Haider Ackermann truly knows the power of seeing Kristen McMenamy in a power suit. With black leather gloves and a blood-red lip, is she going to seduce us or murder us? We’d accept either option. Ackermann’s ascendancy to the Tom Ford throne was one of the most exciting moves during 2024’s year of fashion reshuffles. At one time considered to be next in line at Maison Margiela after Martin’s retirement in 2009 and Galliano’s successor at Dior, Ackermann has garnered a reputation as being your favourite designer’s favourite designer. And with his debut for Tom Ford, it’s easy to see why.

The leather-heavy, 80s-inspired silhouettes throughout the collection brought to mind a myriad of reference points — Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger, Verhoeven’s The Fourth Man, the killer in every giallo film… We could go on. But what was most important was how well Ackermann understood who Tom Ford truly is. In the show notes, Ackermann summed himself and Ford up perfectly — “He is nightlife, I am the morning after.” And you see that across the collection. The outfits are sexy but they’re not going-out-on-a-night sexy, they’re coming-home sexy. You have your sunglasses on because the dawn sunlight is blinding. Perhaps the men’s suited looks are the city bankers who you meet heading to work as you traipse home. The pastel dresses and suits, clashing amongst Tom Ford’s signature greys and blacks, stand out in the corporate morning light. The show was soundtracked by Nick Cave’s Into My Arms – the musician’s romantic ode to his lover, and now ours to this incredible collection.