Runway to register
Tom Ford marries cutting edge with old-school cool for his men’s and women’s fall/winter 2016 collection
NEW YORK — Tom Ford sent his fall/winter 2016 men’s and women’s collections down the runway — and straight to retail — in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday night at an event that managed to be both cutting edge and old-school cool.
The former thanks to a multicamera live-stream that made the show viewable to anyone with an Internet connection — and the collection buyable online immediately afterward. And the latter was thanks to an intimate 180-person dinner party that included a galaxy of famous FOT (friends of Tom) including Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Anna Wintour, Terry Richardson and Diane von Furstenberg.
The dinner was a show in and of itself thanks to celebrity table pairings that had Jon Hamm sitting next to Gina Gershon, Rande Gerber and Cindy Crawford and just one table over from Alicia Keys, who sat elbow-to-elbow with Julianne Moore, Hanks and Wilson. Then there were Neil Patrick Harris and Lauren Hutton chatting enthusiastically a few feet away from the table where Uma Thurman, Joel Edgerton, Naomi Campbell and Rita Ora tucked into smoked salmon and Champagne.
Nearly as soon as the dinner plates had been swept from the tables, the main event began: a runway show featuring the men’s and women’s collections that Ford’s boutiques, website and retail partners would be selling in a few hours’ time. There was definitely a hint of the late ’60s/early ’70s vibe Ford frequently references — particularly in the patchworked leather coats for women and boldly patterned velvet dinner jackets for men — though just as many pieces embodied a more timeless sort of glamour. And even though there were plenty of sequins, jaguar-spot prints and feathered embroidered tube skirts, there were enough tweed midi skirts, tunic tops and wide-legged pants to make the whole range feel wearable and accessible. (And for good reason — in a Q&A in advance of the show, Ford explained that the pieces on the runway were ones retail partners like Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman had already bought to stock in their stores.)
The standout pieces of the women’s collection included a geometric-patterned, floor-length sequined gown in brown, black and white; a long-sleeve top embroidered with sequins and shards of metal to create a shimmering icicle effect; and a full-length leather coat of ombre patchwork squares, with a pink-dyed kalgan lamb collar and jaguar-printed kid goat fur lining.
The most memorable looks from the menswear offerings included a black, waterproof silk parka that fell to mid-calf and included a detachable hood trimmed in coyote fur and worn over a cashmere turtleneck and shawl collar tuxedo; an equally long gray herringbone tweed coat layered over a Donegal tweed notch-lapel jacket, a cashmere turtleneck and generously cut Donegal tweed trousers; and the range of boldly patterned shawl collar dinner jackets, particularly one in several shades of eye-catching green.