Tom Ford Ditches NYFW, Upsetting Fives of Tens of Very Important People

I understand New York Fashion Week to the extent that it is a week of fashion that occurs every year in New York City (and I’m fairly certain that even that assessment is largely inaccurate). Because I am gay, when I was younger I dreamed of going to NYFW, and although I am now older I am still gay and as such I continue to dream of going. I have friends that have snuck into shows and also ones that have been invited to them, and from their reports and Instagram stories I have gathered that it is just what I expect it to be: A lot of people running around in clothes that range from “hm, that’s cute” to “what in the literal actual fuck” (a scale I love regardless of what end of the spectrum an outfit might fall on), and all trying to be equal parts disinterested and in the know simultaneously. It’s not the kind of frenetic chaotic energy I could survive in for long, but would absolutely thrive in for at a least a day.

Adding to that frenetic chaos this year was Tom Ford, noted fashion designer, chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and firm believer that the most efficient way to cultivate vulnerability is to become a bottom (your move, Brené Brown). This year, on the Friday of NYFW, Ford chose to premiere his collection in LA at Milk Studios, as opposed to showing in NYC alongside his fellow designers—a decision which plunged the fashion world into absolute unfettered mayhem and calamity, upsetting the delicate ecosystem on which the very nexus of the fashion world rests (or so I assume).

According to Page Six, no one was more upset by his decision than designer Jeremy Scott, who was also scheduled to show on Friday in NYC. Scott apparently handled the news of Ford’s relocation to the west just about as well as the Queen has handled Meghan and Harry’s, which is to say, not well. Just two weeks before his show he announced he was cancelling on NYFW, apparently instead making the choice to show at Paris couture week in July. There are so many fashion weeks! Primarily it’s assumed the bigger-name models would have chosen to walk in Ford’s show, leaving Scott without a Hadid sister to his name, which is understandably devastating, and very much warranting of a cancellation.

Scott’s sentiments were apparently echoed by other fashion insiders, including other members of the CFDA, who felt Ford’s move to LA would pull attention from the festivities taking place in New York. Against all odds, it appears NYFW still happened, but I assume we’ll have to wait until the dust settles to know just how devastating of a blow Ford’s switcheroo was.

For his part, Ford seems unbothered by the criticism no doubt echoing throughout the hallowed halls of Big Fashion. When asked by someone how he could justify the decision to move from NYC to LA as the chairman of the CFDA, he told Business Insider, “I reminded them that the CFDA stood for Council of Fashion Designers of America, and not the council of fashion designers in New York.” And there you have it folks, the chairman has spoken. Only time will what the implications of Ford’s choice are, but I for one hope it leads to a juicy and very well-dressed series on any of the streaming services I’m currently borrowing a friend’s password for.