Image Credit: Simon Perry
Recently I have been feeling a bit like a kid in a candy store when it comes to Tom Ford. He has been featured on quite a few media outlets and each new interview seems to offer some new insight into the man behind the genius.
I love reading these types of interviews because they add a whole new element to TOM FORD. As he approaches his 50th birthday he has gotten more personal in his interviews and is letting us see beyond the curtain a bit. They go beyond the clothing and the controversy and really look at what makes Tom… Tom.
I was very thankful when a little birdie contacted me yesterday and alerted me to a wonderful sit down Ford had with Prestige Hong Kong Editor Vivienne Tang. The two discussed everything from his carefully-crafted sex symbol persona and next film project to his secret presentations and an upcoming 50th birthday celebration rafting trip:
“It’s one of my favourite things to do, where you can’t take a shower for five days,” he says. “It’s fun. It’s amazing. I do the whole thing in a kayak, and I wear these kind of aqua shirts so I don’t get sunburnt.”
The thought of Tom Ford white-water rafting makes me giggle. So fun! Anyone else want to go rafting with him? Raise your hand!
These are some of my favorite excerpts from the interview:
On how nature grounds him (and us):
“I think that’s why so many people feel depressed and unfulfilled, because we’ve lost touch with the planet. Being in touch with our universe instantly grounds you and makes you understand why we’re here and what this is about. So when I go into nature, a tree branch could be falling over but it looks beautiful that way because it’s all harmonious. Nature is imperfect but completely perfect. So it’s cleansing for my brain to be away from all of that.”
On his spirituality:
“The Tao Te Ching is my absolute bible. It’s all about being present, and there’s a spiritual quality that’s somewhat detached from the material, yet I live in this very materialistic world…
… So when I’m in this world, and every single thing around us is completely man-made, it’s all keeping us from really feeling grounded and centred. We start to think that materialism and the accumulation of fame, success and wealth are going to bring us happiness. Then you start to think, ‘Why am I doing all this? If I’m going to die, I can’t take it with me. So what is this?’ And you start to feel very… kind of pointless.
On leaving Gucci:
“It was 14 years of my life. I never thought I would leave [Gucci] until I retired from fashion. I felt I would probably stay there, like Karl Lagerfeld. It wasn’t a particularly amicable split. It was as though you’d built a house, and one day you came home and you were locked out, and there was a new family living there. I went home the last day I was there, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do or who I was.”
On turning 50 in August:
“I always wanted to be 50 when I was a little kid… I fantasised about a life I would have, which materially I do have. So no, I’m actually not at all freaked out about being 50. [I’m] freaked out sometimes about the texture of my skin, but at some point you just have to realise that you get wrinkles. You have to change the role model of your beauty aspirations.”
On being interviewed while completely nude for The Sunday Times:
“I did one [interview completely in the nude]. I’m totally an equal-opportunity objectifier. We’re much more comfortable with female nudity than we are with male nudity, and that wasn’t always the case. I wanted that story to be the two of us, sitting nude, talking about our hang-up culturally with male nudity. It was actually to prove a point.”
On true beauty (note: this is my new favorite quote from Tom Ford!):
“Beauty doesn’t come from anything physical. I mean, it can. The first impression can be, ‘Wow, she’s physically beautiful.’ But then with other people, there’s a different kind of beauty that just comes from them, and they just emit a kind of goodness, niceness or friendliness, and that’s beautiful. There’s beauty in most things if you look.”
To read the full interview with Vivienne Tang click here.
What do you think?
1 comment… add one
Tweet Me: @designedbyann Aug 3, 2011
Oh I love his interviews for the same reason! so thanks for sharing B! I wouldn’t go rafting with him, no…I’d go rafting with anyone actually 😛 LOL
And I’m wondering, for whom is he a sex symbol…men or women? (because I have to admit that he is my celebrity crush…after much thinking)
As for the definition of beauty…totally agree…you can see a physically beautiful woman and the moment she opens her mouth to speak…you see all the “ugliness”! A friend of mine has the following quote in his Facebook profile, which I find very interesting: “Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.”