Today, Patricia Marx goes shopping with men in the New Yorker! (Yes, subscription-only, so, sadtrombone.wav.) The whole thing is a really quite largely useful guide for men who are baffled and scared, from Brooks Brothers to Bergdorf Mens' Store to 20 Peacocks (although just don't even go in that Ralph Lauren store, gross), and you should note that Ms. Marx's male friend really ought to have bought the blue Zegna suit at Bergdorfs, it's gorgeous. But here is the most relevant passage to our interests. The Tom Ford store on Madison Ave. is America's greatest shopping treature! I bet it was that haughty Russian shopboy Nikolai! No, but seriously: if you can't fit into his fascist shirts, you're definitely not going to fit into the fall sweaters. Get a nice tie.

Fellow Tom Ford enthusiasts will of course need to read the Vogue piece regarding his latest women's collection. But they should be warned, of course, that the story of How Tom Ford Keeps His Equity is a ludicrous one. (Spoiler: he expanded his stores recently by selling a Warhol. Why didn't I think of that?) It's a delightful read but it's also just bad business journalism. The word "Zegna" does not crop up (Ford did a huge licensing deal with them) and neither does "Marcolin" (Ford recently extended his licensed sunglasses to them for another five years). That's where the big money is. But at least they do talk about his Botox! READ MORE

Tom Ford, whose movie A Single Man made $216,328 this weekend in its very limited release, makes, as we have noted, excruciatingly expensive and gorgeous clothes for men. (Women's clothes coming soon-as soon as he raises $50 million to do the line, which, oh my God, it's going to be all made out of ostrich saliva and platinum leaf, I guess?) In particular, in his recent seasons of ties, not a single one of them was bad. But, while my back was turned, apparently Tom Ford just dumped a bunch of men's stuff for next season on the market? And it is REVOLTING. READ MORE

You should know that this exchange on the topic of 'A Single Man' contains vague but vigorous discussions of the endings of both the film and the book on which it is based. This semi-spoilery stuff, if it can be called that, is noted below in bold, before it occurs. There are also vague discussions of some plot points. (If they can be called that.) READ MORE

We have many, many things to say about Tom Ford, which we will get to over the next week. For now, we are confronted with a Times Styles profile. Let's put our concerns in order! READ MORE