A Touch of Innuendo at Tom Ford Spring/Summer 2015

"If I was ever going to become a good designer, I had to leave America. My own culture was inhibiting me. Too much style in America is tacky. It's looked down upon to be too stylish. Europeans, however, appreciate style." -Tom Ford

In a time where women’s wear has opted for substance over style, Tom Ford has exhibited sparkling luxury in unabashed glory for his Spring/Summer 2015 collection, shown during Fashion Week in London.

What is restrained in color choices is made up for with metallic fabrics, au courant bell-bottoms, and revealing mini dresses—some of which barely cover the models’s chests, with sequined pasties and satin demi cups serving as sensuous censor bars. Shades of black were interspersed with dapples of gold, silver and deep emerald green.

Yet no additional colors were needed for the collection’s centerpiece—a black liquid lamé pantsuit with a matching flamboyant cape.

“British people still wear … actual clothes: jackets and shirts and ties and suits,” says Ford in a late August interview with Esquire. “We’ve lost that in the U.S. Everyone is more concerned with being comfortable. They have to be.”

Though Ford is often hailed for pushing American fashion forward with his designs, many of his pieces still harken back to the disco days of Studio 54, when mirthful sexuality served as the backdrop to a culture in transition.

This upcoming collection from Ford brings highbrow taste and risqué tailoring together in a way that is both stimulating and classic haute couture. It is fashionable opulence at its sexiest, most innovative and most powerful.