Tom Ford Spring 2018 RTW

While a slew of designers are trading New York for Paris, something about Tom Ford being back on the New York Fashion Week calendar just feels right. The inaugural show of the Spring 2018 season comes after a series of the designer’s experiments with formatting. There was the see-now-by-now strategy of Fall 2017, Fall 2015 in Los Angeles, Spring 2011’s presentation with no social media allowed (despite Beyonce’s spot on the lineup), and years of London-based runways, and years of runway shows in London, where he’s lived for the majority of his time since launching his namesake brand. In a sense, last night was set up in a traditional way, yet it was the opposite of boring. It was Fucking Fabulous, actually, which happens to be the name of his latest fragrance that accompanied the show invites.

Walking into the Upper East Side’s Park Avenue Armory around 8 P.M., it was clear by the mountain of paparazzi outside that Ford’s regular crew of celebrities was in attendance—Kim Kardashian West, Julianne Moore, and Ciara, to name a few. And per usual, supermodels not only filled the face chart backstage but the audience, too. Looking at you, Karlie Kloss and Cindy Crawford. It wasn’t until the lights dimmed and David Bowie’s "Fame" blared that fashion week really commenced.