Q&A: On the eve of New York Fashion Week, Tom Ford talks about his move to L.A. and the future of his brand

The day before he’s set to kick off New York Fashion Week by sending his fall/winter 2016 collections down the runway and right into retail, fashion designer and filmmaker Tom Ford took a break from model and VIP fittings at his Madison Avenue boutique to talk about the logistics of actually pulling off a see now/buy now collection, how he juggles his two, high-profile careers and why he’s still looking for a place to live in Los Angeles – even though everyone thinks he bought a $50-million Beverly Hills mansion out from under Jay Z and Beyoncé.

While showing a collection that consumers don’t have to wait for months to buy certainly makes sense — especially when they can watch a livestream of the runway show — what’s a little harder to understand is the supply part of the supply-and-demand equation. How is this going to work?

It’s actually pretty easy because I finished [designing] the collection at the exact same time that I always would have — way back in February [2016] — so I had a collection that I could have shown…. Neiman’s had to buy it. Bergdorf’s had to buy it. So the showroom was open as usual, and everyone signed a non-disclosure agreement. So I’d already identified the exact outfits that would be on the runway that [retailers] had bought: a particular blouse, a skirt, a pair of shoes. That’s the only way it would work. All those things are downstairs right now. They’ve been steamed and they’re ready to go tomorrow night. [Tonight store employees] will stay up late. They’ll take down all the old merchandise, and the whole store flips to what was just in the show.

And, in 10 days, I [will] define the [look of the] show that I will show in L.A. on the Friday before the Oscars — which I am doing again.

So the runway looks are locked in pretty early in the process — based on buyer response?

Right now, I’m doing fittings because I can change the girl, the hair and the makeup and what pieces of music I want to have playing. But [garment-wise] I cannot change a thing because it’s not only been bought, but over the summer, we photographed each one of those outfits live on a girl, and as individual pieces, priced them all for our site because the minute the show is over it goes live and you can buy it.

How do you see that affecting the role of the fashion industry press?

Newspapers journalists are still fine. They can still write and show pictures – and short-lead press like People, Us [Weekly] and In Style, that can turn things around fast will be fine. Vogue.com? Absolutely fine. Online? Yes. Long-lead magazines? Hmmm. No. So I may have to come up with something in between those seasons for long-lead press. I have no idea. I’m kind of just playing it by ear to see how it works. Tomorrow night is the big test. I think it will work from a retail standpoint. I’d be very surprised if we don’t get a lot of women in here the next day who watched [the show online] or looked at photos from it and want to buy it.

Does the changing nature of your runway collection have any impact on the dressing you do for the red carpet?

That’s different because I usually make those things custom … I made one for Amy Adams the other night [for] Venice. It looked great so I’m immediately copying it to put it in our stores. But most of those I do from scratch for special events. I make Beyoncé’s costumes a lot. I make things for actresses all the time, but they don’t usually want to wear something from the collection.

Speaking of the collection, what can you tell us about the fall/winter 2016 collection that will be livestreamed out to the world on Wednesday night?

There will be beautiful clothes! I never talk about the clothes — they have to speak for themselves. And you’ll see that tomorrow.

You’re just back from the Venice Film Festival where your second film, “Nocturnal Animals,” received a pretty positive response. Has it gotten easier or harder to juggle the demands and schedules of the film and fashion worlds?

I plan all that so far in advance. There’s only one window every year where I can actually film a movie and that’s the fall, because in between the women’s shows in September and the men’s shows in January I have a blank space. So, to film, I have to do it in the fall, which I did for this movie — last fall — and which I did for “A Single Man,” seven years ago.

But editing is different. I set up an editing suite in my office in London where I’ll edit for two or three hours, go out for a fitting [for] two or three hours, go back and edit three or four hours, go back to the fitting [for] two or three hours. I did that for seven months. And it’s actually been convenient that there haven’t been any creative decisions — beyond the hair and makeup — for me to make for tomorrow’s show because that’s allowed me to go to [the] Venice [Film Festival], and I’ll be able to go to [the upcoming] Toronto [International Film Festival] and then L.A., where I have a design studio now. I’m going to be working and living in L.A. this school year instead of in London. [Ford’s son Jack starts school in L.A. on Wednesday.]

Oh, right. I read somewhere that you bought a huge Beverly Hills mansion out from under Jay Z and Beyoncé for $50 million.

That’s not true. I didn’t buy that house. I looked at that house, but I didn’t buy that house. We’re still looking for a house.

But you did sell your house in Santa Fe, N.M., right?

Actually that was a ranch, which is an hour away from our house in Santa Fe.

Is the work/life shift to Los Angeles going to be long-term?

We’re going to try it and see how I like it.

Last question: You’re not the only designer showing an in-season buy-it-now collection during the next seven days. There are also a handful of temporary retail shops popping up around town in the same time frame. Do you think this is a defining season for New York Fashion Week – and the future of the fashion industry overall?

I think fashion is changing, and nobody’s quite sure of what it’s changing into. So everyone is trying different things. I think it will ultimately settle – I think into what I’m doing. Because it’s the last thing in the world where you see stuff and can’t have it for six months. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Pre-show streaming of the Tom Ford Fall/Winter 2016 runway show in New York begins at 6:15 p.m. Pacific on Sept. 7 at tomford.com.

For more musings on all things fashion and style, follow me @ARTschorn.

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