The Friday of Oscars weekend is no time for Tom Ford to be in New York—not when Jennifer Lopez, Renée Zellweger, and Miley Cyrus, along with Jason Momoa, Jon Hamm, and Jeff Bezos, are descending on Los Angeles in the party-filled lead-up to the big awards ceremony. All of them were in the designer’s front row at Milk Studios in Hollywood tonight, the star wattage across the country somewhat dimmed on the opening day of Fashion Week.

Ford has had his naysayers, those who’ve criticized the new CFDA chairman’s move west. But he was utterly in his element here. His power and persuasiveness as a designer is glamour—both his own and that of his A-list clients. How many times did that picture of Zendaya in his spring 2020 molded plastic breastplate on the Grammys red carpet zing around the world? How many more photo opportunities did Ford create tonight?

The proximity of so much fame suggested that he might have had a red carpet collection in store for us. That didn’t come until the end. Instead Ford seemed interested in extending the conversation he started recently, filtering concepts of simplicity, ease, and wearability through an L.A. lens. There was glam of a laid-back variety. He described it as “chic, possibly slightly stoned, and very sensual,” and said he was inspired by a 1967 Bob Richardson photo of Baron Alexis de Waldner and Donna Mitchell sharing a cigarette or a joint. “For me it’s very L.A.”

Replacing last season’s rolled-sleeve tees were sweatshirts sliced at the shoulders, a little boxy and oversize, which were paired with sexy bias-cut embroidered skirts. One model tossed a leopard spot duster coat over a logo sweatsuit in athletic gray—she could have been dashing out for a Kreation juice. Another accessorized her track pants with a sweeping tie-dyed caftan in sunset orange, very Saturday in Malibu. The last time Ford brought his show to L.A.—on the eve of the 2015 Oscars—was the last time he put denim on the runway. It turned up again here, faded and patchworked, with a haute DIY feel. The guys, usually so precise, wore slouched-on satin pants with their embroidered dinner jackets.

The disco ball started twirling to the Fugees’s version of “Killing Me Softly” as Ford sent out his high-glam dresses. The million-dollar question is: Could any of them end up on the most important red carpet of all this Sunday? Our money is on Bella Hadid’s slinky crystalline number with double velvet bows. Ford was definitely speaking J. Lo’s language; she was first on her crystal stilettoed feet to cheer him on.

Source: Vogue

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