Tom Ford Does Whatever He Wants

On the eve of his latest store opening (on swanky Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills), the infamous Tom Ford (again, our February cover boy) has been everywhere these days. Starting with his film A Single Man last year, Ford has slowly been making his presence known again in the fashion industry. Last September, Ford held an intimate presentation to show the re-launch of his womenswear label (he's been working on menswear since 2007) with a strict no-picture policy, sending the industry into a frenzy. This season Ford followed this up by allowing even less press and again no images.

The irony lies within the fact that in the late nineties and early aughts Ford pioneered the manipulation of the fashion-celebrity machine making his shows for Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent media spectacles andhelping to create the very monster he is now rebelling against. Today's epic shows (for example, Marc Jacobs' $1 million show this season) stem from Ford's own vision. But, in real terms, that was a decade ago, and people are allowed to change their minds and explore other ways of expressing themselves -- especially creative types -- and the recovering economy has forced people to rethink how luxury is represented. "I don't want to be reviewed," he told The LA Times' Booth Moore. "I'm not an artist with an opening; this is not a film. I'm just trying to make pretty clothes. And beautiful clothes make beautiful women, but sometimes they don't make fashion news. I don't want to be pushed to think about what we have that's new when we don't need anything new except another version of what we did last year that still looks good to me."

To be honest, it's the most refreshing take on fashion we've heard in a while, especially considering the recent obsession with pushing forward and designing "new" and "exciting" clothing. Ford, it seems, has matured and just wants to focus on his customer and create gorgeous wares for them with no concern of outside perception. And while we would think this could be a case of someone shooting themselves in the foot, Ford's collection -- sans pictures, mind you -- is one of the most talked about collections of the season, despite the fact that there's nothing, really, to talk about at this point.

Whether this turnabout is a brilliantly thought out coup, or just a case of a masterful explotation of the current milieu remains unseen, but for Ford to have remained the top of his game for so long points to the fact that we all may find ourselves, once again, following his example in a season or two.