Tom Ford to open on Rodeo Drive -- right across from Gucci

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From the day he opened his eponymous temple of man-luxe in Manhattan in April 2007, designer and fledgling director Tom Ford has planned on opening a store in the Los Angeles area. Fashion trade paper WWD reported yesterday that he’d chosen Rodeo Drive as a location, and although Ford’s representative wouldn’t confirm the report (citing Ford’s unavailability until after the holidays), industry sources confirm that a lease for space in the 300 block of Rodeo Drive was indeed inked some time ago. At the opening of his Milan store, Ford said he’d hoped to open on the West Coast sometime in 2009.
We’re told the space is located between the Luxe Hotel at 360 N. Rodeo Drive and Bally of Switzerland at 340 N. Rodeo Drive, in the space currently occupied by Bernini at 346 N. Rodeo Drive -- and right smack dab across the street from the Gucci flagship.
It’s a fitting symbolic slap in the face with a kidskin driving glove given Ford’s dramatic and high-profile departure as Gucci’s creative director in 2004.

Well played, sir. Well played, indeed.

-- Adam Tschorn