Ford bids a foxy farewell
It was a send-off worthy of a rock star. When Tom Ford presented his final collection for Gucci on Wednesday night, everyone was a groupie, embracing him after the show in what turned into a kind of congratulatory mosh pit. There were tears and goodbye kisses, and some people even held cameras over their heads to snap photos of one of fashion’s last superstars.
The collection touched on some of Ford’s greatest hits, beginning with structured coats in rich burgundy or plum that combined fur and leather with elaborate pin tucks, pleats and wide velvet belts. As it moved into eveningwear, things heated up with a blue velvet blazer (Ford himself often wears a black one), some seriously sexy beaded leggings and the new jewel-toned double-G logo bag with a gold chain handle.
Gowns with a wrapped ribbon effect around the top, much like those he showed a couple of seasons ago, shimmied with fringe at the bottom. The matching stilettos laced around the ankles with fur cuffs. Ford united his men’s and women’s collections, sending out handsome lads in velvet tuxes to accompany ladies in blush pink beaded dresses with snake brooches, a nod to last fall’s collection.
Buyers said they are planning on stocking up for fall in anticipation of shoppers’ hoarding tendencies. What may become the most collectible pieces were the white jersey gowns, draped and goddess-like, recalling those that made him a star in the first place, when he had his runway debut at Gucci in 1995. They were shown beautifully on models with simple chignons and single white flowers in their hair. One gown had just one long sleeve, another a keyhole back, a third a cutout on the hip. It began for Ford as it ended, with a simple white dress.
Emotions ran high after the show, as rose petals rained down on the white-carpeted runway and the song “You’re Free” started playing. Ford’s life partner, the magazine editor Richard Buckley, whom the designer stopped to kiss as he walked out to take his bow, said he felt like a chapter of his life was ending.
Dawn Mello, the former Gucci exec who hired Ford from Perry Ellis in 1990, said she knew he was special even then. “There was more than just creativity. There was another dimension to Tom. He had great business sense.”
Ford and Gucci President and Chief Executive Domenico De Sole announced in November that they would be stepping down because they could not work out the terms of their contracts with parent company Pinault-Printemps-Redoute. They had engineered a transformation of Gucci from a foundering label with $200 million in revenue to a nearly $3-billion luxury conglomerate with subsidiaries including Yves Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen and Bottega Veneta.
There were many times Ford could have walked away, Mello said: When the business was struggling financially, he was designing several categories at once, and he had better offers from other companies. But he didn’t, because he knew Gucci had the potential to be great. “I was saddened that it had to come to this,” she said, “but Gucci is something that will always be with us.”
Ford didn’t say much as he kissed the hundreds of well-wishers mobbing him after the show. When asked what he was going to do next, he said he didn’t know.
