After the sale of his brand to Estée Lauder for $2.8bn last November, it was widely expected that Tom Ford would start taking a back seat in the running of the company but it came as a surprise this week when he announced that the AW23 collection he just revealed would be his swan-song. After that Tom is buttoning up his trademark unfastened shirt and passing the reins to his long time right-hand man Peter Hawkings.
Famed for his complete dedication to the world of glamour and his unerring grasp of the cultural zeitgeist, Ford navigated his way through the fashion world with style, wit and talent. Famous for reinventing Gucci as a full-throttle sexed up homage to the jet set in the 1990s, he made satin shirts, velvet suits, psychedelic prints (and sometimes G-thongs) mainstays of menswear.
After a brief, and by his own admission, painful tenure at YSL, Ford set up his own label in 2004 where he continued his exploration into uptown dressing – there were no track-pants or hoodies here. At the same time, his beauty and fragrance line provided a more affordable entry into his world. Ford also pushed the envelope in provocative and sexually-charged marketing – who can forget the G shaved into a woman’s pubic hair for Gucci or the full frontal nude guy advertising YSL’s M7 fragrance?
Ford had already made a couple of highly acclaimed side-steps into the world of film (both Single Man and Nocturnal Animals surprised the public and critics alike with their sensitivity and style) and it is highly likely he will devote more time to directing and writing.
In the meantime, he leaves us with a short video featuring archive designs from the past thirteen years worn by the original ‘Tom Tom Club’ – super models such as Amber Valetta and Joan Smalls.
