed in a glass cage, seem to despair at Tom Ford’s departure, always under the intense gaze of the latter, which we guess is intense behind his dark glasses. Dressed in black, in the manner of future widows who have nothing of joy, they contort themselves of pain. And this while Karen Elson gives the pace of these glamorous mourners, singing a tragic opera aria. 13 years of creation and even more …
Early withdrawal
His fans will have all recognized the style of the designer who is retiring permanently from the fashion game earlier than expected. At the time of the announcement of the sale of his brand to Estée Lauder for 2.8 billion dollars, there was talk that Tom Ford would remain at the helm of style until the end of 2023. After this early departure, speculations are focused on the name of Peter Hawkings, already the designer of Tom Ford’s menswear, who could now replace him fully …
As for Tom Ford himself, many expect that he will now devote his talents and fame as a designer to the world of cinema, which he has already begun to explore. In 2009, he directed his first feature film, A Single Man, which won several awards. His second film, Nocturnal Animals, made in 2016, had been less unanimous. Not enough to discourage a designer who has rubbed the hard laws of fashion, where success is never guaranteed in advance … When he took the reins of Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford had been the subject of criticism, including from the eponymous designer. And this despite his unalterable success at Gucci.
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