Tom Ford S/S 2011 New York

[secretqueens]

i can't take you guys... why go after Beyonce so? You're hurting my heart.

haha seriously. not all of us are tall, skinny models. i definitely can relate to beyonce's body shape and appreciate that tom made something for her.

 

[LUXXX]

The video is electric! The people in that room must've felt so thrilled to be part of such an exclusive presentation -- it's like seeing some great underground performance.

 

[Bonbonenata]

Am I the only one who like the video? I find it gorgeous, so beautiful and dynamic.

 

[secretqueens]

Am I the only one who like the video? I find it gorgeous, so beautiful and dynamic.

Yeah, I loved it too. I just like gold, glamour and theatricality

 

[Uemarasan]

I never liked Tom Ford then, and I don't like Tom Ford now. The most overrated designer in history, in my opinion.

It compliments his menswear, invoking that old school glamour. People love talking about "returning to old school glamour", and in face of all the less than sophisticated movie stars and celebrities I can't blame them. Problem with the old school glamour is that it can sometimes come off as trite and uninspired. Maybe Ford's womenswear is not trite but it is uninspired.

I agree. For me, Tom Ford's clothes are always glamorous, but they are never beautiful. His work is successful because it appeals to the most superficial aspects of fashion, and I have to admit that Tom Ford has the ability to make someone look fantastic. Personally, though, that alone won't do it for me. What is Tom Ford proposing exactly? Glamour, sex, ferocity? And then? All throughout his career his designs have been constructed upon the stereotypes of women and the constraint that society places on women on how they construct their identities. At least Yves Saint Laurent reinterpreted sex and female glamour. Sex as power? Mugler was there before Tom Ford.

The clothes do make a strong and immediate impression when seen, but I forget them as soon as they are out of sight. Shapes, textures, silhouettes, fabrics that harken to the unfortunate notion that women are primarily defined by their sexuality.

The fact that the women he used to celebrate this collection - celebrities, divas, Hollywood stars, socialites, fashion glitterati - tells me all I need to know about the Tom Ford woman. What, no artists, musicians, writers, fellow designers, architects, businesswomen, public intellectuals, thinkers?

 

[reese06]

I never liked Tom Ford then, and I don't like Tom Ford now. The most overrated designer in history, in my opinion.



I agree. For me, Tom Ford's clothes are always glamorous, but they are never beautiful. His work is successful because it appeals to the most superficial aspects of fashion, and I have to admit that Tom Ford has the ability to make someone look fantastic. Personally, though, that alone won't do it for me. What is Tom Ford proposing exactly? Glamour, sex, ferocity? And then? All throughout his career his designs have been constructed upon the stereotypes of women and the constraint that society places on women on how they construct their identities. At least Yves Saint Laurent reinterpreted sex and female glamour. Sex as power? Mugler was there before Tom Ford.

The clothes do make a strong and immediate impression when seen, but I forget them as soon as they are out of sight. Shapes, textures, silhouettes, fabrics that harken to the unfortunate notion that women are primarily defined by their sexuality.

The fact that the women he used to celebrate this collection - celebrities, divas, Hollywood stars, socialites, fashion glitterati - tells me all I need to know about the Tom Ford woman. What, no artists, musicians, writers, fellow designers, architects, businesswomen, public intellectuals, thinkers?

s

Pretentious much...and I'm not even a fan of this collection.

 

[Uemarasan]

s

Pretentious much...and I'm not even a fan of this collection.

What you call pretension, I call old-fashioned thinking. Besides, pretension is feigned intelligence without the evidence to back it up. I gave you the evidence. Do you want more? First of all, what is pretension for you? I'm open to discussion.

On the other hand, I can go over a number of posts on this thread and type "dumb much...". I can never understand the anti-intellectualism infesting the brains of society.

 

[Spike413]

^ So the fact that most people in this thread have responded to this collection based on it's visual and emotional appeal rather than it's intellectual appeal makes them dumb? Or does it simply make their opinion dumb and unimportant because there was no deep, critical thinking involved in deciding whether or not they like a presentation of clothing?

 

[chanelslungbags]

I like the vibe that is coming from the collection, some of the pieces are fabulous and some aren't so.

 

[markese91]

why so heavy handed? I mean if you don't like the collection say you don't like it it's no need to bash one another. Whether I like the collection because I think it's pushing the boundaries of fashion or just because I have a crush on the designer is really insignificant. At the end of the day it's about what's going to sell and what's going to sell is Tom Ford's name... As I stated before, Tom Ford could have put a potato sack on Beyonce and I'd still be swooning but the thing is I'm not the only one. We would be ushered into an era of potato sack chic and whether you liked it or not... you would be sitting typing away on TFS while Monsieur Ford is making money...
it's really not about innovation it's about how you play the game, and at the end of the day Mr. Ford has been playing for a while longer and a good bit smarter than many of the other players.

 

[simons]

why so heavy handed? I mean if you don't like the collection say you don't like it it's no need to bash one another. Whether I like the collection because I think it's pushing the boundaries of fashion or just because I have a crush on the designer is really insignificant. At the end of the day it's about what's going to sell and what's going to sell is Tom Ford's name... As I stated before, Tom Ford could have put a potato sack on Beyonce and I'd still be swooning but the thing is I'm not the only one. We would be ushered into an era of potato sack chic and whether you liked it or not... you would be sitting typing away on TFS while Monsieur Ford is making money...
it's really not about innovation it's about how you play the game, and at the end of the day Mr. Ford has been playing for a while longer and a good bit smarter than many of the other players.

though what you say is true, fashion in the end is also a business, it's still disheartening for people who look as fashion as art and beyond just clothing. but it's reality i guess.

and i agree with Uemarasan. i never saw tom ford as much of a fashion designer. he's a businessman, but we have enough of those owning every house. i can respect him as that, but for fashion, no.

there's nothing new or exciting in the show. even the way it's shown. fashion has changed since he first left, and he needs to catch up, not bring it back. imo.

 

[Squizree]

though what you say is true, fashion in the end is also a business, it's still disheartening for people who look as fashion as art and beyond just clothing. but it's reality i guess.

and i agree with Uemarasan. i never saw tom ford as much of a fashion designer. he's a businessman, but we have enough of those owning every house. i can respect him as that, but for fashion, no.

there's nothing new or exciting in the show. even the way it's shown. fashion has changed since he first left, and he needs to catch up, not bring it back. imo.

This is where the disagreement is. Sadly enough, a lot of people don't like how "fashion has changed" and would prefer to bring it back, and truthfully speaking Tom Ford probably has the smarts and wits to do that.

 

[CrisGalaxy]

^
I like the way it is... only models to show the clothes and not celebrities. I hated it how the audience clapped so much, every time a new model came out and turned and posed, clap clap clap clap clap. I hope other houses don't follow Ford's path to putting celebrities on their runways.

 

[Spike413]

though what you say is true, fashion in the end is also a business, it's still disheartening for people who look as fashion as art and beyond just clothing. but it's reality i guess.

and i agree with Uemarasan. i never saw tom ford as much of a fashion designer. he's a businessman, but we have enough of those owning every house. i can respect him as that, but for fashion, no.

there's nothing new or exciting in the show. even the way it's shown. fashion has changed since he first left, and he needs to catch up, not bring it back. imo.

See that's the one argument I have never understood. How exactly is he not a designer? Because he has a team of designers working directly under him? So does every other head of a fashion label. Because his work isn't changing the way we see clothing? Very little actually does. Whether he's creative or not doesn't change the fact that he has an extremely trained eye. He clearly understands color, fit, fabrication, proportion, shape and style and he's able to combine those elements to great effect. Plus at the end of the day Ford seems to know how to make clothes that flatter a body, and not just a model's body, which is more than can be said of a lot of other designers.

But that's just my $.02.

 

[markese91]

i think to say that Tom Ford was never really a designer is a bit far... I think that he's a designer I just think that he has an aesthetic and he's not going to let the times and the trends change his view on fashion. He sees the world his way, he believes women should dress and carry themselves this way, and so that's what his collections portray. His work at Gucci, YSL, and for his namesake label may differ incrementally but at the heart of it all you can still look at it and say that's Tom, that's Tom Ford... and now he feels like glamour is removed
Just because he doesn't design what you like... that doesn't negate him from being a designer.

 

[ultramarine]

there's nothing new or exciting in the show. even the way it's shown. fashion has changed since he first left, and he needs to catch up, not bring it back. imo.

I beg to differ wholeheartedly. Tom Ford may not be Rei Kawakubo but who wants two Reis? Or who wants two Toms? No one. He's got an aesthetic which works for him, has many followers and indeed is pleasing to the eye of most consumers (everybody knows he did revive the Gucci label).

Now, about the new .. I disagree as well, his commitment to quality is well known, hence how can men pay for such prices for his menswear pieces? On top of it, there was how this collection has been marketed. No press? No photos? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? In tFS as well as EVERYONE who didnt get invited to this intimate show, there was a HUGE interest on what was going to be shown.

Personally, I love how he goes back to shows how they were originally on the last century, I love the vibe, everything ! (Except the celebs).

Of course there are pieces of the show which are ...

But .. the shoes? Really? You dont even like the shoes?

 

[nastassia]

But .. the shoes? Really? You dont even like the shoes?

(personally I love the shoes, not every but most)

 

[agee]

Speaking for myself, I am not calling into question Tom Ford's design cred, I will gladly grant him that; it is more about what is the underpinning of the Tom Ford legend, and to me that is more about business, marketing, personal promotion, cult of personality and spectacle. Yes fashion design and style are factors as well, but they are not, IMO, the primary factors, especially when it comes to womenswear and women's style in recent years.

 

[Street_a_Licious]

But .. the shoes? Really? You dont even like the shoes?

funny you should ask, but the shoes are the one thing i liked the least

i even liked the celebs, i got NO idea why people have SUCH an issue seeing celebs, when it was really just a private presentation of Tom Ford for his closest friends and the media elite. his choice of models was clearly NOT up for anyone's else criticism.

 

[Uemarasan]

^ So the fact that most people in this thread have responded to this collection based on it's visual and emotional appeal rather than it's intellectual appeal makes them dumb? Or does it simply make their opinion dumb and unimportant because there was no deep, critical thinking involved in deciding whether or not they like a presentation of clothing?

I never said that, and I don't want it to come across here that I'm challenging anyone's intelligence. I used that statement as an argument because my issue is with the double-standard that exists that calling someone "pretentious" is acceptable whereas calling someone "dumb" is not.

Besides, I believe my post has made it plainly obvious that I am responding visually and emotionally to this collection. Here is the woman who can wear Tom Ford clothes: genetically superior, wealthy, exclusive, jet-set, and willing to torture her body to gym-hard celebrity-model-fashion magazine standards. Even going by what the women invited to wear the clothes in this presentation have said - Julianne Moore (of all people) was panicking about dieting and Rachel Feinstein was concerned about how she looked in the clothes (they solved it with a corset, of course!) - these are clothes that are meant to be worn only if your body conforms and contorts to the Tom Ford standard. And that has been always been true of his work not just here but ever since. I find that aesthetically reprehensible.

If you want me to viscerally react to this collection, then here it is in one word: YUCK.

It may just be clothing for a number of people, but the idea of fashion is much more to me than that. I think I've made that clear ever since the beginning, and I don't see how one perspective is necessarily right and one is not.