There are wild stories about Tom Ford interviews. The man is as mythological as his brand—known for sleek glamour of the ultimate old-school Hollywood variety. He’s fashion’s King of Sex. And he’s famous for being a perfectionist with an attention to detail rivaling Stanley Kubrick (not to mention all his fellow Virgos). Editing his films frame by frame, and zooming in to amplify a shade of cantaloupe to give it the ideal tone; getting down on one knee, impeccably mannered, to ask Stella McCartney to be his son’s godparent. He painted the tractors on his ranch all black to complement his black horses and black Angus cattle. He does not wear sneakers.
Partially because of this folklore, but mainly of his legacy, I was quite nervous when I called Mr. Ford in Los Angeles the other week. Perhaps more than any other living designer, he’s a legend of the culture-shaping variety. He has not just created immaculate, richly impactful garments and accessories, first at Gucci then at YSL and with his own brand, but arguably, has influenced the very way in which we collectively perceive sexuality and desire. His films—quiet, beautiful, devastating, as emotively nuanced as they are visually rich—are his true lasting imprint.
My grandmother wore Tom Ford. She was both incredibly traditional and deeply transgressive of so many long-standing conventions of how a woman should be. (She went to law school in the 1940s and later drove a 1969 Jaguar E-Type and for many decades, a 1971 SL—not your typical grandma.) You know a Tom Ford woman when you see one.
Soon, Ford will release his second book, Tom Ford 002. It is a follow-up to his first offering, the black-and-white coffee-table favorite chronologizing his years at Gucci and seen in the living rooms of everyone from Kim Kardashian to an almost endless array of interiors influencers. (Apparently, it was banned from the pages of House Beautiful because it was so ubiquitous among the beautiful homes profiled.) The new tome is a visual remembrance of the 15 years after Ford left Gucci Group.