100 Most Influential People in Fashion

Fashion Influential #35: Tom Ford

By Alicia on

TOM FORD
Born:
August 27, 1961, Austin, Texas
Labels:
Cathy Hardwick, Perry Ellis, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford
Relationships: Richard Buckley, former EIC of Vogue Hommes International
Beginnings.
Tom Ford bought his first pair of Gucci loafers when he was 13. He says he bugged his mother until she bought them for him. It’s possible to mark that occasion as the point in time in which Ford chose his career path. After stints at Cathy Hardwick and Perry Ellis (where he worked with Marc Jacobs), Ford, then barely known in the fashion world, took a job at Gucci and began the arduous task of resurrecting the dying luxury brand.

Career Highs.
Tom Ford’s career began at Gucci in 1990 when he headed up women’s ready-to-wear. By 1994, despite the wishes of Maurizio Gucci – 50% shareholder and the company’s public face – Ford was promoted to creative director. Between 1995 and 1996, Gucci sales increased by 90% and by 1999, Gucci, which was nearly bankrupt when Ford started, was worth an estimated $4.3 billion. Among numerous other awards, Ford won the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Menswear Designer of the Year award in 2008. So he’s got that going for him.
Real fashion change comes from real changes in real life. Everything else is just decoration.
- Tom Ford

Ford at his boutique opening in Milan
Career Lows.
When Ford left Gucci in 2004, it was a bit jarring for everyone. “I went to my house in London at 4 p.m. on the afternoon that I left Gucci and got into bed,” Ford said in a New York Times article. “I was super-depressed. I had terrible, terrible nightmares. My life at Gucci was like being married, having two kids, and living in a house you’ve built. Then you come home one day, the door’s locked, and your wife is in there fucking someone else.” He pursued a career directing film, writing screenplays and thought about designing a car and even a plane. Eventually he found his way back to fashion.

Legacy.
Tom Ford will forever be remembered as the guy who saved Gucci. He’s the miracle-worker in the fashion world that put an exclamation mark behind the phrase, “Sex sells,” but the best work from Ford is no doubt yet to come. As of this writing, the Tom Ford brand of men’s and women’s apparel and accessories is exploding on runways and in stores.

"Oh hello."

Get the look.
Men: grow some stubble (approximately a day and a half worth). Go buy a suit designed by Tom Ford and pair it with a pressed shirt with a large, chunky collar unbuttoned mid-chest.

- John

Photos by Getty