Tom Ford just dropped his final fall women’s ready-to-wear collection on his website, which consists of reproductions of his favorite looks from the past 13 years shown in three Tom Ford Archive videos shot by Steven Klein.

Like the film director he has become, Ford orchestrated his exit in cinematic style. With his models in glass vitrines, he stands in front like a conductor, animating them as if they were mannequins coming to life in a museum display.

Amber Valletta, Joan Smalls, Karlie Kloss, Karen Elson and Caroline Trentini strut and strike poses for the maestro, crescendoing to an operatic finish. A black-veiled Kloss clutches her head and Valletta wails — in mourning and poking fun at the designer’s departure. He walks off set in his perfect suit, his brogues clip-clopping.

Ford was never quite able to bring the same fashion magic to his eponymous women’s collection that he did to his menswear, or to Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent during his tenures there in the ‘90s and early 2000s.

But he was able to use the Tom Ford runways to expand his cult of personality and his celebrity fan club, which was unrivaled until the European conglomerates began turning their fortunes on Hollywood. That was its own magic, stoking the success of Ford’s beauty brand, and driving the value of his company so high, he was able to sell to the Estée Lauder Cos. for $2.8 billion in November.