Tom Ford

Thomas Carlyle "Tom" Ford (August 27, 1961)

Tom Ford is an American fashion designer and film director, he gained international fame for his turnaround of Gucci and the creation of the Tom Ford label. He studied Architecture at the Parsons The New School for Design, where he also studied fashion in his final year. After graduating he became Hardwick's assistant for two years. He decided the best way to launch his career would be to move out of America stating that "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. Europeans, however, appreciate style." His role at Gucci started when the brand was seeking to strengthen its women's ready-to-wear presence as a part of a brand overhaul. Within six months he was designing meanswear, and then shoes soon after that, and then took over as director in 1992. There was many clashes between Ford and Maurizio Gucci as "Maurizio always wanted everything to be round and brown, and Ford wanted to make it square and black."
In 1994, Ford was promoted to creative director at Gucci, and brought in Carine Roitfeld and Mario Testino to create a series of new advertisements for the company. After 1999 Gucci was worth almost $10 billion and it acquired the house of Yves Saint Laurent, and ended up leaving in April 2004 and he started his own label in 2006 with the flagship store opening in New York and coincided with the debut of the Tom Ford menswear and accessory collection. In September 2010 he presented a womenswear collection, based on some of his style icons Lauren Hutton  and Beyoncé Knowles/

Taylor, M. (2011). Tom Ford Biography. Available: http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/tom-ford-biography. Last accessed 23rd Feb 16.