Tom Ford

Tom Ford

Anyone can be a designer anytime, provided one has the passion and commitment to do it. The degree didn’t matter much, what mattered was his enthusiasm. Tom Ford, born on 27th August 1961, is an American film director and fashion designer. He spent the early years of his life in Houston’s suburbs, and in San Marcos. He moved to Mexico with his family and studied at St. Michael’s High School and then shifted to Santa Fe Preparatory School. When Ford was sixteen, he left Santa Fe and joined Bard College. From there he dropped out and ended up in New York University (NYU) to learn art history. In a year, he dropped out from NYU too in order to act in television advertisements. At a time, he appeared in twelve national commercial campaigns concurrently. Ford restarted his education at Parsons The New School for Design to study interior design and architecture. While in New York, Ford spent most of his time at Studio 54, a nightclub which made him realize his homosexual hormones and he knew then that he was gay. A year before graduating from New School, Ford spent some time in Paris doing an apprenticeship at Chloé, a press office. During this time, his love for fashion designing triggered and he passed his final year learning about fashion. However, he graduated with an architecture degree.

After graduating, he began looking for jobs and concealed the fact that he had a degree in architecture. His main concern was to get hired at a place related to fashion. He somehow convinced Cathy Hardwick for a job. In the interview between the two, nothing indicated Hardwick that Ford had any know how about the fashion industry, yet she gave him a chance to work as a design assistant for her.

In 1988, Tom Ford switched to Perry Ellis for two years. There he knew Marc Jacobs and the president of the company on a social level. In 1990, Dawn Mello from Gucci hired Ford as the chief designer of ready-to-wear for women in Italy. In a matter of six months, Ford expanded his role at the company by designing menswear and then shoes. In 1992, Ford became the director of design. A year later, he was managing eleven product collections. By 1999, Ford had the most shares in the company and rose Gucci from bankruptcy to success. In 2004, he parted with the company over a creative dispute. Ford then launched a collection of accessories, eyewear and menswear in 2006. The chairman of the Tom Ford brand was Dominico De Sole who was a friend and colleague of Ford in Gucci.

Apart from fashion designing, Tom Ford opened a film production house in 2005. His first film as a director and producer was A Single Man based on Christopher Isherwood‘s novel. The stars were Julianne Moore, Mathew Goode, Nicholas Hoult and Colin Firth. The film and actors won several awards at the 66th Venice International Film Festival.

Moving on, Ford’s personal life involves his gay partner Richard Buckley since 1986. Buckley was a journalist and Editor in Chief at Vogue Hommes International. The two have a son named Alexander John Buckley Ford born in 2012. In addition to this, the couple owns three fox terriers that appeared at a runway show and also in A Single Man.