They said/We said: Everyone’s talking about Tom Ford’s NSFW look book

Tom Ford’s scandalous just-released Spring 2012 men’s lookbook exposes the designer’s affinity for all things sexual (as if that were a surprise). While Ford’s spring collection is conspicuously absent, there is enough naked flesh to make even Dov Charney blush.

The lookbook features a somewhat sleazy male model (read: he wears sunglasses indoors while striking his best “Blue Steel” pose) and his oiled-up female consort. The lolz-y twosome reads newspapers, showers in tandem and plays a mean game of bottom-pinching (hey, it’s certainly got people talking).

While the clothes are almost entirely secondary, the lookbook does feature silky smoking jackets, robes and other Hugh Hefner–esque pieces. And then there are the boxers (or swim trunks—we can’t tell), worthy of a night at the Playboy mansion.

It’s no secret Ford loves gratuitous nudity—remember his men’s fragrance ads with the artfully placed cologne bottle?—but shouldn’t a lookbook feature just a few more looks? Either way, Ford seems to have a sex-sells formula that works for him. Just check out his eyewear campaign where a crow chomps on Freja’s exposed nipple.

THEY SAID:

Styleite: “Aside from Tom Ford‘s ability to design clothes like nobody’s business, he can also make people do weird things while they’re naked…that’s why we only raise one eyebrow at his obviously NSFW spring 2012 men’s lookbook.” [Styleite]

Huffington Post: “We’re used to Ford’s ads being a little lascivious. But for a lookbook, we’re not sure how shots like this really show off any clothes.” [Huffington Post]

Fashionista: “Tom Ford knows what works and he tends to stick with it: sex.” [Fashionista]

WE SAID:

Caitlin Agnew, assistant editor/research: “Nearly 20 years after Tom Ford took the reigns at Gucci, are we really still surprised at his less-is-more aesthetic? For me, the star of this lookbook is the eyewear.”

More Style