While most designers are showing Spring ’17, Tom Ford’s drawing in his customer with a see-now, buy-now approach.
Tom Ford is one designer who chose to bridge the retail and runway gaps. The designer presented his Fall 2016 collection in New York on Wednesday and set the stage for one very classy and intimate dining experience, his new collection includes leather belts and multicolor fur coats. Stars in attendance included Karlie Kloss, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Julianne Moore, Tom Hanks, Rita Ora, and more. What about the clothes? They were sexy and powerful—classic Ford. With his signature precision, Ford cut leather tops and tweed pencil skirts; leopard prowled his catwalk on dresses and coats; and the last section of sequined gowns was lavish in its execution.
Grace Hartzel opened the show in a chestnut leather blazer and pencil skirt, her hair cropped into a retro shag.
As modeled by some lesser-known catwalkers, the clothes — a bit ’70s, a bit Western — included tweed pencil skirts and exaggerated cinched-at-the-waist tweed jackets. There was tie-dye leather everywhere, from the harness-like belts to the leopard-lined jackets.
The women strutted their stuff at the Four Seasons in tall leather boots, several of them also decked out in gold, Western-inspired jewelry, any girl who’s inspired by the ’70s will covet the shearling patchwork and fur coats and geometric, spindly jewels.
Philippe Chansel, Tom Ford’s Beauty Director of Innovation and Product Development, explained the look. “It’s very, very natural. Mr. Ford was very enthused by the [natural] beauty of the models… It’s kind of grooming, and polishing and giving the models just a slightly better than real look, but it still looks very real and fresh.”
The biggest supermodels to take the runway for a Fashion Week presentation are usually the first down the catwalk — or else they close out the show with the big finale. But at Tom Ford’s very exclusive New York Fashion Week show on Wednesday night, Gigi Hadid walked out right in the middle.
Model: Gigi Hadid
Model: Karly Loyce
Model: Mica Arganaraz
Model: Sasha Luss
Model: Imaan Hammam
