iROCK
TOM FORD
Ford dropped out of NYU after only a year,
preferring to concentrate on acting in television commercials; at one time, he was in
12 national advertising campaigns simultaneously.
T
om Ford was born August 27,
1961, in Austin, Texas, to realtors
Tom Ford and Shirley Burton.
He spent his early life in the suburbs of
Houston, Texas, and in San Marcos, outside Austin; his family moved to Santa Fe,
New Mexico, when he was 11. In Santa
Fe, he entered St. Michael’s High School
and later moved to Santa Fe Preparatory School, from which he graduated in
1979. Ford left Santa Fe at age 16, when
he enrolled at Bard College at Simon’s
Rock, but quickly dropped out.[citation
needed] He then moved to New York
City to study art history at New York
University.
Ford dropped out of NYU after only a
year, preferring to concentrate on acting
in television commercials; at one time, he
was in 12 national advertising campaigns
simultaneously. Ford then began studying
interior architecture at The New School’s
famous art and design college, Parsons
The New School for Design. During his
time in New York, Ford became a fixture
at the legendary nightclub Studio 54,
where he realized he was gay. The club’s
disco-era glamor would be a major influence on his later designs. Before his last
year at New School, Ford spent a year
and a half in Paris, where he worked as
an intern in Chloé’s press office. Though
his work primarily involved sending
clothes out on photo shoots, it triggered
his love of fashion. He spent his final year
at The New School studying fashion, but
10 TrafficMagazine/ Spring, 2014
nonetheless graduated with a degree in
architecture.
When interviewing for jobs after graduation, he said that he had attended The
New School’s Parsons division, but
concealed that he graduated in architecture,[3] and that his work at Chloe was
a low-level public relations position. Despite his lack of experience, Ford called
American designer Cathy Hardwick
every day for a month in hopes of securing a job at her mid-price sportswear
company. Eventually, she agreed to see
him. Hardwick later recalled the incident:
“I had every intention of giving him no
hope. I asked him who his favorite European designers were. He said, ‘Armani
and Chanel.’ Months later I asked him
why he said that, and he said, ‘Because
you were wearing something Armani’.
Is it any wonder he got the job?” Ford
worked as a design assistant for Hardwick
for two years.
In 1988, Ford moved to Perry Ellis, where
he knew both Robert McDonald, the
company’s president, and Marc Jacobs,
its designer, socially. He stayed at the
company for two years, but grew tired
of working in American fashion. In a
later interview with the New York Times,
he commented, “If I was ever going to
become a good designer, I had to leave
America. My own culture was inhibiting
me. Too much style in America is tacky.
It’s looked down upon to be too stylish.
1995
International Award - Council of Fashion Designers of
America
1999
Style Icon Award - Elle Style
Awards UK
2005
Andre Leon Talley Lifetime
Achievement Award
2009
GQ Germany Man of The Year
2010
Menswear Designer of the Year Council of Fashion Designers of
America.
Europeans, however, appreciate style.”
Ford would soon have the opportunity
to enter the world of European fashion;
Gucci, a faltering luxury goods company,
was seeking to strengthen its women’s
ready-to-wear presence as a part of its
brand overhaul. At the time, “no one
would dream of wearing Gucci,” said
Dawn Mello, then the company’s creative
director. Mello hired Ford—then a nearunknown—as the brand’s chief women’s
ready-to-wear designer in 1990. “I was
talking to a lot of people, and most didn’t