You've read about the Aston Martin mishaps and the Tom Ford tailoring; now Sony has released the trailer for Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond flick premiering this fall. Daniel Craig stylishly reprises his role as 007 in what looks to be an action-packed installment of the classic series, with Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton doing the Bond Girl honors.

In the flick based on a 1959 Ian Fleming short story, Bond sets out to seek revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) from Casino Royale. Craig has said filming Quantum was much more physically demanding that Casino, and he has suffered some injuries along the way. See the trailer here and check out the gallery for production pix.

Brad Pitt obviously knows when he's on to a good thing. We're not referring to Angelina Jolie in fact, but rather Tom Ford. Wearing head to toe Tom made Pitt one of the most stylish stars at last year's Cannes Film Festival - actually, make that any year - so it's no surprise he's back this season sporting more of the designer's dapper duds.

Last week Pitt wore a classic made-to-measure Ford black two piece notch lapel wool suit with a white shirt and solid black silk jacquard tie to the Kung Fu Panda premiere. And on Tuesday he upped the ante with an ultra-elegant made-to-measure black mohair blend single breasted peak lapel tuxedo, black silk moiré bowtie, and 18K white gold and diamond shirt studs and cufflinks from Ford's menswear collection to the Changeling premiere. That's what we call stealing the show.

At the Metropolitan Museum's star-studded Costume Institute Gala in Manhattan the other night, all the best-dressed men wore tuxedos by Tom Ford. While some fellows got creative with their black tie and others simply looked boring in notched lapel numbers, those who sported Ford's threads -- including Gisele Bundchen's football star beau Tom Brady, actors Djimon Hounsou and Jimmy Fallon, and A-list shoe designer Christian Louboutin -- were the evening's standouts.

Ford himself (pictured here with actress Natasha Richardson) went with a classic double-breasted dinner jacket with grosgrain lapels. Brady, Fallon and Louboutin all wore Ford's signature single-breasted peak lapel style; Brady and Fallon went the extra mile with matching waistcoats. Hounsou wore a black three-piece wool and cashmere suit which was equally elegant, as you'll see in the gallery below. Ford's suits start at about $5,000.

James Bond is famous for a few things, elegant cocktails, beautiful women, danger, and always being a sharp-dressed man. The honor of being the tailor that puts James Bond in his suits has gone to the Italian house of Brioni since Pierce Brosnan suited up for Goldeneye in 1995. But the London TImes reports that Brioni will no longer be dressing Mr. Bond. Instead he will be dressed by the one and only Tom Ford. Ford hasn't commented on this yet and no details have leaked out. I wonder what the more traditional James Bond fans will think when they get curious about Tom Ford and visit his website. Tom makes some pretty elegant suits but his flashy sexually suggestive persona seems a bit too metro for James Bond.

[Thanks, Lana]

If you are anything like me, you may have found yourself completely burned out on perfume. Lately I've found that many fragrances have seemed to be too synthetic and sweet, bubblegum scents that hit the skin and quickly dissipate. It turns out that I am not alone, the Wall Street Journal has a great piece on the changing fragrance world. Many high-end brands who have, in the past few years, been catering to the masstige market by creating fragrances at the lower price point are now taking a different approach because the sales of the perfumes have been dropping off. Instead, companies like Chanel and Prada have launched ultra-exclusive scents that use pricey ingredients and have richer, more evocative fragrance profiles.

A quick sampling:
--Tom Ford created his Private Blend, a line of 12 fragrances that run from the frankly floral to more masculine smells like tobacco and cedar.
--Chanel created their Les Exclusifs line of six signature scents that had perfume lovers raving.
--Hermès has a new line of unique perfumes called Hermessence, like the other designer lines, this one moves into new ground with scents like the lavender-and-licorice-smelling Brin de Réglisse.
--Giorgio Armani's Privé line costs $185 a bottle and lures purchasers not just with ingredients bergamot, neroli and vetiver but with those sexy bottles made of African kotibe wood and caps that look jade, moonstone, amethyst and other gemstones.

These scents aren't exactly making big profits yet but the companies are hopeful that they will have more staying power with consumers than some of the cheaper, more forgettable designer brands. One thing that the WSJ article doesn't mention but which I would guess is also a factor is that each of these lines isn't just one signature fragrance, but a set. And the idea of owning a complete set, especially that looks as pretty as the Armani line shone above, may lure scent lovers to collect the whole line rather than just one bottle.

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.

Fashion designer Tom Ford's road to tranquility in New Mexico has been anything but smooth. A couple of years ago he had to fight for approval to build his Santa Fe home. Now he has bought mineral rights beneath his Galisteo ranch in order to protect his land from possible oil exploration in the region. Ford paid $84,000 for the rights on his more than 1,400 acres of land. In the region the state maintains the rights to sell leases to energy companies. Ford's team tried to persuade the Land Office not to sell oil and gas leases to Tecton Energy, a company which plans to drill eight exploratory wells on 65,000 acres, or 101 square miles, in the Galisteo Basin. The agency however is charged with using the state trust land revenues to help fund public education. Ford's attorney, Janet McKay offered this quote to the press: "We are protecting our land by holding these rights." Ford's ranch is home to a working cattle ranch and an Old West movie set that has been used for several films, including "3:10 to Yuma."

Earlier this month the Tom Ford New York store opened its doors for the first time, located on Madison Avenue. Tom Ford himself was present giving personal tours of the 1930's inspired shop full of not only the designer's menswear creations but also decor from his own collections, such as beaver-skin rugs and Lucio Fontana artwork. According to Tom the store's appeal will be based on "exceptional service and immaculate clothes." Other features available to you while you shop include the fact that everything is customizable (from clothes to fragrances), a wet bar, and if you get hungry during your appointment? Well there's lunch delivered by a maid or butler.

When Tom Ford first partnered up with Estee Lauder I had my doubts. The king of sexy fashion teaming up with a makeup line headed toward a bit of a dowager image didn't seem like a natural fit. I stand corrected. Ford has managed to turn the old product lines of Youth Dew and Azurée hot again. While Azurée is a summery beachy line with coral tones, the new Youth Dew Amber Nude makeup line for fall is warmer with a touch of gold in the makeup for a gilded look. The look stresses a neutral mouth with a dark and dramatic eye. The Minaudiere limited edition comes with The Face and The Lip Polish and sells for $550.

We've been following the story of Tom Ford's New Mexico house with interest. Now that he has finally gotten approval to build the house, he hasn't wasted any time. For the truly Tom-obsessed you can follow along as the house goes up with a webcam at the Santa Fe Review. So far all that's going on is the use of a giant crane to plant piñon trees but the operator of the webcam will soon be getting a telephoto lens to document the house as it rises.

[via Gawker]

Another day, another addition to the Tom Ford empire. Since splitting with Gucci, Ford has done a fragrance deal with Estee Lauder and put out his own sunglasses out with Marcolin. Now he is partnering with Ermenegildo Zegna to create apparel, shoes and accessories for his own fashion house. Ford's partner-in-fashion from the Gucci days, Domenico De Sole is a director at Zegna so the alliance is not a big surprise. Between the designing, the work on Vanity Fair, and the house in New Mexico, I'm beginning to think Ford must have cloned himself in order to get all these projects done.

A Socialite's Life has the scoop on the next Tom Ford fragrance. As we've mentioned before, Ford has worked on the Youth Dew Amber Nude and the new version of Azuree. According to Miu, who received a reader tip, the new fragrance is Tom Ford Black Orchid. Given Ford's propensity for heady scents this seems like a good fit. I'm definitely thinking this will be a very lush and heavy floral doing its best to be sexy in a bottle.

Looks like Tom Ford will be getting his New Mexico palace after all. The Free New Mexican reports that Ford's plans for  a 14,000-square-foot home on an east-side hilltop have passed the Historic Design Review Board by a 5-1 vote late Tuesday night. Ford, who attended the meeting in his usual chest-hair-flaunting white shirt and dark jacket, is reportedly quite thrilled although some neighbors are still objecting to the size of the home. Ford has revised the home several times to make peace with the locals. As a local boy made good as well as a media celebrity, he was probably given a bit more leeway than others who have come to the area seeking to build a mega manse certainly he has better luck than the property’s previous owners, Wall Street investor Paul Tierney and his wife, Susan who engaged in a long and involved fight with neighbors and city officials to try and build a home there.

Tom Ford's latest line for Estee Lauder will have the same retro-appeal that his first line. WWD reports that the Azurée collection is done up in that same robin's egg blue that was used in the 1960s and 1970s and features the same giant gold logo. Are people ready to step back in time? Ford's version of the other Estee classic Youth Dew has been a big seller. The Ford version of Azurée uses a mix of Tahitian gardenia petals, coconut and orange blossoms for a summery fragrance meant to conjure up the luxury life on the Mediterranean. The original, launched in 1969, was a citrusy floral. I can't decide if this look is charmingly retro or a touch too much like the old bottles of perfume found at garage sales. The proof will be in the scent, which launches in May.