Though it’s nowhere near as packed out with debuts as September is set to be – as Matthieu Blazy, Glenn Martens, Michael Rider, and Louise Trotter present their inaugural collections for Chanel, Margiela, Celine, and Bottega Veneta respectively, plus a bunch of as-yet-unnamed designers take over Gucci, Fendi, and Dior Men – this season has still seen more big firsts than is typically de rigeur at fashion week.
First up was Julian Klausner at Dries Van Noten yesterday (March 5), while fans of Givenchy will get their Friday night kicks from Sarah Burton tomorrow (March 7). Sandwiched in between them both, though, was Haider Ackermann, who seduced the fashion industry – or at least the handful of them that were actually invited to the uber-intimate show – with his debut offering for Tom Ford. Here’s everything you need to know.
Tom Ford is (in)famous for creating some of the hottest ad campaigns of the last 30 years – who can forget when men in satin souvenir jackets got down on their knees to worship women whose pubic hair had been shaped into Gucci logos, or the time Sophie Dahl shed her clothes and reclined naked across a chaise longue for Yves Saint Laurent’s perfume Opium? Unsurprisingly, most of Ford’s ads got banned, and if they didn’t they at least had conservatives clutching their pearls. While times have changed since then and some of the stuff Ford served up just wouldn’t fly, Ackermann put his own spin on Ford’s archival imagery by enlisting Ethan James Green to snap Saskia De Brauw in nothing but for a pair of opaque tights to herald his arrival at the house.
Tom Ford is not shy – like, come on, you wouldn’t be either if you were that hot, right? The designer often starred in his own campaigns, baring his chest as blood red manicured nails tore across it for his fragrance line for example. Seems like Ackermann is similarly no shrinking violet, as alongside his Saskia De Brauw pics, he also teased his first show with a portrait of himself. Kitted out in silk PJs with mussed-up bedhead hair, the Colombian designer is captured in bed reading a copy of The New York Times wrapped in a special Tom Ford cover. A few hours after the photo landed on social media, Ford himself showed up at his friend Stella McCartney’s show, where he playfully recreated the image with McCartney’s own newspaper, posing on the front row as photographers elbowed each other to get the shot.
Paris Fashion Week’s been a bit weird this season, with downsized venues leaving editors fighting for tickets, and Tom Ford was no different. Taking place in an intimate space on the Place Vendôme, it was largely only attended by the upper echelons of the fashion industry (CEOs, editors-in-chief, etc) while the rest of us logged on to the live stream from Parisian terraces with a wine in hand – which… quite chic actually! Likewise, there was very little in the way of the usual celebrity circus attending the show, despite Ackermann’s little black book bursting at the seams with names of famous mates. Despite that, however, a few did manage to get the invite including Kate Moss, actors Letitia Wright and Michael Ward, Jared Leto and current Dazed cover star Doechii in a high-cut black leotard puffing on a cig.
Where Tom Ford’s brand of sexiness is glossed, oiled, and in-your-face, Ackermann is a bit more reserved. The Colombian designer’s collections under his own name would largely be described as sensual over out-and-out sexy, with his stellar Jean Paul Gaultier guest spot really showcasing his proclivity for that – it’s not just about how clothes look for Ackermann, but how they move and even sound, too (a tracksuit made from hundreds of thousands of tinkling dress pins, anyone?) The first looks out of the gate really hammered that home.
There were sleek trenches cinched at the waist, minimal motorcycle jackets matched with slim trousers that cut off at the ankle, and sleek single-breasted overcoats, all crafted from leather so soft that it basically looked like liquid – essentially, the kind of clothes you just want to reach out and stroke. Tailoring, for which Ackermann is really revered, came strong, with guys in boxy double crested blazers, and girls in hourglass-shaped sculpted jackets, and there were more relaxed looks in the form of tactile oversized sweaters which were paired with silk bias-cut skirts with asymmetric strap detailing to the hip, in a playful nod to Ford’s iconic Gucci G-string.
What was perhaps most surprising was Ackermann’s exuberant use of vivid colour. Though he’s not adverse to veering away from seductive black (remember that little red halterneck look Timothee Chalamet wore in Venice a few years back?) LINK, this time he got really involved with the colour chart. Turning out suits in zingy canary yellow, pale bon-bon pink, faded highlighter green, and sugary lilac and bluebell, he also transformed rich emerald silk-satin into a sweeping floor length gown with long sleeves that we’d put money on Tilda Swinton wearing in the not-too-distant future.
All in all, the collection really respected the codes of the house that Tom built, while perfectly balancing it with Ackermann’s own approach to design – he might have felt like a rogue choice to take the job when news first broke, but last night made it clear he was the right man after all.
As the show came to its close, Ackermann appeared on the runway to take his final bow, crossing the catwalk to give Tom himself a massive kiss. Tom wasn’t the only one impressed with his performance though – the bob herself, Ms. Anna Wintour, rose out of her seat to give him a standing ovation. For those who don’t realise how monumental this is, the Vogue editor doesn’t dish them out at any old show – despite being in the job for over 40 years, you can count on two hands just how many times she’s demonstrated such admiration, with Karl Lagerfeld’s last Chanel show, Marc Jacobs’ final Louis Vuitton outing, and Sarah Burton’s McQueen swansong among those that have roused her enough to get on her feet.
