There are many famous Tom Ford quotes available all over the internet. So I have put together a collection of top quotes to save your time. I have also added a short bio of Tom Ford. Let’s start!
Tom Ford: American Fashion Designer and Film Director
Tom Ford is a famous fashion designer. He was the director of the world-famous brand Gucci and also directed some award winner films. He has his own film production house.
Early Life: Tom Ford born on August 27, 1961, in San Marcos. He couldn’t continue his College. Then he got admitted to history at New York University. But he left the University to join a TVC. He joined several national commercial campaigns at that time. Then he pursued graduation from The New School for Design in Interior design and architecture.
Career Challenges: After graduation, he looked for a fashion-related job. However, Cathy Hardwick gave him a chance to be her design assistant. After some days, he moved to Perry Ellis. He worked there for two years. Then Gucci hired him as chief designer. He expanded his job by designing menswear and shoes. With his direction, Gucci rose from bankruptcy to a successful world-famous brand. But creative dispute became unavoidable. So he left Gucci and created a production house. His talent in film directing came out. He directed two oscar nominated films: A Single Man, Nocturnal Animals.
Achievements: He got multiple awards as recognitions of his excellence:
- Grand Jury Prize (2016)
- GLAAD Media Vito Russo Award (2007)
- Satellite Auteur Award (2017)
- Bodil Award for Best American Film (2011)
- CFDA Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award (2014)
He faced troubles many times for being gay in his personal life. But he has reached the top with his unique talent. Interest and passion can lift people to unparalleled heights. Tom proved it by becoming a successful fashion designer and filmmaker without academic education.
Top Tom Ford Quotes
“When you are having fun and creating something you love, it shows in the product. So when a woman is sifting through a rack of clothes, somehow that piece of clothing that you had so much fun designing speaks to her; she responds to it and buys it. I believe you can actually transfer that energy to material things as you’re creating them.”
“I find a bath meditative and usually prepare myself for the day in this manner.”
“I grew up in New Mexico, and the older I get, I have less need for contemporary culture and big cities and all the stuff we are bombarded with. I am happier at my ranch in the middle of nowhere watching a bug carry leaves across the grass, listening to silence, riding my horse, and being in open space.”
“Do you know how rare it is in parts of America to actually see ‘an outfit’? France? I don’t want to be anti-French, but there isn’t a more unattractive group of people on the streets.”
“My customer has her own sense of style and knows herself well. My goal is to help women become the best version of themselves.”
“I was bullied every day at school because I carried a briefcase. I could have left it at home. But I thought it looked great! I didn’t understand why anyone else didn’t think so.”
“I am a spiritual person in an eastern religion kind of way. I learned that happiness for all of us is a switch that you flick in your brain. It doesn’t have anything to do with getting a new house, a new car, a new girlfriend, or a new pair of shoes. Our culture is very much about that; we are never happy with what we have today.”
“I probably do have an obsessive personality, but striving for perfection has served me well.”
“My grandmother was probably the first person who I thought was beautiful. She was incredibly stylish, she had big hair, big cars. I was probably 3 years old, but she was like a cartoon character. She’d swoop into our lives with presents and boxes, and she always smelled great and looked great.”
“If you’re at the Oscars, there’s not a man on that red carpet who is not wearing make-up. Most straight actors I know get quite used to it. Even when they go out in real life they grab some sort of bronzer and they throw it on. They dye their eyebrows, they dye their lashes – they know the tricks.”
“I don’t think fashion has to change every five minutes. I’d like these to be clothes you can wear for a long time – ten, 20 years; pass on to your daughter. Why buy vintage when you can open your own closet!”
“September 11th was a moment when America had the sympathy of the world.”
“The most important thing is to cleanse and moisturise your face twice a day. Use eye drops. If your eyes are white, you look healthy; you look fresh. Every man should have a magnifying mirror. If you look good magnified, you are set to go.”
“When I am on my deathbed, I don’t think I will be thinking about a nice pair of shoes I had or my beautiful house. I am going to be thinking about an evening I spent with somebody when I was twenty where I felt that I was just absolutely connected to them.”
“I’m living the exact life I planned on living when I was five. My life has taken some turns and changes that I didn’t anticipate, and it has brought me different things. I thought material things would bring me happiness, which they didn’t. But through this, I have learned what things are important and what aren’t.”
“A man should never wear shorts in the city. Flip-flops and shorts in the city are never appropriate. Shorts should only be worn on the tennis court or on the beach.”
“I am not someone who likes cocktail parties or large dinner parties, but I have to attend them often. I much prefer very small dinners with close friends.”
“I went to a fashion show, and this silver-haired guy was staring at me with these piercing water-blue eyes. It scared me because I absolutely saw and knew my entire future.”
“I am really a loner after all; I am really not a social person. Because of my job, people think I am out every night, but I really hate all that. I am somebody who likes to be alone and see some close friends. I am a shy and introspective person.”
“There aren’t many strong or charismatic candidates today, because many people can’t withstand the scrutiny.”
“Once upon a time we did not focus on a president’s private life.”
“When the youth of America gets together, amazing things happen.”
“I think the 1970s will always be the decade for me. Obviously, I grew up in that era, but the beauty standard was touchable, kissable.”
“I was not good at team sports, I have to say. I’m quite good at individual sports, but I was not good at team sports, so I wasn’t good at baseball and football.”
“I’m a believer in fate and in fulfilling your destiny. I’ve always had a kind of inner voice that I have learned to listen to.”
“Your connections with other people are important, our connection to the earth.”
“We live in a material world. I’m not saying that beautiful things don’t enhance our lives. But, in our culture, we’re never happy.”
“I hate going out for lunch during a workday because it slows down my pace and ruins my rhythm. I prefer to eat at my desk. Actually, I wander around the design studio with a plate in my hand as I dine on, for example, salmon sashimi and a salad of tomatoes and mozzarella. I often have a bit of dark chocolate after lunch.”
“The seventies is what I love. Soft, touchable beauty is what I love.”
“I guess I’m just one of these people who, when I decide I’m going to do something, I just do it.”
“There’s a different kind of comfort that comes from knowing that you are putting your best foot forward. It’s called psychological comfort. Look at a picture of the Coney Island boardwalk in 1925. Men were in full-on three-piece suits, hats. They may have only had one suit. But they pressed it. They made it look as good as possible.”
“I couldn’t have cared less about Gucci when I first went there – but soon after I arrived, I cared a lot.”
“From the time we’re born until we die, we’re kept busy with artificial stuff that isn’t important.”
“But as an adult working in the fashion industry, I struggle with materialism. And I’m one of the least materialistic people that exist, because material possessions don’t mean much to me. They’re beautiful, I enjoy them, they can enhance your life to a certain degree, but they’re ultimately not important.”
“I just want to make beautiful, glamorous clothes.”
“My grandmother was probably the first person who I thought was beautiful. She was incredibly stylish, she had big hair, big cars. I was probably 3 years old, but she was like a cartoon character.”
“As a fashion designer, I was always aware that I was not an artist, because I was creating something that was made to be sold, marketed, used, and ultimately discarded.”
“Your name is a funny thing. It stands for what you’re about, and everything I do is really about pride.”
“I love to design. I am a commercial fashion designer. I always design jackets with two sleeves. I don’t design jackets with three sleeves, or the layers and layers come off like little dolls from Russia. Fashion for me is a creative endeavor, but it is not art for me.”
“You always notice a facelift on a woman. It’s a tightness around the ears, and the scar is usually inside the ears. If I suspect it’s been done, I usually move around until I can see it. But with a man, it actually pulls your beard and your sideburns back, and that’s what’s so strange.”
“I think that they haven’t been able to perfect a good facelift for a man.”
“If my parents had discouraged me, I would have turned out very differently. They raised me in an open-minded, liberal environment.”
“I am totally fearless! Well, of course, I’m not totally fearless. I worry constantly and obsess over things, but I just don’t let fear stand in the way of doing something that I really want to do.”
“The U.S. used to be perceived as the moral leader of the world, and we have absolutely lost that.”
“L.A. is my American city.”
“Most everyone now personally knows someone who is openly homosexual.”
“We have the Terminator as governor, and we had an actor as president, so why shouldn’t we have a fashion designer as a senator?”
“College campuses were once a hotbed of political activity.”
“Students in the ’60s were responsible for great changes, politically and socially.”
“I think that monogamy is artificial. I do not think it’s something that comes naturally to us.”
“There are many designers who have much greater talent as a designer than I do, but they may not have my drive, they may not work as hard, they may not have the focus, the desire… You have to have a talent because, at the end of the day, if the pants you design don’t make someone’s butt look great, they’re not going to buy them.”
“I’m a very serious person.”
“I think we’re very uptight in America. You have to remember that we’re descended from Puritans. Whether or not the country is now composed of immigrants, our culture as American really begins with the landing of the Pilgrims and a puritanical view of things.”
“British men are peacocks. You see a lot more style on the streets here than you see anywhere else, on every level.”
“Banking types should take their cue from Gordon Gekko. Or pick the best-looking banker in their firm and copy him.”
“The world might be a very scary place if it were only run by Virgos.”
“I told myself that I would not come back to women’s fashion until I felt I had something new to say. I feel that fashion has become too serious and that the actual customer’s needs have not really been addressed. Fashion needs to make one happy. It is a luxury and should enhance one’s quality of life.”
“I think people who are compelled to achieve never really think they’ve achieved… I think the moment you get to a place when you think ‘Oh I’m a fashion legend’ then that’s when you’re no longer competitive in your field.”
“Certain directors are known for a certain kind of beauty; it becomes their signature.”
“I am a perfectionist. This job is a total ego thing in a way. To be a designer and say, ‘This is the way they should dress; this is the way their homes should look; this is the way the world should be.’ But then, that’s the goal: world domination through style.”
“When I was a little kid, all I wanted to do was to escape what I thought was the country and get to a city. Probably film and television had influenced me so much, I really thought the key to happiness was living a very artificial life in a penthouse in New York with martini glasses.”
“I’m actually very introverted. I’m very shy. I’m very emotional.”
“I don’t want to find myself designing for the press.”
“When I was a kid, I thought I was going to be an actor.”
“I don’t do shows. I don’t have reviews. I’m not putting the clothes on every celebrity so that by the time they reach the store the customers are sick of seeing them.”
“I enjoy the speed of fashion. I love doing different things and I think I still have something valid to say in fashion.”
“On the one hand, I want to go off and live in the desert with my dog and sculpt things out of adobe.”
“When I read about young designers selling 51 percent of their company to someone else, I cringe. I want to say, ‘Don’t do it – call me first.’”
“Tweeting? It’s one of the silliest things ever.”
“Fashion is much more collaborative than one might think. You have to have an idea and vision, and you have to communicate that vision to a team of people, and you have to create an environment that allows those people to give the best that they can give.”
“Beyonce in real life is actually quite quiet and very sweet.”
“I was on the train from London to Paris, and all of a sudden it just popped into my head: I’m going to do the Don Loper fashion show from ‘I Love Lucy.’”
“There’s nothing wrong with ankles. But only if you’re playing football in the park.”
“I don’t work for money any longer. I’m fortunate enough not to need to work for money, but I work for pride; I work because I love to work, and so the idea that one could lose control of one’s own name and that things could be produced with your name on that you were not proud of scared me.”
“The dynamics of film directing and fashion design – in the ways that I’ve done it – were not dissimilar.”
“You never make it, especially in this industry where you constantly churn out stuff, things. You never finish.”
“As a designer, design director or any creative person, you have to hire great people, support them and make them feel comfortable so they can contribute and give you their best.”
“I have a driver in London because I am slightly dyslexic and cannot drive in the U.K.; after all, the traffic runs the opposite way to that in the United States.”
“This sounds crazy, but I know so many famous people, I’m just not intimidated by anyone. I feel really comfortable with it.”
“Part of fashion is newness. It’s got to be a new combination of elements that’s shocking-stunning-beautiful all at the same time. But it doesn’t have any emotion.”
“I’m a pretty calm person. That came from living in Italy for a long time. Nothing works, nothing is on time. You have to learn to deal with it.”
“In the early Seventies, I had shoulder-length hair, bell-bottom pants, love beads and shirts that laced up at the front. But then I smartened up.”
“It’s like everything in your life is wonderful, but you have so much wonderful – this is all going to sound horrible – but when you have so much wonderful, it isn’t wonderful because you don’t actually have time to enjoy it.”
“If I’m sending emails, and I get all wound up and stressed and don’t know what to do with myself for 20 minutes, I just go soak in hot water and lie there, thinking, ‘What should I do?’ So it’s meditative.”
“My own skin-care ritual is quite simple and straightforward; I don’t like a lot of fuss, surprisingly. My products are designed to make you look and feel better. I think there are a lot of men out there who want and need the same products.”
“What works with your skin and eyes? Use that to zero in on your wardrobe.”
“I hate tricky facial hair. If your facial hair is too spotty in places, shave. Just forget about it.”
“A lot of the things I did – it’s not going to sound anything but egotistical – if I’m lucky and I did the right thing, they will be at Zara way before I can get them in the store, and I don’t like that.”
“I was not popular. I was the kid in school that was bullied.”
“It’s really never fair to judge people because none of us know what’s going on inside anyone else’s head.”
“What is important is that we stop and realize, ‘Okay. This is fine. I can enjoy that.’ But what is really important, what I’m really going to take away with me from this life, is my connection with other people.”
“Advertising is, of course, important because advertise is the final design. It’s the last layer that speaks to the customer, that tells them what you have.”
“Fashion is harder than the film industry. You have to constantly be able to crank out hit after hit after hit on demand and on a very tight calendar. I’ve come back, I’ve lost it, I’ve come back again. It’s really as good as your last collection.”
“I am actually extremely casual in certain environments. But one of the reasons I like living in London, I like the formality of it, as compared to the formality of America – or informality. I like putting on a suit. I like putting on a tie.”
“I love black dresses. I think everyone should own a lot, but black dresses don’t sell online because on the computer they don’t read like anything.”
“I live, I shop almost exclusively on the Internet. I’ve bought cars on the Internet. I watch television, I do everything on it. I even watch my son online.”
“We’ve become a little spoiled with menswear in particular because, of course, we’ve come off a period in the ’70s and ’80s when Armani, which is very soft, dominated menswear. And we’ve become obsessed with comfort. I actually don’t like that.”
“A lot of people think a high armhole is restrictive, but it gives you total movement because it’s cut right up to your arm.”
“I think you should suffer sometimes to be attractive and beautiful, so I cut the clothes very slim because I like to feel the clothes on my body.”
“I believe in living life the way that you want to live it every day, and if you do that, you don’t really need to have New Year’s resolutions.”
“I haven’t had any plastic surgery – despite what people think, this is my nose. I have had Restylane and Botox, but I don’t think of that as plastic surgery any more.”
“I understand that I have a certain look that can be used to my advantage. I know the power of that when I walk into a room and talk to people, and I can use it as an advertising tool. Now I am actually selling me, my face, my thoughts. So I am my guy.”
“I think people are sick of trends changing every six months – not because we’re tired of them, but just for the sake of change. There is so much junk in the world: junk TV, junk movies, all those junk magazines with the same people on the cover.”
I hope this list of Tom Ford quotes was helpful. Let us know if you have any quote requirements. Till then, happy reading!
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