by 
Thirteen years after launching his label, Tom Ford retired this week and — yes, you could describe this final offer, as the New York Times did, as underwhelming.
Rather than a live grand finale in front of an admiring audience during the regular fashion calendar, Ford opted for three short videos posted on the internet. Was this a commentary on the zero attention span era? A short show reel watched on a phone will always feel more like a shrug than a major moment, even if said videos feature Karlie Kloss, Amber Valletta, Joan Smalls, and Karen Elson.
These may be supermodels in the old world sense, not least because they all predate the TikTok era where anyone can wield, if only for 35 seconds, some degree of influence. But when the camera pans away from the models, you see they’re in a museum case, an unusually elegiac touch from a normally optimistic designer. And the only visitor to this museum is a rear view of a man—a reference perhaps to his other big hit, the Oscar-nominated film, A Single Man perhaps?
But this felt like a shrug laced with melancholy. I don’t mean that the clothes that Kloss and co wear are irrelevant. Skintight sequined and fringed gowns are likely to appear on a red carpet any minute. Let’s not forget that Zendaya, darling of the Millenials and Gen Zers, wore Tom Ford not too long ago. Even the biggest hits she reprized here, including the velvet pantsuit she first designed for Gucci in 1996 and the white cape dress Gwyneth Paltrow wore to the 2012 Oscars, feel more current than never.
It’s no coincidence that Ford managed to build a $2.8 billion brand from scratch, which it recently sold to Estée Lauder. It’s true that he was probably more famous for his sunglasses, perfume and makeup than his clothes, but for a designer to achieve mega status with not one but two brands is unprecedented. And then there are not one, but two critically acclaimed and Academy Award nominated films that he wrote, directed and produced (the other being Nocturnal Animals).
Ford has every right to feel thoughtful. Her husband and partner of more than thirty years, Richard Buckley, died 18 months ago, leaving Ford alone and with their young son to parent alone. While financially and reputationally more than avenged by his abrupt ouster from Gucci in 2004, the Tom Ford label has never exerted the cultural influence that his Gucci has.
Obviously someone like me will prefer the more visceral and present Ford because I was there for many of her big runway moments, including the show that launched her brand in 2010. Only 100 guests – it was so intimate, you could feel the dresses models brushing knees. You found yourself actively avoiding eye contact with them in case you ran into a stalker. And which models – Julianne Moore, Beyoncé, Rita Wilson, Lauren Hutton… No photographers though. Ford wanted it to be exclusive and special. But perhaps all this seems a bit Canute like now.
Those who have followed his career since the early 1990s will wonder if this final “show” means that, at 61, he will retire. Maybe from fashion. Twitter wants me to go back to Gucci. That seat, however, is filled for the time being. Either way, the industry might not be particularly interesting to him right now, with his reliance on instant memes rather than anything of lasting meaning. He tried to resurrect New York Fashion Week when he took over from Diane Von Furstenberg as president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2019, but with little success. Even Covid didn’t help.
Still, it’s hard to imagine that he’ll spend the rest of his years wandering around the new home in Palm Beach, Florida, for which he reportedly paid more than $50 million last year. Charity work calls. You have done an amazing job, together with Anna Wintour, in raising funds for all the small independent US designers fighting against the pandemic.
More films would be welcome. Politics? He’s never publicly expressed a huge interest, but Palm Beach brings him in close proximity to one of the biggest political beasts in years. And Ford has never been one to not say what he thinks.
It would be an elegant White House.
