186 SEPTEMBER 2019 VOGUE.COM
Really Saying
Something
EDITOR’S LETTER>202
Letter from the Editor
THERE IS EVERY CHANCE that you are reading this September
edition of Vogue while on vacation—and if so, I hope you are
having a great time! Writing this letter, though, has me focusing on
the one thing that you’re escaping from: work—specifically, the
upcoming New York spring 2020 shows, which will be starting on
September 6. This will be the first season under the stewardship of
Tom Ford, who recently became the chairman of the CFDA, and I
am delighted that, after several years of many people talking to Tom
about the role, he has finally taken the plunge. How lucky we are to
have him—particularly at a time of such seismic change for fashion.
As you will read in the compelling interview Tom gave to the
writer Rob Haskell, he has all sorts of transformations in mind.
There’s his plan for Fashion Week, which is now somewhat of
a misnomer: A notorious reductionist (and perfectionist), Tom
is intent on reducing the previously sprawling schedule in
favor of a more manageable five days. He also has a vision forAmerican fashion more generally—one nuanced by so many of
the ongoing and important discussions around accountability
and sustainability—and he’s particularly focused on giving the
industry in this country a much greater global presence.
That’s something Tom certainly knows a bit about. Ever since he
steered Gucci to enormous success in the ’90s (and then, later,
Yves Saint Laurent), he has been a designer able to see the big—
in fact, the biggest—picture. That included signing up some of
fashion’s most stellar talents—namely Stella McCartney, Alexander
McQueen, and Nicolas Ghesquière, then at Balenciaga—to the
fledgling luxury conglomerate that he and his business partner
Domenico De Sole set up. After they left
what was the Gucci Group in 2004, Tom
did not go quietly into that good early
retirement. Instead, he rebuilt his life with
his own hugely successful label—and
ventured off into an acclaimed directing
career in Hollywood.
I have always felt that Tom’s second
movie, Nocturnal Animals, was very personal in its dissection of
the vicissitudes of fame and its expression of the profound
need for lasting and meaningful relationships. Tom’s experience
with the former, of course, needs no further explanation; as for
the latter, he has been with his wonderful