Not true. It's possible to not really know what you want, go somewhere looking for a suit, and find one you like. I don't know why that should be impossible. Of course it's easier to find something you like if you already know what it looks like, but it's not necessary.
Like I said, I hope he delivers what you want. But you pick a random tailor charging $700 CMT on a suit, you're probably not going to get what you want if you're very picky at all.
Again, if the OP really likes the TF, the safest and probably most cost-effective option is to just buy TF, on sale if you can get it. But it's a distinctive look that other tailors are not going to be able to recreate easily. Likely result would be spending $2-3k to get a jacket that's fine, but not like the TF one. Worst case scenario, the attempt goes horribly wrong and results in something unwearable.
I have no real particular passion for TF. I don't own any of his clothing. But jeffreyd did a writeup on a TF suit that was interesting:
http://tuttofattoamano.blogspot.com/2010/10/tom-ford.html






