If you were to describe a Tom Ford campaign – the metallic coldness, the affected vacancy of all the models, the high heeled cigarillo-like silhouettes – it would sound quite ostentatious, if not unoriginal. But somehow, with every ensuing campaign, the iconic fashion house manages to reinvent the wheel, while honouring classic fashion all the same. And this latest campaign is no different.
Flocking to the neon soaked backstreets of Shanghai, China, the Tom Ford F/W campaign feels like it was dipped in the Wong Kar Wai catalogue, before Nicolas Winding Refn got his hands on the prints and said, “You know what? I think we need a bit more neon, but make it glacial.”
Taking a cue from The Matrix with the added backdrop of Shanghai makes for an indelible smoothie of inimitable fashion under the continued, and clearly successful, creative direction of Peter Hawkings.
Each new Tom Ford collection remains relatively untouched year after year, but I say that as a compliment. The black, wide rimmed, engulfing sunglasses; the wet-like leather pants and jackets; the Cuban heeled Chelsea boots; the high-cheek-boned indifference – it’s all there, it’s all the same, and it’s all different. Does that even make sense? Not really. But good art doesn’t have to.
A sun-glassed face in the east, the symbiotic phantom floats through the city in a long coat and leather suitcase in hand, and as he passes by, we can’t help but wonder where he got his clothes from.
The collection is now available in store and online.
