INSIDE: Tom Ford's Vanity Fair Stint

The controversy! The actresses! The collaboration with Joe Zee!

SOURCE: Jim Shi from FashionWeekDaily.com

{NEW YORK} Tom Ford’s up to his old tricks again.

Sources inside the fashion halls of Vanity Fair, not to mention publicists at more than one luxury fashion house, have been abuzz over the apparent drama Ford is stirring up since editor-in-chief Graydon Carter confirmed Ford's position as artistic director of the annual Hollywood photo portfolio, scheduled to bow in March.

Specifically, Ford was said to have requested that the Vanity Fair fashion department pull “really grown-up clothes” (translation: skin-baring dresses and platform high heels) for 12-year old Dakota Fanning, just one of a bevy of actresses he worked with. “It’s one thing to have an artistic eye, but it’s another to be offensive,” said one source who worked on the shoots. “It’s been an interesting adventure.” What’s also interesting is that sources are now saying that Ford’s guest-editing gamble might very well become a permanent venture at the Condé Nast title.

While all those involved with the issue remain tight-lipped about which actresses achieved the cover status—once again photographed by Annie Leibovitz—what is known is that none of the actresses will wear any of Ford’s own ready-to-wear line, which he is currently developing. Patricia Clarkson and Mission: Impossible III star Michelle Monaghan are among those featured inside the issue, which also boasts contributions from an array of famed shutterbugs, from Terry Richardson to Michael Thompson.

Meanwhile, Joe Zee hasn’t been sitting idly by since his magazine, Vitals, folded at the end of September. The contributing fashion editor at W has, for the last two and a half weeks, been in Los Angeles working as “fashion director” for the March issue alongside Ford. It’s Zee’s first collaboration with the man infamous for his attention to detail, and some are even hinting that the proactive Zee’s relationships and experience with celebrity styling would make him the ideal candidate to succeed Anne McNally, who left the magazine earlier this month.

When asked about the issue’s theme, Zee replied, “Tom Ford, of course.”

A spokesperson for Vanity Fair offered no comment on upcoming issues.