I love this dress.
I love Candice in it.
Stunning.
Candice Swanepoel wears TOM FORD at Moet & Chandon Etoile Awards. Image via @CandiceEgypt
Candice with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Image via @CandiceEgypt
The black floral chantilly lace evening dress is one of my favorite pieces from the Autumn/Winter 2011 Collection – its spectacular, isn’t it?
UHREARCHK98X
Before you get too excited, I don’t have official pictures of the TOM FORD Spring/Summer 2011 Collection to share with you.
At least, not exactly.
What I do have is two pictures that serve as a nice teaser. For those of us that weren’t lucky enough to attend the TOM FORD London Fashion Week presentation on September 18th, 2011, these pictures are the next best thing.
First, let’s take a look at the makeup. Model Jasmine Tookes was kind enough to instagram this gorgeous shot of her beauty look from the TOM FORD show. A bold, strong lip and smokey eyes were clearly the look of the evening. And check out those killer brows – bet they used the new Brow Sculptor pen!
Image via Jasmine Tookes Instagram
So, what’s better than a photo of the makeup at the TOM FORD presentation? How about a photo of the lineup?
Better yet – how about a photo of the lineup wearing the TOM FORD Spring/Summer 2011 designs? Thanks to Candice Swanepoel, we have just that.
Behold:
Image via Candice Swanepoel Twitter Page
Obviously, these images are simply teasers. We can’t see the full designs, but they certainly do offer nice hints of the fabric, cuts and styles that highlight the Spring/Summer 2012 Collection.
Is it as good as seeing the real images? Of course not. But unfortunately we won’t be able to see those until Mr. Ford wants us too – and that time is at least a month away!
Meanwhile, what we can do is take what we see above and combine that with what we do know about the Presentation. What results is a lovely image that almost makes me feel like I was there.
Almost.
Now, let’s take a look at what people are saying about the presentation around the web:
KirstieClements’s twitter: Abbey Lee opened Tom Ford’s super sexy show oz model fans! (Editor Note: Other models included Aline Weber, Anais Mali, Anja Rubik, Aymeline Valade, Bette Franke, Candice Swanepoel, Carmen Kass, Caroline Brasch Nielsen, Daphne Groeneveld, Edita Vilkeviciute, Emily Senko, Fei Fei Sun, Jasmine Tookes, Joan Smalls, Kristina Salinovic, Lais Ribeiro, Mirte Maas, Morgane Warnier, Olga Sherer, Sheila Marquez, Sojourner Morrell, and Sui He.)
angelcandice’s twitter: Tom Ford show was beyond amazing as always! So lucky to be a part of such an amazing production. #glamourelegance
chiaramakeup’s twitter: The Tom Ford show was absolutely gorgeous today! hectic is not enough to describe the mood in the backstage…
MarianNewman’s twitter: In this job the results are glamourous. The process isn’t always! With Tom Ford the process is glamourous. The results are beyond that!
elle_canada’s twitter: Fiercely sexy, bold beauties prowled Tom Ford’s London catwalk. From boho cowgirls to red carpet sirens.nf #LFW
rzrachelzoe’s twitter: I can’t breathe from The Tom Ford presentation..there r no words for his genius..xoRZ
WarrenMHolmes’s twitter: Tom Ford….Vampires and Vixens…..BIBLICAL!!!! #londonfashionweek #lfw
HilaryAlexander’s twitter: Vamps vixens and virgins.rockstar style at Tom Ford!london Fashion Week
amcELLE’s twitter: Tom Ford. Utter seductive perfection. I could tell you more but then I’d have to kill you #LFW
jo_elvin’s twitter: Tom Ford so happy at his show. Tried to get his partner to take a bow with him, Richard too shy to do it! Very sweet. Great show.
jo_elvin’s twitter: Tom ended showsaying, ‘I’m not going backstage because there is no backstage. So get up!’
BazaarUK’s twitter: Tom Ford. We salute you. Period. *faints*
marionaustin’s twitter: Tom Ford show was fabulous. Luxury and glamour, very seductive. I’m honoured to have been there. Oh and @angelcandice! You looked gorgeous!
mrjoezee’s twitter: Just left a Tom Ford collection that was beyond pure glamour. I am always obsessed with his sexy, chic, don’t-mess-with-me woman. #WOW
FashionCanada’s twitter: Post-Tom Ford, very mixed reviews in my car, but there’s no denying Tom loves a sexy, vamp woman. And that purple! @LondonFashionWk #LFW -rt
Lisa Armstrong for The Telegraph: “pencil skirts, to the knee, sometimes with a fish tail, tightly cinched in cummerbunds and peasant tops, all of it balanced on delicately sculptured wedges or metal pin-heeled stilettos… the shirts unbuttoned way past bedtime, the tousled hair and the dark rings orbiting the models’ eyes… But the lady vamping is a classic, which requires someone to champion it right now… the detailing on these clothes was way beyond anything [Tom] attempted in his previous gigs. Mesh, marabou, raffia fringing, a candlewick effect which suggested long hours at the hand embroiderers, plaited satin ribbons – these were just some of the techniques applied onto those hourglass silhouettes…”
FLAREfashion’s twitter: Total bohemian dream @ Tom Ford! Sorry no pics allowed but will give full details soon! #LFW
FLAREfashion’s twitter: Tom Ford emphasized texture w/ downy marabou feathers vs. stiff, thick raffia trimming #LFW
FLAREfashion’s twitter: Tom Ford highlights: checkerboard print, peasant slvs, python pencil skirts, plunging necklines. Each boho look more luxe than the last #LFW
Jess Cartner-Morley for The Guardian: “I didn’t think Tom Ford’s show was all that. Not that it was awful, by any means, but despite the beautiful tailoring and the immaculate execution it fell a little flat. It felt too self-referential. Too many frills and too few new ideas. There were gorgeous, curvy, super vamp dresses that I loved, but the flouncy peasant blouses and corset belts seemed like a Guilty Pleasures version of Tom Ford.”
gbaudo’s twitter: Amazing tom ford…a powerful show inspired by spain, flamenco, seventies sexyness and eighties powerwomen
gbaudo’s twitter: Crocodile, white snake…the luxury world of tom ford meets the haute couture tradition in the evening dresses with rafia knittings
Cathy Horyn for The New York Times: “Mr. Ford’s show was thoroughly Tom Ford in its sex appeal and silhouette—tigress hair, smoky eyes, glossy lips, taut skirts and strappy high heels. The collection was loaded up with great day clothes, including loosely laced Moroccan blouses, fringed skirts and some simple but gorgeous dresses with ruching or a belt at the waist and a bubbled hem. A number of outfits also had corsets blended into the tone of the blouse. Equally strong were his evening option of slinky black pants—more like a ski pant—with a simple chiffon T-shirt coated with feathers at the front.”
ACglamour’s twitter: My fav look in Tom Ford show had elements of hippy-chic w/ a strong emphasis on chic, ie:Purple peasant top with a mini purple dirndl. #LFW
fromstephen’s twitter: The Tom ford presentation was amazing! Tons of rich purples, browns and even rafia. Pity that press photography wasn’t allowed. #LFW
derekblasberg’s twitter: Tom. Ford. Show. Was. Epic. (Only he could make crimped hair and elasticized waistbands look drop dead sexy.) It was pure glamour. #LFW
HoltRenfrew’s twitter: Tom ford presents to small intimate crowd .tough/fem women in strong colour perfection,exquisite fabrics tres luxe ^BarbAtkin
What do you think? Can you spy these elements in the photo above? I see peasant tops, purples, browns, checkerboard prints and plunging necklines… I just wish I could see more of them!
One day I would love to be a part of the lucky few who are invited to the TOM FORD presentations – the likes of which include Anna Dello Russo, Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld and Glenda Bailey. And one day I’d love to go to the after party. I promise I won’t take pictures at either…
Until then, this will do.
Plum Sykes recently penned an ingenious article for Vogue Daily in honor of the upcoming release of TOM FORD Beauty. In addition to the 10 Commandments listed above, she also shared some great quotes from Ford himself:
On the idea of on-the-go makeup:
“You can’t put this makeup on in the subway or in the car ever… if you paint your mouth on slightly crookedly, you no longer have a straight mouth, you have a crooked mouth. Why would you do that?”
On why makeup is the new “It” bag:
“You can take a little black dress and put on twenties makeup, thirties makeup, or seventies makeup, and that dress becomes totally different.”
On how to use his Shade and Illuminate Palette:
“If you don’t have that fabulously strong jaw, you could basically highlight where your neck is and shade where your chin is, and you would have a really strong look.”
On how women should approach make-up:
“[they should think] what colors do I always like? What was my favorite period of makeup? What am I comfortable in? What time in my life did I think I looked my most amazing? What was I wearing? And from just thinking about those things, you can start to put together who you are. Then stick with it. It doesn’t mean your shoulder or heel shouldn’t change a little, but it gives you a base.”
Click here to read the rest and check out some additional photos of the Beauty Collection.
Click here to read my reviews of the Collection.
What about you – what beauty commandments do you live by?
Additional Recommended Reading:
Sneak Peak: The Complete TOM FORD Beauty Collection
The Complete TOM FORD Beauty Collection: What You Need to Know
Photo credit: Image created by me using TOM FORD Beauty Ad by Mert & Marcus
OK friends, this deal is too good to pass up!
Although the full TOM FORD Beauty Collection is not available stateside yet, the lippies are available for order on a number of U.S. websites. I have been stalking most of them day and night, waiting for any updates that look interesting to share with you all, and I finally hit the jackpot tonight!
If you are planning to order any (or all!) of the lippies online, now is the time to do it and Neiman Marcus is the place!
Here are the deets:
1. Add $100 worth of TOM FORD Beauty to your shopping cart. You can mix and match lippies, scents, etc.
2. Squeal with delight when you see the elegant Black Orchid rollerball perfume automatically get added to you cart! A $45 value of TOM FORD scent for FREE!
3. Start to giggle uncontrollably when this massive SECOND Gift with Purchase is added to your cart:
Available for a limited time only!
4. Hurry up and CHECKOUT before it sells out!
Seriously – there is no better deal out there right now!
I admit it. I bit the bullet and bought Violet Fatale, Indian Rose and Cherry Lush.
What about you?
Photo Credit: Simon Perry via Bergdorf Goodman Blog
We’ve already established that I have a soft spot for interviews that really get to the “heart” of what makes Tom Ford tick. The ones that hold my interest are those that go beyond what his latest designs look like or what plans he has hidden up his sleeve. They are the ones that really delve into his personality and offer insight into the man instead of the Brand.
Close friend Lisa Eisner recently interviewed him for a one-on-one “Bergdorf Goodman Conversation“ and it’s a good one. It’s clear that the two of them have a lot of respect for one another and he opened up to her in a way we seldom see.
Some of my favorite tidbits are:
On turning 50 in August:
I don’t think of it as a big year at all. I was born fifty. When I was five years old, I wanted to be fifty. I knew exactly what I was going to look like, exactly what I was going to be doing. Although when I was five, I had envisioned that I was going to have very distinguished gray at my temples, which I have decided to avoid. I always wanted to be fifty. I never felt like a little kid. I wanted to be at my parents’ cocktail parties. I wanted to live in a glamorous apartment—I thought in New York, but now I’d rather not live in New York. I think I had my midlife crisis in my forties. Now everything seems quite smoothed out.
On how he views his life at the moment:
I’m perfectly happy. I could die tomorrow. I feel like I’ve experienced so many things, and I’ve been so fortunate. I’ve had a great relationship in my life. I’ve had wonderful dogs. I’ve had a great career. I’ve had lots of things that have fulfilled me. I hope that I don’t die tomorrow. There are other things that I’d like to do. I hope that I get to be a little bit wiser and smarter, and keep learning things, and I’m looking forward to my old age in Santa Fe in my nineties as a sculptor—maybe wearing a lot of dark eye makeup like Louise Nevelson. I don’t know. I might have a Johnny Depp/Santa Fe/Louise Nevelson–sculptor moment in my nineties.
On often feeling like he is working 24 hours a day:
New York is very much work for me. When I used to live in New York, I had days where I didn’t have anything to do, and I’d wander around and go to art galleries, go to museums and walk around the streets, which I love, because I love New York. But my time there now is so limited, all I do is work, twenty-four hours a day. I have to work this weekend and finish all of my collections so that I can hand them off on Sunday evening, and I’m in Beijing Monday–Tuesday, in Shanghai Wednesday–Thursday, in Hong Kong Friday. Friday night I come back. I have one day off in London, and then I go to Milan, and then straight from Milan to Santa Fe. I mean, I work. And with computer and email, I think we all work twenty-four hours a day. I miss the days when you left your office and your assistant and you couldn’t work any more until Monday.
On spontaneity:
I’m not good with spontaneous. Even if I had the time, I would probably have a little schedule. And I’m not good with surprises. I went through a phase of thinking maybe I should become good with spontaneous, and then I thought, Why? If it makes me uncomfortable, why should I?
On the Tom Ford Woman:
The Tom Ford Woman for me is somebody who has her own sense of style. I don’t mean to say you always wear the same thing. You change and swing. You have different moods. It’s not necessarily related to what you’re reading about in fashion magazines. You have a look… and so my favorite customers, both men and women, are people who know themselves and what they like, what they don’t like, and what works on them… I don’t enjoy seeing a woman dressed in my clothes from head to toe exactly the way I showed it on the runway. I love when I see somebody who looks amazing and they happen to be wearing one of my jackets and a pair of shoes, they’re mixing things, and they know who they are.
On being recognized as a celebrity:
I always think, I’m not a celebrity, I’m not a film star, I can walk around on the streets, and then, when I do, I realize I really can’t. If I walk very fast and I don’t stop, maybe. If I linger, somebody comes up to me. They usually ask if they can take their picture with me, like I’m a building. It’s very strange… I do hate it. I’m a very shy person. The other day I was at the airport with Richard [Buckley] waiting for my luggage, and I heard people talking about me. I tried to avoid eye contact with them. And I had a flashback to when I was a kid, and everybody was making fun of me. I was the kid that everyone bullied at school. I was not like every other kid, especially in Texas. I wore a little suit and carried a briefcase in the third grade. I was completely different. I was terrible at team sports. I was not popular. So when I hear people saying my name and I can feel them staring at me, it’s a throwback to something I want to run from.
On the idea that men look good with age:
If they take care of themselves, they do. If they don’t, they don’t. Whether you’re a man or a woman, you have to take care of yourself. You don’t have to care about your looks. People reading this may think, Yeah, they don’t believe that. But looks are not the most important thing, by any means. But if one does care about one’s looks, key number one is stay thin. I’m the same weight now that I was when I was thirty-three years old. I weigh myself every day. If I gain more than three pounds, I eat vegetables for two or three days until I get back down to my weight.
On his diet:
I eat healthy foods. I don’t eat any fried foods ever. I never ever have ice cream; I probably haven’t had it in fifteen years. I eat sorbet instead. I definitely watch what I eat. Then, on top of it, I eat candy. [laughs] It’s true! I eat really healthy foods, but then at least once a day I eat some total piece of junk sugar… I quit [Diet Coke] because of the artificial sweeteners. I’d been trying to do that for years. I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t smoke cigarettes, I don’t do any drugs. It’s very exciting. A life on water… You actually discover that water has a flavor… I’m kidding. Water is so boring! But that’s all I drink.
On individualism:
I think it’s a reaction against what we went through in the ’90s, which was a mass globalization, thanks to the Internet. All of a sudden, all over the world, everyone was watching, looking, wearing, drinking the same thing at the same time. We’re experiencing a backlash to that, and everyone all over the world wants to be an individual. There are some cultures that are just awakening to materialism, that have been deprived for so long, and feel the need to look like everybody else, to say, “Hey, I’ve made it too, and I can afford this product as well.” But in mature cultures, there’s a new sort of individuality now. You can go online and get any obscure work that you might not have been able to find before in a bookshop, or a rare film… everything can be online, you have things that were less well-known that have become very well-known because they are accessible. Does that make any sense?
***************
Some great stuff, right?
Those are just a few of the many highlights in this interview… I could easily go on and on, but then I’d basically be reprinting the whole thing.
This one is a must read for the Tom Ford fans out there! Check it out in its entirety here.
Looking forward to seeing what the next 50 have in store for Tom Ford… and us!
I am wearing my favorite Tom Ford (True Coral) lippie today and watching A Single Man to celebrate. What about you?
Image via the Official Tom Ford Facebook Page
Want to know how Mr. Ford himself feels about the big 5-0? Check this post out.
Want to know why I adore Mr. Ford so damn much? Read Thank You, Tom Ford.
“Sensuous for me is one of the most important words I would use to describe my cosmetics collection. Beauty that is sensuous is touchable and powerful.” – Tom Ford
I think it’s safe to say that if you are visiting this particular blog you are a fan of Tom Ford.
As such, you are probably pretty excited about the upcoming release of the Complete TOM FORD Beauty Collection. Am I right?
I have to admit the anticipation is slowly driving me mad…
I gave you a sneak peek of the promotional images earlier this month and by now you have probably seen quite a bit of additional coverage around the web. The lucky folks living in Ireland and the UK have access to the collection before we do, so images of the actual products (with swatches and all) are appearing all over.
I wanted to take a minute to cover some basics you should know before you check out the collection in stores.
“The ultimate goal of these products is to enable any woman, no matter her age or features, to create a complete look in which her individual beauty is amplified and she appears to radiate from within.” – Tom Ford
The promo shots were a great way to wet our appetites, but you are probably wondering what the actual content of the collection is… how many eyeshadows, lipsticks and brushes will you be able to choose from? Let’s break it down.
Image via Beaut.ie
Eyes:
Lips:
Face:
Brushes and Skincare:
Fragrances:
Nail Lacquer:
There are a total of 18 lipsticks in the collection (and they are all available NOW on Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Bergdorfs!), but not all of the existing Private Blend Lip Colors made the cut and the packaging will be changing from white/gold to black/gold.
Here is where things stand:
New Shades:
Image via Beaut.ie
Original Shades That Remain:
Is your favorite missing? If you are a fan of any of the colors that are being discontinued (or of the white packaging!), get them now before its too late! For a limited time you can still order online at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, or reserve via phone at Bergdorfs.
Original Shades Being Discontinued:
Again, the NEW Lip Color line is available for order NOW at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Bergdorf Goodman!
If you want to take a look at various swatches and reviews from around the web, check these sites out:
I have decided I want everything. Time to renew my makeup and skin care collection!
What about you?
All images via Beat.ie, Tom Ford Facebook Page or Models.com
This is one of the best TOM FORD Fall/Winter 2011 editorials I have seen in the September issues. Carola looks absolutely breathtaking in these shots and I adore the vibrant colors used throughout. The clothing… the shoes… the jewelry… the makeup. Pure TOM FORD perfection!
Yes, please. Seriously coveting the lace!
I am under the spell of this snake choker…
… and this ring
The perfect red lip!
Rich, velvety fabrics and bold colors…
Animal print TOM FORD style!
Sheer fabrics combined with velvet and those to-die-for heels!
Which shot is your favorite?
Photoshoot Details:
Vogue Germany, September 2011
Photographer: Camilla Akrins
