Design Muse: Tom Ford

I don't think that any designer has been as successful at breathing life back into fashion than Tom Ford has. His dedication to fashion that has a character, mind, and movement of its own has brought the attention back to what true design should possess and convey. His infusion of masculine sexuality into fashion has given him great strides in territory left untreaded. He's not afraid to be pictured in W magazine nude slapping a towel against the rears of two male models in a shower, or to massage a derriere with a car buffer. His insistence on male objectification has given more thought and appreciation of the allure and power of the male form stripped away from the oversexed connotations oft associated with it. In his interview with Interview magazine he stated on the male form, "I’m very comfortable with naked bodies. Full frontal male nudity challenges us. It makes men nervous. It makes women nervous. Other times in history, male nudes have been regarded in a different way. The Olympics were originally held nude."
Tom Ford's menswear exhbits a sleek, modern quality similar to Dolce and Gabbana and DSquared2 but with much more mystery and refinement. His Spring 2011 collection showing at Ford's Manhattan was the first runway show I had seen where the garments shown actually lived. It was as if every piece had a story to tell, a personality to exhibit. Fashion has fallen so out of touch with the principles of design and places too much focus on the garment as a product to be sold and distributed. On his return to the world of fashion when he left out of dissatisfaction with industry practices, Ford says, "I decided I would never go back to fashion until I had something new to say, until I could have fun creating fashion again. It had become really formulaic." Tom Ford is one of my greatest inspirations because he cultivates the organic experience that creates beautiful fashion. Check out my fave photos after the jump.