Tom Ford : Life after Gucci

[Thefrenchy]

^ Nocturnal Animals is getting great reviews at the Venice Film Festival I hope we will get a trailer soon!

 

[Nymphaea]

“Can’t We Do Something New?” Tom Ford Discusses His First Show-Now-Buy-Now Collection

Nocturnal Animals, Tom Ford’s first movie since 2009’s Oscar-nominated A Single Man, received a 10-minute ovation when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Friday night. The designer-director was taking meetings at his Madison Avenue flagship this morning, as debonair as ever, and hoping for as warm a reception for his inaugural show-now-buy-now collection when it gets its own debut at the Four Seasons restaurant space tomorrow night. (It’s likely to be just as star-studded as that Venice premiere if the A-list crowd at his last runway show—Gwyneth! Julianne! Miley!—is any indication.)

Ford is part of the first wave of designers embracing a radical new direct-to-consumer model that rethinks decades of industry-wide standard operating procedure. There’s no long-lead press, no editorials in magazines. The new concept banks on immediacy, shrinking the gap between when a customer sees the collection and when she (or he, Ford is also showing men’s) can buy it. As the designer put it, Fall is, “hanging downstairs, steamed, and ready to be flipped into the store tomorrow night.” More on what Ford had to say on the subjects of risk, desire, Rihanna, and the architect Philip Johnson, below:

Your second movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Friday night and you’re putting on a show and coordinating a major restructuring of your fashion business. Did you plan it this way?
Yes and no. Venice, because I’ve been working on the film for quite a while—not to downplay New York Fashion Week—was the important date, so had it not worked out I would be showing in London or Milan in two weeks or somewhere else. It all just happened to work, with this, and Toronto [International Film Festival], it all just lined up. One reason that it works is because I designed this collection six months ago, so the creative part, that frustration you go through a few weeks before a collection—Is this the right thing? Is this the right shoe? Should we change it? Rip that off? Change that!—that’s not here, because the collection’s done. Now, it happens to me again in two weeks because I have to finish the Spring ’17 collection, so that the buyers can buy that and I can show it in February. There are still fittings to do, hair and makeup, hoping that the production works, that the whole evening flows as it’s supposed to, but there’s not that creative angst, that stress level. That would be almost impossible, to be doing Venice, this, and then Toronto.

You couldn’t fiddle with the collection because it’s been produced, right?
It’s hanging downstairs, hanging, steamed, ready to be flipped into the store tomorrow night.

And the same goes for your wholesalers.
Absolutely, it’s at Bergdorf’s, it’s at Neiman’s. They’ve photographed it for their catalogs, they had to sign non-disclosure agreements, they couldn’t leak any pictures. So it’s done. It’s all over the world ready to go into our stores. I can’t change a thing. I can change the hair and the makeup.

How does that feel? It’s really flipping the switch.
It’s kind of great, because also I haven’t looked at the clothes since I did them. Luckily, I really love them and I’m not tired of them. So, I think it feels good. I don’t know if this will be sustainable. We’ll have to see. I’ll have to see how it works; see how our customers respond to it. The weird thing is, there’s no long-lead press because I’m not showing it to anyone. So, I don’t know how that’s going to work going forward, having no clothes to send magazines.

Any anxiety about that? Will that cycle correct itself so you could have clothes for magazines?
I don’t know, you know, I’m contemplating starting, for lack of a better name, Tom Ford Atelier, because I do constantly dress celebrities. I do constantly create things for Beyoncé on tour, for Rihanna, so I might create capsule collections in between the [main] collections for celebrities, and then once they wear them, then put them immediately in the store. We’re going to have to see how this goes. Now, the clothes that I’m showing tomorrow will be in the store; they don’t get marked down until January. So who knows, if someone loves something tomorrow, they’re certainly available to be photographed, but they won’t be able to make it into anything except the November issue. Or, certain magazines can turn around in two weeks. I’m the only one doing this other than Burberry and a few other people, but if the whole industry starts doing this, then magazines will have to go to a much quicker turnaround.

Was it important to you to be first?
It was funny—I had thought about it, I had done the research, we had figured out how to do it—and I panicked and didn’t do it. And then Christopher Bailey [at Burberry] announced it, and I called him that morning and said, “Goddamn it, you announced this first; I’m going to do it too.” And then I sent out the announcement as well. But Christopher beat me by about four or five hours, and he gave me the confidence to try it as well.

And now there’s a groundswell.
It’ll be interesting to see if the designer market latches on. It’d have to change the timing of shows. One of the reasons I had to do it in New York and not elsewhere was because this merchandise needed to be in the stores in August. I couldn’t have held it much longer. To put them in on September 7 or 8 is okay, because our customer really is away; she comes back on Labor Day and she starts shopping. If I had to stretch it out to Paris I’d be losing three or four weeks of key sales, so the other thing would be to do it during couture.

So being first didn’t impact showing in New York; needing to have them on the sales floor did. I had been wondering if this collection would feel “New York” the way the collection you did on the eve of the Oscars last year felt “L.A.”
I think it’s, I hope it’s international, which is where we are. However, we are showing in L.A. in February the Friday before the Oscars and I’m finishing that collection in the next two weeks. I’ve been working on it over the summer, and I’m very well aware that it’s going down a runway in L.A. during Oscar weekend, because you still kind of need to think about concept and your audience.

That could be a very big weekend for you, if the Venice audience is correct. You must thrive in that environment, where you’re making a movie and a collection at the same time.
I thrive in an environment where I’m stimulated; if I get bored that’s bad because then what I’m doing isn’t good. I had an editing suite set up in my London office; I’d edit for four or five hours, I’d go out for a fitting, I’d go back and edit, but I was so excited. I was having so much fun, and I think that spills over into everything you do. I thrive on being excited, which is one of the reasons I’m trying this tomorrow night. After almost 30 years in the business, I just thought, “Can’t we do something new? Can’t we change this?” I hope it works. If it doesn’t, we’ll try to think of something else.

You are a designer who went to Hollywood and at this moment we have celebrities getting into fashion. What do you think of the Kanyes and Rihannas getting into this business?
I think if they have a lot of personal style and they’re willing to devote a lot of personal energy, it can be good. I think a lot of people underestimate how serious our business is, how hard you have to work, and how dedicated you have to be. It is a tough, tough, ruthless industry and it takes a lot out of you. And so, if you’ve got a lot of style, as Rihanna does, and you’re willing to put a lot of energy into it, great. I sat next to Victoria Beckham the other day on a plane going from L.A. to London—she’s a friend—and I said, “Do you miss performing? You know, I actually forget that you were a performer because you’ve embraced what you do now as a fashion designer.” You know, she’s starting a beauty line. She’s very serious about it. And if you’re very serious about it, absolutely, great. If not, it can be hard.

Why the Four Seasons?
I wanted something intimate. I wanted a dinner set up. I didn’t want a regular show. I think that’s one of the chicest rooms in New York. I’ve always loved to eat there. Philip Johnson was someone I came to know toward the end of his life and I used to go pick him up upstairs and we’d go for lunch there. And I just love that room; it felt right, so that’s where we’re doing it.

vogue

 

[MyNameIs]

^ Nocturnal Animals is getting great reviews at the Venice Film Festival I hope we will get a trailer soon!

He looks to be 2 for 2. Hope he continues to make movies.

 

[Lola701]

Q&A On the eve of New York Fashion Week, Tom Ford talks about his move to L.A. and the future of his brand

By Adam Tschorn
The day before he’s set to kick off New York Fashion Week by sending his fall/winter 2016 collections down the runway and right into retail, fashion designer and filmmaker Tom Ford took a break from model and VIP fittings at his Madison Avenue boutique to talk about the logistics of actually pulling off a “see now/buy now” collection, how he juggles his two, high-profile careers and why he’s still looking for a place to live in Los Angeles – even though everyone thinks he bought a $50-million Beverly Hills mansion out from under Jay Z and Beyoncé.

While showing a collection that consumers don’t have to wait for months to buy certainly makes sense — especially when they can watch a livestream of the runway show — what’s a little harder to understand is the supply part of the supply-and-demand equation. How is this going to work?

It’s actually pretty easy because I finished [designing] the collection at the exact same time that I always would have — way back in February [2016] — so I had a collection that I could have shown. That’s because our buyers had to buy it. Neiman’s had to buy it. Bergdorf’s had to buy it. So the showroom was open as usual, and everyone signed a non-disclosure agreement. So I’d already identified the exact outfits that would be on the runway that everyone had bought: a particular blouse, a skirt, a pair of shoes. That’s the only way it would work. All those things are downstairs right now. They’ve been steamed and they’re ready to go tomorrow night. [Tonight store employees] will stay up late. They’ll take down all the old merchandise, and the whole store flips to what was just in the show.

And, in 10 days, I [will] define the [look of the] show that I will show in L.A. on the Friday before the Oscars — which I am doing again.

So the runway looks are locked in pretty early in the process — based on buyer response?

Right now, I’m doing fittings because I can change the girl, the hair and the makeup and what pieces of music I want to have playing. But [garment-wise] I cannot change a thing because it’s not only been bought, but over the summer, we photographed each one of those outfits live on a girl, and as individual pieces, priced them all for our site because the minute the show is over it goes live and you can buy it.

How do you see that affecting the role of the fashion industry press?

Newspapers journalists are still fine. They can still write and show pictures – and short-lead press like People, Us [Weekly] and In Style, that can turn things around fast will be fine. Vogue.com? Absolutely fine. Online? Yes. Long-lead magazines? Hmmm. No. So I may have to come up with something in between those seasons for long-lead press. I have no idea. I’m kind of just playing it by ear to see how it works. Tomorrow night is the big test. I think it will work from a retail standpoint. I’d be very surprised if we don’t get a lot of women in here the next day who watched [the show online] or looked at photos from it and want to buy it.

Does the changing nature of your runway collection have any impact on the dressing you do for the red carpet?

That’s different because I usually make those things custom … I made one for Amy Adams the other night in Venice. It looked great so I’m immediately copying it to put it in our stores. But most of those I do from scratch for special events. I make Beyoncé’s costumes a lot. I make things for actresses all the time, but they don’t usually want to wear something from the collection.

Speaking of the collection, what can you tell us about the fall/winter 2016 collection that will be livestreamed out to the world on Wednesday night?

There will be beautiful clothes! I never talk about the clothes — they have to speak for themselves. And you’ll see that tomorrow.

You’re just back from the Venice Film Festival where your second film, “Nocturnal Animals,” received a pretty positive response. Has it gotten easier or harder to juggle the demands and schedules of the film and fashion worlds?

I plan all that so far in advance. There’s only one window every year where I can actually film a movie and that’s the fall, because in between the women’s shows in September and the men’s shows in January I have a blank space. So, to film, I have to do it in the fall, which I did for this movie — last fall — and which I did for “A Single Man,” seven years ago.

But editing is different. I set up an editing suite in my office in London where I’ll edit for two or three hours, go out for a fitting [for] two or three hours, go back and edit three or four hours, go back to the fitting [for] two or three hours. I did that for seven months. And it’s actually been convenient that there haven’t been any creative decisions — beyond the hair and makeup — for me to make for tomorrow’s show because that’s allowed me to go to [the] Venice [Film Festival], and I’ll be able to go to [the upcoming] Toronto [International Film Festival] and then L.A., where I have a design studio now. I’m going to be working and living in L.A. this school year instead of in London. [Ford’s son Jack starts school in L.A. on Wednesday.]

Oh, right. I read somewhere that you bought a huge Beverly Hills mansion out from under Jay Z and Beyoncé for $50 million.

That’s not true. I didn’t buy that house. I looked at that house, but I didn’t buy that house. We’re still looking for a house.

But you did sell your house in Santa Fe, N.M., right?

Actually that was a ranch, which is an hour away from our house in Santa Fe.

Is the work/life shift to Los Angeles going to be long-term?

We’re going to try it and see how I like it.

Last question: You’re not the only designer showing an in-season buy-it-now collection during the next seven days. There are also a handful of temporary retail shops popping up around town in the same time frame. Do you think this is a defining season for New York Fashion Week – and the future of the fashion industry overall?

I think fashion is changing, and nobody’s quite sure of what it’s changing into. So everyone is trying different things. I think it will ultimately settle – I think into what I’m doing. Because it’s the last thing in the world where you see stuff and can’t have it for six months. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.

latimes

 

[Miss Dalloway]

He is on the cover of Hollywood Reporter, and its great! Actually excited to get the issue now!

Such a great time for Tom, and since we all know how hard he works, I'm very happy that he seems to be having a major moment again, in Fashion & Film!

Thanks to everoyne for posting the new interviews.

 

[Spike413]

I have to say, from a purely retail standpoint, this choice of his has always made sense to me. In a way it's very similar formula to the one H&M has employed for their yearly designer collaborations; announce something, talk about it in vague terms and then within only a few weeks start to tease it, then promote it, then debut it in pics and on a runway, and finally drop it into stores days later before the rush of "I need to own this now!" wears off.

Sales wise, who really wants to deal with pre-ordering anything? The more time you have to think about a purchase, the more time you have to lose interest in it, or decide you don't need it, or see something else that you like instead.

I'm surprised to hear about his approach to long-lead press though. For some reason I had assumed that, at least where the major mags are concerned, Ford would have taken a similar approach as he did with buyers by previewing the collection and lending it out to be photographed for issues that will land on newsstands after the collection does.

 

[GIVENCHYlover]

The more time you have to think about a purchase, the more time you have to lose interest in it

This!

 

[Nymphaea]

Tom Ford interview: 'Fashion is gone so quickly. But film lasts forever'

Two decades ago, Tom Ford had the fashion world at his feet. In 1990 the Texas-born designer had moved to Milan to take charge of womenswear at the struggling Italian leather goods brand, Gucci. When Ford joined, Gucci was almost bankrupt – both creatively and financially.

The company was struggling to pay its employees on time and even the then-creative director admitted that “no one would dream of wearing Gucci”. But Ford sexed up the brand, putting Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow in his clothes, creating controversial nude ad campaigns and wowing the front row with his movie-star good looks.

He was made creative director of the whole company in 1994, and quickly became known as the king of the celebrity designers. But after clashing with his bosses over creative control, in 2004 he abruptly quit. Despite walking away with $100 million in stock, Ford began to struggle with alcohol, depression and generally “not knowing what I was going to do”. Then he had an idea: he’d become a filmmaker.

Two more tough years followed as Ford tried to find backers and scripts, so by his own admission he "panicked". He went back to fashion, starting his own Tom Ford fashion line in 2006 and – in typical Ford style – generated interest through provocative imagery, which included appearing on the cover of Vanity Fair fully clothed between actresses Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson, both nude.

Thanks to the line’s success, Ford was able to largely self-finance his first film A Single Man, an adaptation of a Christopher Isherwood novel starring Colin Firth as a gay college professor in 1962. Although Ford “lost a little money on it”, the film was a critical sensation, earning both Oscar and Bafta nominations. Seven years later, Ford is at the Toronto Film Festival to talk about his follow-up film, Nocturnal Animals.

Sitting in a hotel suite, the 55-year-old looks exactly like a Tom Ford model: immaculate dark suit, white shirt, turquoise cufflinks, tinted glasses and just the right degree of carefully tended stubble. He’s coolly confident, articulate, courteous and still leading man-handsome, although he has admitted to using Botox to help maintain his looks.

Ford has just flown in from New York, where he had launched his new “fall line” following a visit to the Venice Film Festival for the film’s premiere, and a brief stop at his house in Los Angeles.

Such a peripatetic schedule must surely dictate that he travels with a veritable wardrobe of suits? “In fact, I’m travelling with only carry-on luggage,” he smiles. “I wear this same suit over and over and over. I have probably quite a lot of them but they’re pretty much all the same. I have a uniform; it’s easy: I get up in the morning and I put on that uniform.”

Since making A Single Man, Ford and his longtime partner and husband of two years Richard Buckley, 68, have adopted a son, Jack, now aged four. “I’m a very hands-on father and I told myself, OK, for at least the first three years I’m not going to do anything except really concentrate on Jack,” he says. “Also my business expanded and I didn’t find a story that I wanted to do.”

He eventually discovered Austin Wright's psychological thriller novel Tony and Susan, optioned it and wrote a screenplay for it. The film, which he retitled Nocturnal Animals and which he produced and directed, stars Amy Adams as Susan, a successful art dealer who has a life-altering experience while reading a novel written by her ex-husband about a family man who gets brutally attacked while driving through rural Texas.

The two stories – Susan’s and the fictional family man’s (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) – intertwine throughout the film, which has received rave reviews comparing it to the thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock. (The Telegraph critic Robbie Collin declared it “intoxicating, provocative, delicious”.)

Through Susan, Nocturnal Animals explores the perils of materialism and consumerism, the very things that have made Ford a fortune. And the irony is not lost on him.

“Susan’s character in particular is autobiographical,” acknowledges Ford, who owns a Richard Neutra-designed home in Los Angeles, an 1827 John Nash house in London and a ranch in Santa Fe New Mexico which he has just put on the market for £60 million. “I have had the good fortune in life to experience that sort of materialism that our culture tells us is going to make us happy. I’m not saying that it’s not something that I enjoy; we live in a material world; we touch things that feel good and we get to see beautiful things.

“But you have to keep it in perspective and the most important things in life, certainly for me, are loyalty. I’ve been with the same person for 30 years and I’ve worked with the same people for many years.

“What drew me to the book was the story I took away from it which was really that when you find people in your life that you care about, that you love, you hang on to them. And this is a cautionary tale of what can happen to you if you don’t.”

His decision to write, direct and produce A Single Man was greeted at the time with skepticism by many, who pointed out that no one of Ford’s stature had crossed over from running a vast fashion empire into becoming a multi-hyphenate filmmaker.

But Ford, who had started his career as a teenage actor in New York, believes the two are not dissimilar. “You have to have a vision, you have to have something you want to say, you have to then hire great people around you and you have to inspire them,” he says. “I was not a great actor, in fact I hated acting, although I had a very successful career in television commercials. I took lots of acting classes so I think I understand what actors go through.

“Good actors want to give a great performance, so part of my job is to inspire them and to create an environment where they feel comfortable, where they can give their best performance. And I think I’m a good storyteller. If you were at a dinner party with me and I could sense that you were getting bored, I’d spice up the story with maybe something that wasn’t even true but to try to get you back.”

Ford points out that he’s spent 30 years working with the world’s best photographers, framing and telling stories: “I’m not saying this egotistically but even on A Single Man I felt very, very comfortable in the role as a director. But in fashion you get to do something new in two months, then it’s gone, it’s over and you move on. But film is something that lasts forever and I think because of that you give it a certain gravitas.”

Ford is, he says, at “a very good place” in his life and his past problems are well behind him. He hasn’t had a drink for several years, he has kept depression at bay, he exercises and plays tennis every day and, he says: “I have a wonderful family life. I think that the older you get the more comfortable you are with yourself. I am certainly more comfortable with myself now than I was 10,15 or 30 years ago.

“Somebody said to me, 'Are you going to wear a suit on the film set?’ And I said, 'Yeah, this is who I am and this is the way I dress. Why would I change my clothes? I’m most comfortable like this.’

Nocturnal Animals will be shown at the BFI London Film Festival on October 14 before its UK release on November 4

telegraph

 

[MissMagAddict]

Nocturnal Animals. He's on Charlie Rose tonight.

Too late for EC but still time for WC to see it.

 

[mistress_f]

Nocturnal Animals is amazing. I honestly think he's got a definite shot at an oscar nom for best adapted screenplay and if the academy is in his favor, at best director. I didn't think he had it in him, i mean i loved a single man but this is a whole other thing. One of the best films of the year, I've seen it in september and i can't stop thinking about it, can't wait to see it again.

 

[MulletProof]

^ A Single Man kind of faded away for me over time, I feel like it was a long perfume commercial with a narrative (like one of those nice Prada shorts).. I was expecting more or less the same from this until someone said the two magic words that make me never want to see a film but also want to see it right away lol: Funny Games .. (mild hints of Spielberg's Duel too, maybe?).

For the longest time Tom Ford and his work (but mostly his fans..) made my eyes roll, and still couldn't care less for his fashion career, but so much respect for the man... he's so driven and ambitious and one of the few designers that has managed to successfully express himself in full financial and creative force outside of fashion (if not the only one that has done it in this scale). He made such a beautiful and elegant film.. it's all in the right doses, and I think it's pretty amazing that he abstained from turning the violence of the film into the sellable points of the movie as most filmmakers do and instead, quite brilliantly imo, goes into internal violence territory, the way emotions go from numb to being ripped apart when there's love and loss.

Also loving him for portraying LA and its galleries as so painfully vapid and plastic, especially through Jena Malone's character, I know Tom put her there in Comme des Garçons so you feel even more tempted to push her down the stairs, I love comme, but he makes a point!

I wonder if he regretted casting Aaron.. even at his toilet grossest, he's such a gorgeous, non-hatable man (and hello, green cowboy boots ).

I just hope Tom wins something in the awards season.. you don't see something so visually relaxing but with substance and honesty that often.. it's a bit old-school.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Your dark twisted fashion revenge-fantasy is hilarious! Comme is eternal of course, but so many of the people that wear this label...

Yes, Aaron and his outhouse scene… (He’s the only reason I sat through that stupid Godzilla movie. Just seeing Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche having the matching hairstyle in the beginning made me want to give up…) And seeing James Franco gloomily planted on a motel toilet from that film about a kid and the Redwood was a depressing sight. Aaron’s scene was pure Tom Ford awesome-ness. I definitely prefer Aaron with longer hair. And aside from that, he's very strong in his film.

I really had no interest in this story nor the cast when he announced he was filming it. Now— I am fully convinced what a seductive, masterful storyteller Tom remains. I remain swept away by A Single Man, and this film is keeping that momentum to a tidal wave. Tom’s direction has such a Hitchcock tone: Visually, mood and style— and still very much all his own style. HIs filmmaking just further asserts how much I admire his fashion designs that’s passed mere fashion, and about his vision of a very certain world.

 

[MulletProof]

^ Yeah. I don't think that after being exposed to his work (mostly accidentally) for so many years, it will suddenly speak to me on a personal level, it's just not what I tend to gravitate around, but filmmaking inevitably makes you appreciate how far his vision expands, how comprehensive he is as a creative and curious person and most revealing for me, is that even though I have found myself hooked on his interviews before and he seems like he has a lot to say on more meaningful things than just "seasonal inspiration", he's brought up in this medium a far more complex and interesting side of him that explores identity, belonging, materialism, inexplicable emotions (love, forgiveness, regret)... so I look back at his work in fashion with different (more sympathetic?) eyes, I guess.

.. and it also makes you realise how minuscule and limiting fashion can be when you have so much to say. When you see these autobiographical elements, you are kind of reminded of how clothing collections can barely scratch the surface of expression even at their most experimental. Imagine the things other more interesting people could do if only the business of fashion itself wasn't so time consuming and exploitative with their garment factory cruise/spring/prespring/postfall demands. In a way, being exiled for a bit seems like a blessing in disguise for some of these people (tom, helmut..).

 

[Phuel]

^^^ High fashion as a collective in the last several years— designers, photographers, stylists, editors, etc, have nothing to say. Which just puts Tom and all his worldbuidling efforts, that much more ahead— and that much more everlasting, then those that are just fashion designers, or just having a fashion conversation. And yes— these sensibilities of his, even more so now since he’s becoming a (very impressive) filmmaker and storyteller, isn't “high fashion” to many. I get that.

Just going by the temperament on these forums towards Tom, it’s clear many find him irrelevant in terms of his fashion designs. And I feel that some will inevitably find his portrayal of such an exclusive world in his films very off-putting, even irrelevant. I find him refreshingly irreverent at this stage of his creative career. And I prefer this Tom to the one that was only a fashion designer of the Gucci-era. But they need one another in order to be appreciated. He’s evolved as a creative and intellectual individual more than anyone in high fashion. Cause as you’ve mentioned, there’s so much more to design, to creativity, to a well-rounded life, to this life, than fashion. And he’s showing that he's someone that’s willing to explore, to invest in beyond what made him so rich and famous. And I’m so glad his films have absolutely nothing to do with the fashion industry. Because… as much as I am drawn to high fashion and admire certain individuals, it’s an industry that in reality is full of such dense and vapid people.

 

[Lola701]

I'm happy for Tom and his new movie.
I feel like a lot of people felt like A Single Man was a great first movie but didn't really expected something after that. People didn't really believed in this new career as a director.
I think that now it's safe to say that, this is the beginning of his career as a director.

I've always been a fan of Tom Ford. For a longtime i've always felt like he was kinda underrated.
Yes, he became the most influencial designer of the world with one collection and defined the aesthetic of an entire decade and changed the industry in a tremendous way but he never really received a respect similar to his relatives at the time.
Galliano was the poet, the dreamer. Mc Queen was the tortured genius. Miuccia was the intellectual designer and of course, Helmut was the living god of cool.
Tom was just the very cool, commercial and pragmatic designer.

I've always admire his ambition and his vision. Like Phuel said, he is the ultimate irreverent designer.
Doing his 1995 collection was a bold move for Gucci at the time. Taking over YSL was another bold move. The same with leaving Gucci, comeback with very exclusive menswear and expensive beauty 10 years ago.
Even his return to womenswear was totally irreverent and seen as beyond pretentious at the time (the exclusive show, the "see now buy now" he started in 2011).

Him doing a movie was also a bold move. For years he talked about it but no one really took him seriously.

I'm really happy for him and i have high hopes for an Oscar.

 

[mistress_f]

https://charlierose.com/videos/29485

here's the full charlie rose interview

 

[MulletProof]

^ thank you!.. I didn't know you could watch full Charlie Rose interviews somewhere! I missed having PBS/TV.. not anymore!

You can tell he's been on a long promo tour and isn't that experienced at it, same answers! but I like what he says about loyalty and not letting people go, which is also related to a good sense of mortality and knowing you can't take time or people for granted. I find people that were brought up more.. spoiled tend to forget that, they feel entitled to discarding time, relationships, possessions...

Phuel, I agree that his work as a designer is vital if you want to fully grasp his work as a filmmaker and the other way around, as it's the case with most creative people, you see different sides and also stages of evolution that explain their current work even if it's through a different outlet. Once it reaches the viewer though, it's another mind, world and effect of how he [the viewer] relates to it.. meaning you can find someone to be an irrelevant designer and a relevant filmmaker, or feel more critical towards how he expresses himself in a certain field, or prefer how he communicates ideas now versus then. Personally, looking at his conception of women exclusively through his clothing aesthetic.. I will never relate to it, I'm not attracted, and in the back of my mind even condemn it lol.. but somehow, I find him very familiar and closer ideologically (even than designers I love!) in filmmaking and his input about upbringing, the desert, conservative/macho cultures, values, weaknesses, emotional fragility.. and I even understand how predictable it is to rebel against conditioning and running either to where he went or what I lean towards.

He was never an irreverent designer but I think making films is the kind of irreverence you find for yourself after your entire system is shaken to its core, which he seems to have experienced with that dramatic exit [hekindofbroughtuponhimself] from Gucci plus that midlife crisis. Even if fashion is his first and more familiar tool for expression, the fact that he calls what he does (rightly so..) not an art and films art and in hindsight one's infinitely more rewarding than the other will probably turn fashion secondary for him in the long run. What's amazing is that he now has a cosmetics line and presents whenever and wherever he wants so I guess it doesn't matter cause it'll be there anyways!

(btw, I felt very understood with his shower explanation in the interview for The Guardian )

 

[dior_couture1245]

Just saw the movie last night and I thought it was wonderful!

I don't think it was perfect, and I still think Tom could work a bit more on really developing the story deeper....I felt the Texas storyline was superb, but I was left wanting a richer and more tangible experience of Susan's current LA life as well as the flashbacks of her relationship with Edward in New York. However, that didn't detract from the overall impact and impression I left the theater with.

All the performances were excellent. I've never had any distaste for Amy Adams, but I've also never cared too much, either. Here, though, I found myself absolutely mesmerized by her. She was gorgeous in a way I've never considered before (especially her character's younger incarnation...WOW!). Leave it to a director with a background in fashion to make that special kind of magic of elevating someone from average good looks to someone that leaves you breathless! Like a catwalk model plucked out of banal obscurity transformed into a goddess! Same goes for Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Another actor who does very little for me otherwise, but goodness gracious! What a babe in this movie! Such a powerful performance, too. He found that rare sweet spot actors rarely hit when playing a villain...at once as despicable as they are charismatic - and a real sense of danger, too.

It's thrilling to see Tom mature as a filmmaker. "A Single Man" was an excellent debut piece, but "Nocturnal Animals" shows a great leap in maturity as a director, and that's so exciting to see! I really hope he continues to create movies of this caliber. It's so refreshing to see something stylish with substance in the movies once more...it's been far too long! I'm with Tom - movies, even at their grittiest, need to elevate reality just enough to be transportive and immersive and fantastical in some way...enough of this lowest common denominator nonsense! I want some dreams! If he keeps it up (which I can't imagine why he wouldn't), he really could end up with some masterpieces of cinema.

 

[Melancholybaby]

Is there any inside info on his S/S 2017 collection? Google wasn't any help.

 

[Lola701]

^^
I believe it will be presented once the clothes will be delivered to all the stores and retailers.
Since he has moved to L.A. there are chances for him to present it there. Hopefully we'll have more info next week.