Tom Ford Talks of Post Gucci Depression
October 08, 2004 - Paris
Everyone in Paris is talking about the interview that Tom Ford gave to Canadian magazine FQ, in which he admits to getting depressed post Gucci and generally dishes about his life since leaving the luxury group.
“I’ve been in fashion for a while, almost twenty years, and eleven of them as a well-known fashion designer. I sort of burned out (by creating) sixteen collections a year on a runway. This summer I had to go back to Paris to speak at Helmut Newton’s memorial service. Being thrown back into that world and waking up the next morning and reading bitchy things Suzy Menkes decided to write about me in the paper for no reason whatsoever – other than just to be mean) was hard for me,” Ford reveals in the fall issue of FQ, the large format quarterly that is Canada’s most handsome fashion title.
Asked what he missed most about being a designer, Ford replied: “The thing that depressed me the most – and I did go through a certain depression, which I’m still coming out of now – is that I realized I didn’t have a voice in popular culture any longer. I am very happy about where I am now because (leaving) was such a dramatic life change, but it is hard that I am not able to voice what I am feeling about the world through clothes and through advertising.”
Before resigning, Ford continues, “I could see my vision reflected in someone’s music video or something someone would say. I could see and feel my voice frequently. I can’t wait until I have a film or I have something that gives me a voice again.”
FQ’s editor-in-chief, the veteran Canadian TV fashion reporter Jeanne Beker, conducted the interview, entitled “Tom Ford’s Reappearing Act.”
Since leaving Gucci this spring, Ford has opened his own office in Los Angeles and has been reading scripts incessantly, as many as 50 in the past few months by some accounts. In his conversation with Beker he reveals that he is in the process of buying a script and also working on his own writing.
However, “I will not be making a fashion movie and I will not be making a movie about fashion,” Ford stresses. Moreover, Tom has opened a design firm in London, which will be fashion related but not involve runway shows.
Despite his dark moments, Ford insists he is optimistic about the state of the world. Nonetheless he claims: “I don’t think anyone could be anything but depressed at this mess we have managed to get ourselves in. I am not a fan of the current (America) administration. I am very much a Democrat. I will be voting for Kerry…. I feel America’s reputation has been really quite damaged by the current administration. I used to really be proud to be an American and I am proud to be an American. But we were once the moral leaders of the world and people looked up to us for that, but I think we’ve lost that in the world.”
Asked how he crawled out of the black hole of depression, Ford responds: “I am still going through it. I think I’ll be probably adjusting to it. I’ll have waves of it probably for the next year…. Even being in London is a little hard for me right now because every day I got up in the morning and went to my office in London, my office is no longer there. L.A. is the future for me which is why I’m planning to stay here for the next few months.”
I should go pick up FQ if I even know where to get it
I thought we were going to get a break from this arrogant oaf for a while. But of course he's unhappy. For the first time in 10 years the spotlight isn't on him 24/7.
