Tom Ford kicks off NYFW in style
GIGI HADID TOOK a dramatic twirl on the runway and Cardi B took a seat on Tom Ford’s front row as he kicked off New York Fashion Week with a ready-to-wear collection that was both romantic and hard-edged.
The spring-summer looks for all genders had the designer looking back on his long career to the simplest reason he got into the business in the first place: “I wanted to make men and women feel more beautiful and to empower them with a feeling of confidence,” he said in show notes.
“I feel that fashion has somehow lost its way a bit,” Ford explained. “I did not want to make clothes that were ironic or clever, but simply clothes that were beautiful.”
Ford made use of flesh tones, warm whites, powder blue, blush pink and the palest lilac with touches of lace and chiffon to achieve the soft and sensuous part of Wednesday night’s equation. He offered the structure of hard leather and the sheen of fake crocodile for toughness.
There was an abundance of black, including a dreamy caped dress worn by his closer, Hadid. Kaia Gerber wore a head scarf of soft taupe, while other models swished in silk fringe paired with printed crocodile bodices, tailored animal print corsets and halters with matching biker jackets. For the men, tuxedo jackets came in metallics. For the women, skirts hovered just below the knee, some in an asymmetrical design. A few loose dresses included leather corset detailing. Henry Golding, who plays hunky Nick in Crazy
Rich Asians, wore a white tuxedo jacket. He and Tom Hanks flanked Vogue’s Anna Wintour.
Paris Jackson, Hailee Steinfeld and Hanks’ wife, Rita Wilson, also attended the show. AP