Coco Chanel. Christian Dior. Yves St. Laurent. Cristobal Balenciaga. Tom Ford. All names that have/will go down in fashion history. Now you may be scratching your heads over why I chose a modern designer on this list of 50s legends, but I promise you by the end of my explanation, you will think the same.
For a brief background, Tom Ford was born in 1961 in Austin, Texas. He describes himself as a true Texan and lived there for most of his childhood before moving to New Mexico and then to New York for college. He attended NYU for a year before transferring to the Parsons School of Design where he studied architecture. After graduation he moved to Paris where he would obtain an internship with Chloé and then would move on to work with Perry Ellis in America. As legend has it, he became extremely tired and bored with the “tacky fashion of Americans” so he decided to move to Europe thinking the only shot of him being a successful designer would come from living there. In 1990, he was offered a job at the Italian fashion house, Gucci, which was on the brink of bankruptcy. He worked there for four years before he was promoted to the chief creative director of the brand and his career exploded. His designs were a complete 180 from what Gucci was used to and the public loved them.
His work at Gucci is still some of the most highly coveted after vintage fashion today. His designs were daring and his advertisements were scandalous. During his tenure at Gucci, the group that owned the fashion house acquired YSL which he would become the creative director of in 1999. In 2004, after an argument with the Gucci CEO, Ford left his positions at both companies. He left behind a company worth $10 billion. Remember, the company was about bankrupt when they took a risk on the young American designer. If they hadn’t, Gucci would be no more. The fact that one man’s designs could save a huge company like that is incredible and that alone should cement him as one of the fashion legends, but his career did not end when his time at Gucci did.
Two years after leaving Gucci, Ford opened up his eponymous label, Tom Ford which is still open today. He sells womens and mens clothing, accessories, cosmetics, fragrances, and more. The brand is one of the more expensive luxury brands and is highly highly sought after. His designs have never wavered and every collection that he has released has been pure magic. He just recently sold the brand for $2.8 billion making him one of the wealthiest living designers today. He will remain on as the creative director and designer for the time being and I am biting my nails in fear that this is his subtle way of announcing his retirement. He is 61 and has a young son, so I can definitely see him retiring, but I really hope for the sake of fashion he doesn’t.
Ford himself is larger than life. He gives his unsolicited advice wherever he sees necessary and I love him for it. One of my favorite quotes of his isn’t the nicest, but makes me laugh everytime I hear it: “When I see people dressed really poorly, I think, My God you have got to get a full length mirror” quotes like these show that he truly doesn’t care what people think of him and it’s his world that we’re all just living in.
Tom Ford is a name that will go down in history. He is iconic. He is the moment. He is a legend. He is my favorite designer of all time. I am excited to see what he has in store for the future and hopefully does not retire anytime soon.