
It's a match made in commerce heaven: Russians on the quest for the latest in expensive goods and a man who lives to provide old-fashioned luxury updated with modern kinks. Tom Ford, the designer who sexed up Gucci and then moved on to his own line of luxury goods for men, is planning to open two new stores in Moscow next year. Bloomberg reports that Ford and franchisee Mercury Group plan to offer Ford's line of $5,000 custom- made men's suits as well as items for the local market such as sable hats. The stores will be located in Tretyakovsky Passage, a city-center lane of boutiques, and Barvikha Village on the capital's fringe. The
Bloomberg article contains some classic Tom quotes including his assertion that Russians have been denied nice things for years. Only Tom Ford could make selling high-priced luxury goods sound like an altruistic gesture.