Burberry

Tom Ford Cancels Show

5 February 2016

“I love Donatella. She is a true original. I first met Donatella in 1990 when we moved to Milan; Richard [Buckley] had known her from the ’80s. I remember when she opened the door to her apartment, I was immediately taken by her powerful personality. Donatella is not subtle, which is what I love about her. She speaks her mind. She is also one of the strongest women that I know and has retained an incredible sense of humor through all that she has been through. I remember one night years ago in New York she was giving us a tour of their town house and decided to show us [her brother] Santo’s bedroom. She opened the door, turned on the lights, and started showing us around. I looked over and there was Santo in the bed. She just said, ‘Oh it’s fine,’ and kept pointing out things in the room in that incredible voice and accent of hers. Of course, Richard and I were a little embarrassed, but could not help starting to laugh nervously as there was poor Santo lying there in his bed while we were looking at the furniture around him. I think Santo was awake but he kept his eyes closed. It was hysterical. Very Donatella.”Rex Features

TOM FORD has announced that he has cancelled his planned presentations at New York Fashion Week. He will instead come back onto the schedule in September, amalgamating his menswear and womenswear collections into one show and adopting the "see-now-buy-now" model that is proving so popular among fashion houses in the industry right now. Instead of showing the traditional spring/summer collection, he will show autumn/winter 2016 instead.

Rex Features

"In a world that has become increasingly immediate, the current way of showing a collection four months before it is available to customers, is an antiquated idea and one that no longer makes sense. We have been living with a fashion calendar and system that is from another era," said founder Tom Ford in a statement today. "Our customers today want a collection that is immediately available. Fashion shows and the traditional fashion calendar, as we know them, no longer work in the way that they once did. We spend an enormous amount of money and energy to stage an event that creates excitement too far in advance of when the collection is available to the consumer. Showing the collection as it arrives in stores will remedy this, and allow the excitement that is created by a show or event to drive sales and satisfy our customers increasing desire to have their clothes as they are ready to wear them."

Read more: Tom Ford's LA Story

The announcement echoes that made earlier today by Burberry, which revealed it intends to do the same thing as of September, although will remain on the London Fashion Week calendar for the planned autumn/winter 2016 showcase later this month. Both brands have stated their intention to have the collection seen on the catwalk immediately available in store and online straight after the show.