Time and tide reverse for no man — except maybe Tom Ford. Insisting that what he calls “fashion immediacy” is counterproductive to business at the luxury level, Ford is holding firm to the stance he took with his brilliantly conceived spring 2011 show, for which he famously limited his guest list to 100 or so, and allowed only Terry Richardson, shooting for the house, to take pictures.
Ford thus wrestled complete control of his message from a fashion system that has become all about instant worldwide access to visual information. Since then, he has insisted that going forward, he will present only to long-lead press at show time, thus shunning both Web and traditional daily press coverage.
Whether he can pull it off as novelty and awe morphed into overtly ruffled feathers remains to be seen. But all who have followed his career know that Ford is a tough guy to bet against, and the situation will be fascinating to monitor, to say the least.