Who can forget the Fall 1996 image of Georgina Grenville in her iconic white Gucci dress? Justin Friedman certainly couldn’t, and thus @tomfordforgucci was born. This beloved account which currently boasts over 86,000 followers has become a staple of the designer nostalgia account community. Since its creation, @tomfordforgucci has showcased over 3,000 visuals from Gucci’s campaigns and collections during Tom Ford’s time as the Creative Director of the house, with Friedman’s love for the era stemming all the way from childhood.
“I remember going to the stores as a kid and I remember specifically seeing the ad campaign photo of Georgina Grenville in that iconic white cutout dress from Fall 1996,” Friedman said. “At a young age it resonated and I remember thinking it didn’t look anything like any dress I’d ever seen before. It was kind of out of my frame of reference for what women looked like, what people looked like, for what houses looked like.” But, this iconic image was just the beginning. Nowadays, Friedman’s account acts almost as a time machine, bringing followers back to the erotic world of Gucci in the 1990s and early 2000s.
In looking back at this legendary fashion era, Friedman not only celebrates Ford but also acknowledges the creatives who worked alongside him to define this chapter of Gucci. Beyond his designs for the house, Friedman notes that Ford’s era owes a significant portion of its icon status to juggernauts like Mario Testino and CR’s own Editor-in-Chief Carine Roitfeld. Their collaborative ad campaigns with Ford, as Friedman explains, “were the most indelible mark in a lot of ways,” says Friedman. “[They were] so committed to that mood of ‘I am extremely sexy. I don’t care if you like it.’”
This type of attitude is what keeps both Friedman and his followers coming back to this fashion period. Ford’s vision for Gucci combined chicness with eroticism, cementing him as one of the house’s most impactful figures. Ford may have left Gucci, but his work at the house continues to influence fashion lovers everywhere and @tomfordforgucci is proof.
