NEW YORK – Tom Ford closed New York Fashion Week on Wednesday with Madonna on his front row and a runway full of big hair, disco cowgirls and sequins for miles.
Love was clearly on his mind, and dancing all night.
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On a reflective runway worthy of all that shine, to a soundtrack of “Addicted to Love,” “The Look of Love,” "Pure/Honey" and “Take on Me,” Ford's models were more than a little ready to party ‘70s and ’80s style on his downtown catwalk.
He rolled out embellished sets of tiny velvet shorts and matching jackets of bright red and blue adorned with flowers, leaves and butterflies, some with a touch of cowboy fringe. Other models walked in sporty short-shorts of silver and gold, and low-slung trousers and skirts in silver and mint, tiny and sheer bralettes peaking out.
He put multicolored applique of hearts and stars on some of his looks, and several of his models wore low-heeled, dance-all-night boots above the knee in purple and gold. One walked in a killer pastel purple tracksuit with a midriff jacket and wide-legged pants.
And there was an after-party of skimpy black lingerie paired with multicolored sequin jackets.
Madonna was joined by her daughter, Lourdes Leon, Chris Rock, Erykah Badu, Nicole Richie, Katie Holmes, Frances Tiafoe, Ciara and more.
Ford routinely mixes the sexes on his runway, as he did this time around. There was a bright pink suit for one of his men worn tone-on-tone with a tie and lighter shade of dress shirt. Thonged women got leather jackets, all in black, as did a man in short lace boxers emblazoned with Ford's eponymous brand name. Another of his men walked in a watery white dinner jacket.
Ford switched moods and slowed it down for his finale with Freddie Mercury’s “Time,” sending out sexy metallic sequined gowns in copper, and two-tone green and blue, on Bella and Gigi Hadid, respectively. There were other long sequined gowns, some with high slits and cut outs, in purple and sea green, and a sparkly bride holding an equally bedazzled bouquet.
His Studio 54 girls rocked huge hoop sequined earrings to match their sparkle as Mercury sang: “We've got to build this world together or we'll have no more future at all, because time, it waits for nobody.”
Was the end a Ford lament? A sentimental lookback? A processing of the pandemic, politics and where the immediate future is going?
The designer offered soft white couches to his guests, but no show notes, letting Mercury's words linger: “You don't need me to tell you what's gone wrong. You know what's going on. And it seems to me we’ve not cared enough or confided in each other at all. It seems like we’ve all got our backs against the wall.”