Tom Ford

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The reason why I wanted to do that at the time was, yes, Gucci and Saint Laurent existed way before I went there, but in the case of Gucci, there really were not runway shows before I went. And there really were not complete collections. I say in the book that you get to give the world your taste once. And it’s true. I made my case at Gucci and then later at Saint Laurent. So I wanted to take that with me when I left and I wanted to put my name on it. What was your mindset in 2004 when you finished the book? Alexei Hay I’d love to talk about your films. You mentioned that you have a cinematic project that you would be interested in bringing to life. I’m not sure if you can talk at all about what that might be. More broadly, I’m curious about the types of stories you are looking to tell.

A fashion icon, provocative American designer Tom Ford brings us his highly anticipated second book, which takes readers through the illustrious trajectory of his billion-dollar luxury empire established in 2005. Really since I had my son—I suppose this sounds like a cliché—I’ve become much more aware of the fact that I’m really just a link in the chain. You become aware of the world in a different way. I started by hearing an actor on a talk show talking about how plastic straws were destroying our planet. I remember thinking, “Well, that’s just crazy. Plastic straws? How could that be?” Well, once I did some research, I found out, wow, okay. That’s actually real. The number of plastic straws that are generated, what they do to our planet. And the first thing I did was switch to metal straws, and that then really has spilled over to the fact that we don’t use any single-use plastics in our house, we don’t use any plastic wrap, we use all of our water in cans. Tom Ford: This book is a complete catalogue of Ford's design work for both Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent from 1994 to 2004. It chronicles not only Ford's clothing and accessories designs for both houses, but also explores Ford's grand vision for the complete design of a brand, including architecture, store design, and advertising. Tom Ford features more than 200 photographs by Richard Avedon, Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, Terry Richardson, Craig McDean, Todd Eberle, and numerous other photographers including many previously unpublished images. Synonymous with high-octane glamour, opulent sexuality, and fearless fashion, Tom Ford is an iconic designer whose namesake label has devout followers across the globe, from Milan and New Delhi to Shanghai and New York. Seventeen years after his best-selling debut book Tom Ford (2004), which detailed his time as creative director for the Italian label Gucci, this second volume is a visual ode to Ford’s eponymous brand created in 2005 and encompasses cosmetics, eyewear, menswear, and his critically acclaimed womenswear line.Laughs.] Oh, I don’t know that it’s an honor. It’s fascinating, because I’ve been doing interviews this morning, and you live in London, I believe, and you write for a U.S. publication, and I just did one in New York, but it’s a Berlin publication. I miss London. I’m jealous of you being there. I mean, I love Los Angeles and it’s a beautiful, sunny day, but I miss so much the people and the culture. They’re just very different in L.A. It certainly is. I’m from Hawaii originally, so I’m moving farther and farther to colder and darker places. But I do like it here. Oh, I’m alright. I have good days and bad days. It’s better when I’m working because then I’m not thinking about everything. You know what it’s like. Well, it’s certainly been an exhilarating lift going through the book, I have to say. When I started working on the book, my company was 15 and I was turning 60. It was interesting, because I could so easily remember everything that was happening to me at that time in my life. I look at a dress or a piece of menswear or a photograph and think, “Oh yeah, I was living there, I was doing this. That’s why I designed this. This is what was going on in my personal life, this was what was going on in my business life.” … So it was very cathartic and reflective.

Yeah, I guess I was pleasantly surprised at how much work I had done. How did I actually, you know, do menswear, womenswear, build stores all over the world, create a cosmetics business? You work and you work and you work. It made me feel good. I actually have built a brand. This was something I wanted to do and I did it and achieved it. It made me feel good. How have you managed to be so productive? The special collection of photographs comes just in time for the holidays, as the perfect gift for any synonymous fashion lover and Ford fan." CRFASHIONBOOK.COMMy first film, A Single Man , was highly personal. I grafted my personality onto that of Christopher Isherwood, because I took certain themes of the original book, and then blew them up so they became the principal message behind the film. I can’t speak specifically about what I’m writing at the moment. God knows when I’ll finish it or when I’ll have the time to make it—well, actually I’ll have a couple things—but it is another very personal story, told in a fictitious way. I talk about that a lot in the book. I didn’t stop drinking until well into the development of my own brand. I continued with that. In fact it probably got even worse. When I was an alcoholic, well, I guess I still am an alcoholic, but when I drank I was a highly productive alcoholic; it didn’t hinder my work until maybe right at the end. That was one of the reasons I needed to stop. Wow. So, of course, Book 2 investigates your career and life as a director. How did that come about?

I think my taste has gone from a more literal sexuality to more of a sensuality. But honestly, you get to give the world your taste once, and I did that in the ’90s. My taste hasn’t changed. Yes, times have changed, so my taste has evolved. Things change a little bit, meaning a silhouette will change, a shoulder will change, a skirt length will change, a shoe heel will change. And the way people dress has changed, obviously. I think people dress more today in items than they did in a head-to-toe look in the ’90s or early 2000s. I don’t sleep. I enjoy working. I don’t actually know what I would do without working. It fuels everything. I think I’m often the best when I’m working on multiple things at the same time because I’m excited about one thing that I’m doing and that spills over onto everything else because I’m happy. That excitement fuels over and I feel more creative, but it is weird because it also makes you realize how fast it all goes. I do wish I had more time to sit at a cafe and have an omelet mixte and a Coca Light you know, so it’ll be interesting to see what I do now. But honestly I’m seeing it through the lens of having just lost Richard, and now it takes on a different meaning. Well, yes, that would be one of them. So was there a moment of epiphany when you pivoted on that aspect of your life?I did the same with Nocturnal Animals. Amy Adams’s character was very, very different in the book. In a sense, she became my alter ego in that film. I highlighted a thing I’ve struggled with in life, which is materialism over the importance of the people in your life. I think whatever you make as a filmmaker, those are the things that resonate.