Tom Ford Spring 2027: Haider Ackermann Turns Up the Heat and Turns Down the Volume

There is a moment in Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai when the whole plot collapses into a hall of mirrors and nobody can tell any longer who is looking at whom. Haider Ackermann seems to have taken that scene as a seating plan. For the Tom Ford Spring 2027 show in Paris this week, he lined the runway with smoky mirrors, dimmed the lights and sent models out in pairs and multiples, so that every look arrived with its own reflection and its own small audience. You did not just watch the clothes. You caught yourself watching.

Which is exactly the point. “Seduction is the pillar on which this house is built,” Ackermann wrote in his show notes, adding that this time he wanted to push it “closer to danger.” Then came the line that sums up the collection better than any review: sexuality, he wrote, “does not need to shout.”

The thong, a brief history

Of course, the item that did shout loudest online was the smallest one. Several men walked in thongs, styled with fine turtlenecks, sheer socks and polished loafers, as if they had dressed for a gallery opening from the waist up and for a Riviera pool from the waist down. One look paired a neon pink thong with a brown crewneck. Another put tiny white shorts under an all-white suit. The internet, predictably, lost its composure.

If you have a fashion memory longer than a scroll, you will know why this is less provocation than homecoming. In 1997, Tom Ford himself put a G-string with a metal Gucci “G” on the runway, a piece that became shorthand for the overheated glamour of his Gucci years. AnOther Magazine drew that line directly in its review. Ackermann is not inventing a scandal here. He is quoting the archive, the way a good DJ samples a record everyone in the room half remembers.

The difference lies in the temperature. Ford’s 1990s seduction was high gloss and high voltage: velvet, satin, open shirts, the feeling of a hotel bar at 2 a.m. Ackermann’s version is quieter and more interior. His notes talk about a gaze held a second too long and the trace of red on someone’s lips. Less Basic Instinct, more Hitchcock’s Rear Window, where most of the tension comes from looking.

What was actually on the runway

Strip away the headlines and you find a collection built on tailoring, which has always been Ackermann’s native language. Reviews from WWD, Numéro and AnOther describe razor-sharp suits, oversized leather bombers worn with trousers cut to show the ankle and double-breasted coats in pale blue. There were velvet wrap coats in black and deep red, cropped leather tops molded to the torso, open-knit fishnet tops for men and molded rubber bustiers worn with tailored trousers.

Underwear became outerwear in the most literal way: satin bras, high-waisted briefs and slashed bodysuits appeared as finished garments rather than layers. Two red evening gowns, worn by Mariacarla Boscono and Alex Consani, gave the show its old-Hollywood flash. Anok Yai walked in paired “companion” looks, moving from a liquid-sheen bodysuit into a smoking jacket. Kate Moss watched from the front row, which at a Tom Ford show feels less like casting and more like a family photo, given how closely her image is tied to Ford’s glamorous 1990s.

The fabrics told the same story as the mirrors: satin, cashmere, poplin, denim and leather, mostly in a palette of black, brown, cream and those flashes of red. Nothing here was loud for the sake of it. Even the thong came with a good sweater.

Why seduction is back on the agenda

Here we have to be honest about our own job. Fashion journalists love to declare a “return” of something every season. You are entitled to roll your eyes. Still, the pattern this time is visible beyond one brand. WWD noted that sensuality ran through several Spring 2027 shows, naming Diesel and Ferragamo alongside Tom Ford.

Our interpretation (and it is only that) is that the industry is tired of quiet luxury’s beige politeness. For several seasons the most desirable clothes whispered about money. Now designers seem more interested in clothes that whisper about bodies. That is a riskier message to sell, because it asks you to imagine yourself in a mirrored corridor rather than a members’ club. But it is also a more personal one.

For Tom Ford the brand, the stakes are specific. Estée Lauder bought the company in a deal valued at 2.8 billion dollars. Ford himself stepped away from his label in April 2023 to focus on filmmaking. His successor Peter Hawkings lasted just two seasons. In September 2024 the house announced Ackermann, the French-Colombian designer known for fluid tailoring, his long creative friendship with Tilda Swinton and an almost painterly sense of color. His task is delicate: keep the founder’s heat without turning the label into a tribute act. Quoting the 1997 G-string while rewriting its tone is a fairly elegant way to do both.

What you can take from it

You are not obliged to wear a thong to dinner. The more useful lesson from this show is about contrast. Ackermann paired exposure with formality every time: bare skin under a strict jacket, sheer fabric beside crisp poplin, a very small garment next to a very good knit. Translated to your own wardrobe, that means one sensual element at a time, framed by something structured. A silk camisole under a sharp blazer. A sheer shirt with wide wool trousers. A deep red lip with an otherwise severe outfit.

And maybe one more thing. A show built around mirrors is ultimately about self-awareness: knowing you are being looked at and choosing how much to give away. In a feed where everyone is permanently on display, that might be the most modern idea Tom Ford has sent down a runway in years. Whether the men’s thong makes it from Paris to your local high street is another question. Our forecast: the sweater will sell faster.