Haider Ackermann’s Tom Ford Is About Risk and Freedom

The Run-Through with Vogue

Vogue's Nicole Phelps hosts a Paris Fashion Week run-through covering Miu Miu, Valentino, and Akris before sitting down with Tom Ford Creative Director Haider

Key takeaways

• Haider Ackermann encourages models to embrace vulnerability and joy on the runway rather than walking robotically, aiming to seduce the crowd through controlled chaos.
• He credits long-standing friendships with figures like Tilda Swinton and Daphne Guinness as his 'biggest luxury' and professional backbone during career lows.

Main topics

• Paris Fashion Week show reviews
• Haider Ackermann's Tom Ford collection themes

Notable quotes

"I do believe in loyalty. Loyalty is something that I'm very loyal to all my exes."

Conclusion

The episode offers a rare look into Ackermann's design philosophy, emp

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:00) Okay, this is Chelsea, city producer on the podcast. As you can probably hear, I am in the very busy train station. Speaker 5 (0:12) I am trying to meet up with Chloe at the CVFF dinner. It's called Americans in Paris. Speaker 5 (0:22) so Come along with me while I ride the train I guess Speaker 5 (0:28) Chloe just left the Givenchy show, so I'm gonna get her quick thoughts outside of the CVFF. Speaker 5 (0:36) dinner and then see what else she wants to talk about. Speaker 5 (0:46) Getting your first thoughts after the Givenchy show. Speaker 1 (0:50) Givenchy was beautiful and Nicole and I previewed it the day before and so we knew what was happening but it was such a treat to see it. They built out this amazing Alexander Calder inspired set that was fantastic. One of my favorite things was all of these sort of useful accessories that were hidden like little Easter eggs like the ones that had vintage lipsticks. attached to them, the belt buckles were old ladies, mirror compacts. Sarah's so good at thinking about the way a woman wants to live and look and I thought that the place looked so sharp but also sexy and joyful and bright at the same time. You're walking up the stairs to the Americans in Paris cocktail and I am a co-host Speaker 5 (1:48) I'm with Arden again. I'm excited, you know. We'll Speaker 1 (1:52) see what happens, but I feel good. Chloe, did you have a good time? But, you know, I came in really bedraggled and not feeling great. Julie Gilhart's electrolytes really helped me. But I had a lovely time. It was nice to see everyone. I love to see the former fashion funders coming to support the current fashion funders. Henry Zankov, who has his own dinner tonight. Rachel Scott, a bevy of others. We're walking down these long, winding stairs behind Daniel Goldberg and Sophie Buhai. A lot of industry people came out to support. So it was lovely. All Speaker 5 (2:25) right, we are out. Speaker 5 (2:29) Alright, this is Chelsea. It is Sunday at 1.15ish p.m. And I am standing outside of the Mimia show. It is probably one of the craziest outsides of the show I've been at. It's pretty packed. Speaker 5 (2:48) It's so packed, in fact, that Nicole texted me, make sure you take a picture of where you are because it's crazy. So I'm going to stand out here and grab Nicole, Chloe, and Chioma, hopefully all three of them, right after the show, and see what they thought and also hear about the shows that they went to yesterday. Okay, people are finally leaving the show, so I'm going to cross the street and try to... find Speaker 5 (3:19) Chloe, Chioma, and Nicole. Speaker 5 (3:24) but it's already Speaker 5 (3:27) Very difficult. Chloe. Speaker 5 (3:31) Yay, found you. Hi. I'm so tired. Speaker 1 (3:35) Okay, what did we see yesterday? You saw Celine, right? Yeah. That was fun. Highlight for me was the cappuccino popsicles at the end. Celine always has a really fun, dynamic front row. Hannah Einbinder, Lisa Bonet. SZA, Tracee Ellis Ross, Eugene Levy, you sort of get all walks of life. I think King Princess. Also there was a bit of scuttlebutt because, and whispering because Bettina Trump was front row next to Helene Arnault. So people were... Speaker 1 (4:15) intrigued to say the least by that. The show was fun. You know, I have to say I love his use of color so I would have loved more color but I thought there were some really beautiful things. Then I went with Sonia from Vogue Japan to see Simone Rocha's collection which obviously I missed in London because I wasn't in London and I loved it. I think it's one of her best. Anyway, then... I went to Hermes, which a lot of people struggled with because the Pride parade had been rescheduled for yesterday and people had a hard time getting to the Hermes venue. And the show was very hot. It was in a box without ventilation, so people were struggling a bit with that. But beautiful pieces and work with leather. And it was a big night. I wore this beautiful black Givenchy dress and I went to Alaia which I thought was a really good presentation from the Alaia studio team Carlos Nazario style day lots of ruffles but sexy and sharp and the bags looked great I thought it was uh really exciting and a good next chapter for the house then I had dinner with Choma and Julian Klausner which was so exciting I was so grateful, we loved him. And then I went to the Business of Fashion 500 gala, which was very intense, but nice to see a bunch of people. And then I went back to my hotel and my two teenage nieces came and slept over and we had so much fun. And then we had breakfast this morning and then I... Had a lovely lunch with Christopher Kane, who I hadn't seen since he started designing for Mulberry. And then I came to Mimi, which was fabulous. It really continued the trend that I feel like I've been seeing a lot of this idea of sort of techno evening, of techno fabrics, athletic-inspired evening wear. Always, she's so good at doing... I don't even want to call it stunt casting because it's more than that, but dynamic casting. Olivia Colman walked, my queen. Emma Corrin, Igby Rigby from The Shards, Jamie Dornan, and then Gigi Hadid, who closed, almost closed the show, second to last. And now I am heading to Acris, and then Valentino. Valentino is a very special... which is that people bring a new or used book to donate. So excited about that. Oh shit, I gotta go. Speaker 5 (6:51) Okay, let's go. I'll walk with you. Okay. Speaker 5 (6:58) And like, do we want to enter that crowd? I guess so. Yeah. Bye! Bye Chelsea! See ya! Speaker 5 (7:08) So Chloe is at Akris and I am going to get lunch. So we will see you later at John Paul Gautier. Speaker 5 (7:17) Okay, the accuracy show just finished and I just found Nicole. Speaker 3 (7:29) How was the show? Um, Akris? It was very hot inside the Palais de Tokyo because it had the skylight. And my row was in the sun. But Miu Miu. Miu Miu, well, you know, her stunt celebrity casting was as spot on as usual. We all thrilled to the sight of Olivia Colman, as my mom says. A normal looking woman. And, you know, there's something really powerful about not seeing. you know, 100 pound, 5 foot 9, 5 foot 11 models on the runway. And that's the challenge designers really face is how to dress normal women. So I think that's a good exercise for designers. Collection is sort of like signature, mu-mu, oddball, like very unlikely combinations. Like a low slung kilt with your sporty... bathing suit or was it underwear sticking out of the waistline, a boxy jacket. Speaker 3 (8:38) weird combinations of sports and formal. And now where are we headed? Now we are headed to Valentino where Speaker 3 (8:49) Alessandro Micheli has asked us all to bring a book. So that's why. What book did you bring, Nicole? Well, to be honest, I tried or would have liked to have finished the book I'm reading, which is John McPhee's Basin and Range, because I love all things about the West and the Southwest. But I didn't finish it. In fact, I haven't cracked it open since the very first night in Milan. So thanks to my colleague, Luke Leach, he's staying somewhere. There's a... have a book, take a book in, and he's bringing me a book about Salvador Speaker 5 (9:22) Dali, which is very apt. Oh, that's great. And now we are entering the car. That's very cool. Thank you, Axel. That's nice. Speaker 5 (9:34) What's the location of this show? Speaker 3 (9:36) Panthéon. Yes. Axel, what is the Panthéon? What is it? What was it for? Speaker 5 (9:41) Well, all the big head of the country, of the history of the country. Speaker 5 (9:47) I don't know how you say in English, but the body are here. Oh, they're buried there. Entombed. Yes, exactly. And Axel, do you want to say who you are for our podcast? Yes, I'm the driver. The driver for all the week in Paris. Speaker 1 (10:05) We are going to take a short break. We'll be back in a moment. Speaker 8 (10:15) I'm Jessica Krull, editor-in-chief of Allure, and I host the brand new podcast, Perspectives. At Allure, we cover beauty every day. But beauty is so much more than products and trends. It's connected to our health, our identity, our sexuality, and the way we understand our bodies. This season of Allure's Perspectives is all about breast health, a deeply personal topic that so many of us think about, but sometimes feel a little uncomfortable discussing out loud. And that's why Allure... We want to talk about it. Whether it's actor Olivia Munn opening up about her breast cancer and breastfeeding struggles, sex educator Erica Hart revealing how going topless started a movement, Raven-Symoné detailing the intimate relationship between breasts and body image, or experts breaking down the latest on GLP-1s and cosmetic surgery advancements. These conversations challenge the way we think about beauty, but they also challenge the way we think about our breasts and our bodies. and of course, the way we think about ourselves. Speaker 8 (11:15) Listen to Allure Perspectives and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 4 (11:27) I'm Shilpa Oskakovich. Speaker 6 (11:28) And I'm Jesse Supchak. And Speaker 4 (11:29) we're senior Test Kitchen editors at Bon Appetit. And we're also the hosts of Bon Appetit's Bake Club podcast. And Speaker 6 (11:35) this month, we're making irresistibly buttery salt bread. Speaker 4 (11:38) Head to bonappetit.com for the recipe. Speaker 6 (11:41) Then you'll go bake and you can send us any questions you have. Speaker 4 (11:44) And we'll get together here on the BA Bake Club podcast to talk about the recipe. And Speaker 6 (11:48) if you haven't had salt bread before, get ready for truly one of the most fun, decadent... And salty, buttery treats. Yes. Speaker 4 (11:57) It's in the name. It's in the name. So go to bonappetit.com or our sub stack and come and bake along with us. Speaker 6 (12:03) Join us the first Tuesday