Tom Ford took his guests to the least Tom Ford place ever: the subway, specifically the disused platform of the Bowery stop. Ford’s press notes mentioned the famous shot of Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick emerging out of a manhole cover. The subway also clicks with his recent interest in simplicity. “I think that it’s a time for ease,” he wrote, “and in that way a return to the kind of luxurious sportswear that America has become known for all over the world.” Indeed, there was lots of luxurious sportswear, but properly slick and rich: a jersey t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up worn with a maxi, duchesse satin skirt; sharp satin blazers styled with nylon basketball shorts (shorts – a topic Ford hates, but confronts in the most sublime way). The final looks feautured molded plastic tops that were a homage to Yves Saint Laurent’s Lalanne breastplates. Ford kept them in Jeff Koons’ balloon dogs colours and in result they perfectly fitted the matching flowing maxi skirts models wore. Was this Ford’s best collection? Definitely not. But it proved once again that the designer thrives in making his sexy, never-lazy aesthetical language relevant and powerful.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.