(Photo: Patrick McMullan)

Tom Ford may have just launched an expensive perfume called Black Orchid, but he’s really a fan of B.O. “I don’t wear deodorant,” he said at the fragrance’s Top of the Rock launch party. “I don’t! I actually love the way that human beings smell. And I love the way my dog’s ears smell. My smell is a little sweat, a little dog.” As clouds of Black Orchid were pumped into the crowd, he continued, “I think a lot of us have gotten so weird about it, especially Americans. Americans love to, like, wash away all trace of human smell. I like human smell. It’s what makes us attracted to each other. I mean, I’m not attracted to some laundry that I take out after I’ve put Febreze in it. I don’t like clean. I don’t like the smell of soap.” He also likes to go commando, which shouldn’t stop him from selling underwear at his first menswear store, opening in April on Madison Avenue.

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Jada Yuan
• Table of Contents: November 20, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!