Haider Ackermann's Tom Ford show played out in near darkness behind glass, with sharp pinstripes, black leather, red cut-out gowns and barely-there swimwear. More than half the looks had a jacket, blazer or coat.
Tom Ford Spring 2027: Sexual, Louche, a Little Bit Dangerous
No prudery tolerated
A few days before the show, Haider Ackermann posted a video of a model making love to his own reflection. It stopped me in my tracks, and it was the best preview possible, because the runway was exactly that.
The room was nearly pitch dark, with glass panes on the stage, and the models paused to admire themselves or cruised each other through the glass. Tina Turner and David Bowie were on the soundtrack, along with a pair of lovers. Whatever you thought you were going to see at Tom Ford, this was louder.
The clothes underneath the provocation
It would be easy to dismiss it as shock, and I think that would be wrong. The first look is a pinstriped suit tailored to make the most of the body, with an undone olive shirt and a thin scarf monogrammed in one corner.
The second is a woman in pinstripes carrying a briefcase and wearing a clinging fishnet tee with no bra. More than half of the 66 looks have a jacket, blazer or coat, and I think that tailoring is what keeps the whole show grounded. It is a suit brand wearing a negligee.
His, hers and theirs
The show cycles through his and hers and theirs versions of everything: black leather cocktail wear, with the Tom Ford logo laser-cut into a sleeveless muscle tee, then trenches and flysuits in military green, faded and distressed jeans and cargos, and possibly the shortest men's shorts of the season. Then comes the red.
Gowns with strategic cut-outs and hip-high slits, rhinestone halter tops and jackets for the women, and suave tuxedos and tank tops cut to show the male décolletage for the men. I love that nobody gets the sexier outfit by default. A flower on the lapel, red, black or white, is the detail I would steal.
The bathing suits
The finale is a run of barely-there black bathing suits, built for maximum exposure and made more for posing than for laps. A male model with a seventies mustache wears a turtleneck with racing briefs, and when he turns around, the back is a g-string.
Ackermann's own defense backstage was that it is sensual, even with the models' backsides out. It is sexual, louche and a little bit dangerous, and I think he out-Forded Tom Ford. The tailoring earlier in the show is why it works. Without it, this would only be a joke.
