Tom Ford

After growing up in Texas and New Mexico, Tom Ford made a beeline for New York City in 1979 to study art history at NYU. It wasn’t long before the city’s glamorous nightlife and cultural vibrancy started to have an impact on Ford’s worldview. “One night, I was sitting in my room…thinking, ‘God, please let someone knock on the door,’ because I was so lonely,” Ford told New York magazine of his NYU days. “Then this nice guy from my art-history class in this cute little blazer came in, and he asked if I wanted to go to a party. Andy Warhol was at the party, and he took us to Studio 54—wow. Even today, I still start shaking when I hear Donna Summer, because it’s the music of my coming of age.” A year later, Ford ditched college and headed to LA to dabble in acting, but ultimately decided that the fashion world was the best fit for him. After finagling his way into an assistant job for designer Cathy Hardwick, Ford moved on to designing jeans for Perry Ellis and then in 1994 he landed the job that would make him a fashion superstar: design director at the then-struggling Gucci. With his leadership and design aesthetic—minimalist, overtly sexual, revamped 1970s glamour—Gucci became a fashion powerhouse.

“He understood more than anyone else that sex sells,” said fashion maven Fern Mallis. For the marketing effort behind Gucci (and its sister brand Yves Saint Laurent), Ford rounded up A-list photographers like Mario Testino and Terry Richardson and encouraged them to push the envelope of propriety. The “advertising campaigns became more exciting than editorial,” recalled Testino.

In 2004, when Ford and Gucci parted ways, Anna Wintour called the divorce “a catastrophe,” but after taking a short hiatus, Ford got creatively re-energized. “I knew I wanted to go back into fashion, but I also still want to do a film,” he said. He launched the Tom Ford collection in 2006, focusing first on menswear, fragrance and accessories before branching out into womenswear.

His collections became a huge success. Michelle Obama wore a floor-length Tom Ford gown on a visit to Buckingham Palace. [ADD PHOTO] Beyonce donned a Tom Ford jersey dress during one of her tours. [ADD PHOTO] And Ford was given the honor of outfitting the suavest man in the history of cinema—James Bond—in the Daniel Craig films Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre. [ADD PHOTO] And just as with Gucci, Ford once again added a sexy touch to the marketing of his signature line.

 
And if all that fashion success weren’t enough, Ford also made good on his goal to make a film. In 2009, he debuted A Single Man—a vivid drama about a gay professor (Colin Firth) reeling from the death of his lover—which Ford wrote, directed, and financed. This November, Ford will unveil his second feature film—the thriller Nocturnal Animals starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams.

Through all the iterations, reinventions and evolutions of his career, there’s been one common thread that connects them all: whether he’s working in fashion, film, or marketing, Tom Ford—both the man and the brand—knows how to be provocative.