In his first book, TOM FORD 001, Tom Ford charted his era defining work at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent from 1994 to 2004, capturing the hedonism of the decade in the process. Now, in a companion volume out this month, a sober and vegan Ford looks back on the many lives that he has lived since then: as a husband and a father, and as a creative visionary who brought his style to the world of the movies as a lauded director, and subsequently managed a powerful fashion and beauty comeback with his eponymous brand.
I spoke to Ford about what Karl Lagerfeld taught him, how it feels being name-checked in a Jay Z song, and much more.
Tom Ford: It’s an honor to have you.
Hamish Bowles: Oh, stop. The honor is all mine, as you know.
How are you?
I am okay. I’m okay. How are you?
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.
Thank you. Well, Richard [Buckley, Ford’s late husband] said, when I showed it to him was—very dry—he said, “Well, it’s a lot of water under the bridge.” Then he turns and walked out of the room. Only one comment about the book.
It’s intriguing because I suppose in many ways, of course, it’s a counterpart to the first book from 2004, which was such a cataclysmic year for you. You walked away from the Gucci Group. Looking back at the first one, what do you think of it?
I wanted to continue it and I wanted to continue the same chronological format. I think fashion moves in a chronological way with each season as a reaction to the season before and a reaction to where you are as a designer at that moment. Where you’re living, what you’re doing, what your experiences are. So, that one really is the first chapter, and this is the second chapter, and I long to have a third chapter. I was turning 60 and my company was around 15 years old when I started the book. Fifteen years and turning 60—it was time to look back. The most interesting thing about it is that in fashion we rarely look back. We’re always worried about what are we going to do next? And now what am I going to do? I haven’t seen A Single Man since I made it. I looked at it a gazillion times while editing it, and I went through all its premieres and that was it. I haven’t seen it since. And same with Nocturnal Animals and fashion. I rarely look back. Because looking at family pictures you immediately go, “Oh god, yes I remember. I remember what I was. I remember what I did. I remember what I was thinking. I remember music. I remember this show. I remember what city I was living in.” And so it was cathartic in that way and very odd that Richard decided to leave the world at the same time. Really in so many ways, now personally as well, it was the end of the chapter and the end of a period in my life.
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