Tom Ford F/W 2023.24 New York

[Bernie Flood]

Hold up?!

Is he closing his fashion house

or he will be the replacement

 

[Deleted member 7575]

Hold up?!

Is he closing his fashion house

or he will be the replacement

He sold the business to Este Lauder. All RTW will be licensed out to Zegna.

 

[Lola701]

According to WWD, no future plans for Tom Ford, person or brand, have been publicly announced, nor has Estée Lauder decided on a new creative director.

I think he will be involved in the decision. Those are people he knows well and while I think he will step back I don’t think he will be far removed from the brand. Maybe an involvement à la Mugler.

I have said it earlier but I think Peter Hawkings should take over the menswear. He has always been by Tom’s side in the menswear, he knows the machine. I’m curious to see who will take over the womenswear tho.

I think that the name Tom Ford is bigger than the designer they might hire, even more considering that the founder is still there and will be active in some sort of capacity.

‘I’m praying that they choose Alexandre Vauthier and that Tom still acts as a creative officer for the campaigns, the strategy and all.

 

[Malaya]

Reading some of the comments I'm surprised he's not as acclaimed as he should be in here. I might be going out on a limb but his shows always exuded opulence and glamour. Which may sound dated but at least he's honest about what inspired him, I'd take that over the faux sustainability crap most brands try to market themselves these days. I thought his eveningwear was always spectacular.

 

[Bernie Flood]

Tom Ford did the most delicious evening clothes.

Clothes are not delicious anymore-

As what Diana Vreeland thinks of Cristobal Balenciaga

 

[kasper!]

This is a hard time for brands who still insit on putting so many evening looks on the runway. TF's evening gown are usually ended up 80% off at their outlets. You can get a pretty good one at the price circa $2000 most of the time....

This is one of my favourite look from him, chain dress from 2017. He also chose this one for that Steven Klein video.

 

[kasper!]

I mean the other chain dress from 2017 collection, but I prefer this one, more minimal.

 

[Phuel]

The era of grandeur is over. Consumers would rather pay $2500 for a basic hoodie than a dress.

Like Gaultier before him, this final showing/retrospect is a tad on the gaudy/tacky/pop side for my taste. Tom’s so much more nuanced than this sort of crass display. I get it tho: loud crass pop is what gets attention these days.

Can’t think of a single fashion designer who’s had a consistent flow of solid offering from beginning to end. And there never will be one. Nothing in this fashion world will ever be perfect. Tom Ford’s Gucci and YSL days however, have come close to perfection many times. HIs own label on the other hand, I’ve likened it to the spirit of a classic tailor/dressmaker who’s content and confident to design exclusively for his privileged clients/clientele, for their very rarified atmosphere. Even if I don’t marinate nor orbit in such a rarified privilege as his world, I’ve still enjoyed the more classic pieces of his from his namesake label. They exist fantastically alongside his Gucci/YSL, and other designers. It’s all designs that I will likely wear until I’m gone myself from this world. Ultimately, his is a testament to a timeless modernity that’s as potentially glamorous as it may be effortless. Of course there’s also this gaudiness, tackiness and vulgarity to both his designs and imagery (more so in his recent years unfortunately)— and every single fashion label has those traits. But whatever loud aspect of the label’s characteristics were usually so nuanced and cleverly, skillfully supported, balanced out with an equally impressive, masterclass of execution, that the best of his will always endure the test of fickle fashion time. And he never strayed from his sensibility in some desperate bid to keep up with the children. So good for him for bowing out rather than being pushed out. Fashion is and has never been a kind world, and it’s always best to leave before they grow tired and discard you.

It really is the end of a fashion era with his retirement for those of us whom grew up alongside his debut. Now, can’t wait for him to fully immerse in his filmmaking vision.

 

[vogue28]

VOGUE.COM

 

[Steddycam91]

Oof. I really wish they weren’t reminding us of those awful patchwork denim looks.

 

[bc collector]

Understanding when it's time to give up is the most difficult thing for designers...it might have come a tad late, as many suggest, but still...
There is something dignified in bowing out when times have changed and you recognise that your work cannot be appreciated as it should...Cristobal and Yves have done so before him. It's a good company to be with.

 

[LadyJunon]

Understanding when it's time to give up is the most difficult thing for designers...it might have come a tad late, as many suggest, but still...
There is something dignified in bowing out when times have changed and you recognise that your work cannot be appreciated as it should...Cristobal and Yves have done so before him. It's a good company to be with.

He had just under 30 years in fashion. That's like the perfect length. I'd like to have 30 years as a designer under my own label.

 

[LadyJunon]

The Vogue Runway review for anyone interested:

BY NICOLE PHELPS
April 27, 2023

When Tom Ford launched his women’s ready-to-wear collection in September 2010, I was not among the 100 people to get an invitation, and the FOMO was excruciating. I distinctly remember being at the show that preceded it and watching as a few of those lucky 100 made a scramble for the exit before the finale. No one wanted to miss Ford’s debut.

What made the FOMO particularly bad: He announced beforehand that there would be no photography (or virtually none; Terry Richardson, pre-scandal, was the house lensman). This was before Instagram put an end to clapping—you need two hands to do it, and there’s always a camera phone in one now—but even then Ford’s no-photo ban was unprecedented.

Fashion shows had been a significant line item in brands’ annual marketing plans since his Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent days, of course. His decision to forego visual assets was audacious and unforgettable, all the more so because Beyoncé, Julianne Moore, fresh off of A Single Man, Lauren Hutton, and many other celebrity friends were all there—and not in the front row, but walking the runway. The glamour!

The no-photo policy didn’t last, but over the 13 years since there have been other gambits. In 2016, Ford became one of the first American designers to experiment with a see-now, buy-now schedule, in an effort to close the gap between his runway show and store deliveries. It proved too radical a rethink for the slow-to-move industry, but Ford valiantly led the charge. He also pioneered the Oscar-time L.A. show back in 2015 that we saw Donatella Versace adopt this March, closing the gap between the runway and the red carpet, if nothing else.

We won’t get another Tom Ford by Tom Ford show; he sold the company to Estée Lauder in a deal valued at $2.8 billion late last year. His successor, when that person is named, may carpet the runway in white rose petals and fragrance the air with f*cking Fabulous, but Ford opted out of a ceremonious, showy goodbye, choosing for his sign-off an Archive collection of his greatest hits instead.

Clicking through them triggers many a red carpet memory. There is Gwyneth Paltrow’s sensational white column gown and attached cape from the 2012 Oscars, and there is Zendaya’s hot pink molded breastplate and fluid skirt circa first-season Euphoria, that cemented her fashion icon status more than everything else. The stretch sequin and mesh dress Rihanna wore on a 2016 issue of Vogue is also included.

For his spring 2022 return to the runway post-pandemic, Ford considered the impact of social media on fashion. “Photogenic clothes today by their very nature mean that they are not at all timid,” he riffed at the time. That was never not true chez Tom Ford. As the worlds of fashion and Hollywood grow ever more intertwined, it seems too bad that the American designer who navigated both worlds with such control and assurance is stepping away. Where will we get our glamour fix now? But if an era is ending, at least there’s the prospect of watching Ford’s cinematic vision unfold on the big screen sometime in the future.

 

[Bernie Flood]

I still remember his first collection- Beyonce, Guiness, Stella Tennant. All star cast

 

[Phuel]

^^^ I still remember the cool anticipation, the whispered excitement and the dreamy expectations leading up to his return under his own name. Hearing from friends/friend of friend whom were meeting with him as he was assembling his team was just that brand of throwaway and still invaluable update that was as much frothy gossip as it were strategic insider insight. The debut was pure charisma and stylish personal dressing. Nothing new but also refreshingly tailored for the individual who no longer cared for faSHON. It all looked and felt so made-to-measure, very quietly couture-y.

More than anything, it would be so daring to see that attitude and that standard brought back to the label. As Lola as always advocated, Alexandre leading the womenswear would return the label's debut attitude, to that status. And as for the men, I’d love for Haider to lead where his Berluti men ended— washing away the caricature stench that’s become the Tom Ford man. That combination of Haider's own lean slickness, almost verging on the androgynous— now merging with Tom’s classic masculinity which also subtlety flirts with the feminine, would potentially fuse to create the ideal new Tom Ford man.

(….God, hoping it’s not going to be another Michael Kors, complete with consumer MK offering…)

 

[Lola701]

As I predicted, Peter Hawkings is taking over…
Plot-twist…He will be in charge of menswear and womenswear.
Great! He is very accomplished and it’s a testament to their relationship and it also means some sort of stability for the studio and the overall operations.

I hope he will have a strong voice though.

 

[Bernie Flood]

Peter Hawkings will be the new Creative Director-

I suppose he will only be designing mens?

 

[Bernie Flood]

As I predicted, Peter Hawkings is taking over…
Plot-twist…He will be in charge of menswear and womenswear.
Great! He is very accomplished and it’s a testament to their relationship and it also means some sort of stability for the studio and the overall operations.

I hope he will have a strong voice though.

Awesome news. Wonder if he will also tap Frida and Alessandra as creative consultants?

Both are accomplished designers though

 

[WWWdotFDUSAdotCLUB]

Can I add your videos to my playlist???

 

[Bernie Flood]

Please don’t Gucci and Valentino-fied The Tom Ford brand!

kindly pls suggest Peter H. To just interpret Ford’s work at Gucci and Saint Laurent.