When Tom Ford left the fashion industry in 2004 at the top of his game, you could hear his colleagues collectively weep. The iconic designer, who single-handedly turned around the labels of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, was gone. Where would he go, the industry wondered, and how would his fashion-forward fans survive?

Since departing as the head of two fashion houses, he's had a very profitable stint in the beauty industry with a set of fragrances for both men and women, as well as the launch of his own menswear line. He even went on to direct the award-winning movie, A Single Man. But never fear, fashion lovers: Tom Ford and his designs for the women who love him are back!

With a super secret show in September that had an all-star runway that included Beyoncé, Lauren Hutton, Julianne Moore, Carolyn Murphy, and Chanel Iman, the designer made his return to womenswear greatness in a blaze of fashion flashbulbs with a collection for Spring 2011. Images of the collection were slowly released to Harper's Bazaar. Since then the creative dynamo has published photos of the collection in all its glory in the splashy pages of December/January Vogue Paris, for which he was the guest Editor-In-Chief.

Ford's new collection is nothing short of spectacular, an infusion of sex appeal that's been sorely missing in fashion as of late. Body-conscious dresses and impeccably tailored jackets hug the body. Silk, tightly cut black wool, dangling fringe, hand-stitched leather--it's wanton sensuality that Ford does best and it's back starting right this minute.

What will the lauded designer do for his next trick? Time will tell what's next, but this very needed injection of glamor and feminine design into the fashion industry makes the return of Tom Ford Character Approved.

[Images: Vogue Paris]