Tom Ford Quotes

I don't believe that clothes can start a revolution, but I do believe that fashion is often a manifestation of a sociological or political climate.

Maybe it's because I'm a designer, but when I am in a state of excitement, everything is so sharp and colorful and amazing, and I can look at blue and I see the yellow in it and the green in it, and the green-blues, the yellow-blues, so.

I don't want to find myself designing for the press.

A good trick as you get older is to get a thick pair of glasses that have a dark frame. Everything else can droop and slide but that pair of dark glasses stays sharp and crisp. Look at Cary Grant. Look at Vidal Sassoon.

The world might be a very scary place if it were only run by Virgos.

My career in fashion has been very much about sexuality and sex, and I think a lot of people think that's all I can do and what I am all about.

When you write a character and their dialogue, you can't help imagining how you would be acting if you were them. You kind of have to relate to all of them. It's the most personal thing I've ever done.

I'm not designing clothes for someone who is doing lines of coke off the table, like I was when I was at Gucci and Saint Laurent

Men don't wear fashion any more except in Italy and London. Americans have lost that.

You should put on the best version of yourself when you go out in the world because that is a show of respect to the other people around you.

From the time we're born until we die, we're kept busy with artificial stuff that isn't important.

I'm extremely organized. The more things I have to work on and can bounce back and forth between, the more energized I am.

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 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 went through some tough times because if you're used to having a voice in contemporary culture and all of sudden, you don't have that voice, you don't have that outlet. I didn't appreciate that. I didn't understand how important that was to me. And all of a sudden, after investing all this time and energy, I had no identity. I didn't know who I was. I didn't know what I had to say. I didn't have a way to say it. It was very painful.

It's really never fair to judge people because none of us know what's going on inside anyone else's head.

Fashion is, after all, a form of escapism, and in fact people are buying more special things than ever, nowadays. They deny and deny themselves, and wait and wait, and then they get sick of it and spend to make themselves feel better.

In another life I would love to be a cosmetic surgeon because it's architectural. You know, you are trying to figure out where the seams go. Can I do it in one piece like Halston? Can you formaldehyde DNA?

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.

Just like girls need to learn to be comfortable in heels before they go out in them for the first time, a man should try wearing a suit throughout a normal day. I do most things in a suit-and sometimes even in a tuxedo-and so I'm really comfortable in one.

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.

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.

There are no right or wrong answers, There is only intuition

I couldn't have cared less about Gucci when I first went there - but soon after I arrived, I cared a lot.

Dressing effectively is a kind of excellent manners.

I try to be nice, I try to respect other people, but over the years I've learned that all this stuff we do is a bunch of crap. That doesn't mean it doesn't have its place. We are living in a material world, so why not live with something beautiful?

I never want to retire until the day I drop dead. I want to work and work and work because work, I don't do for money, I do for love. And I love to work.

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.

Once upon a time we did not focus on a president's private life.

Anyone with a long-term partner, anyone with a long-term lover, if that lover dies, you could easily see yourself in a situation where you couldn't see your future and you would be living entirely in the past. It's about that loss.

Banking types should take their cue from Gordon Gekko. Or pick the best-looking banker in their firm and copy him.

Time and silence are the most luxurious things today.

A film, since it is primarily a visual medium, should really be like a silent film. You should be able to watch something and understand what was going on and use voice when you need to communicate something you can't necessarily communicate visually. The book is the opposite. The book is an inner monologue which is beautiful.

When the youth of America gets together, amazing things happen.

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.

I swore that I wouldn't be one of those parents who leaves a Bugaboo pram parked in the communal entry hall. Well guess what, ours is there right now.

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!

There aren't many strong or charismatic candidates today, because many people can't withstand the scrutiny.

Most everyone now personally knows someone who is openly homosexual.

I suppose everything I do has sexual undertones, but I don't set out to make everything about sex. My clothes are more about sensuality. What I do is dress and beautify the body. My feeling is, if you have something beautiful, then show it.

You have to look inside yourself and you have to say, well, what am I about? Why does anyone need this? Why does anyone need a 'Tom Ford' jacket? What do I believe in?

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.'

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'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.

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.

One of my favorite teams of all time is Fran and Barry. I just thought Fran and Barry last season were just incredible and they just sort of went against all odds and were very successful.

I'm a fashion designer. What I do is artistic, but I'm not an artist because everything I do is destined to be sold. That's not to say that you can't be an artist and a fashion designer. I think some designers are artists.

It was like one of those dreams at high school when everyone else has clothes on except you.

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.

Everyday is one less day.

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.

You have to be passionate, you have to be engaged and you have to be contributing to the world.

This sounds crazy, but I know so many famous people, I'm just not intimidated by anyone. I feel really comfortable with it.

Real fashion change comes from real changes in real life. Everything else is just decoration.

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.

You never make it, especially in this industry where you constantly churn out stuff, things. You never finish.

A film should be somewhat personal. I think that whatever you create you have to be true to yourself and create something that feels right to you.

Tweeting? It's one of the silliest things ever.

I thought I was fabulous and everyone else was stupid.

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.

Hips are absolutely key to every shape I do, because whatever you do at the top or bottom, you want to keep it slim and narrow on the hips. One thing is for certain: No one, man or woman, wants big hips.

I'm a perfectionist, to the point of insanity.

Second-guess [myself]? Yes, I do. I question everything I do every step of the way. Once I make the decision I'm almost blinded by believing in it, and then I usually hate everything I've done.

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.

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.

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.

Give me the control, don't ever come on the set, and I'll show it to you when it's cut.

I'm a very serious person.

Keep your jacket buttoned. Always. It's just really flattering - it will take pounds off you.

I don't work for money any longer. I work for pride.

I guess I'm just one of these people who, when I decide I'm going to do something, I just do it.

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.

If you don't need to quit drinking, you shouldn't quit drinking. I used to really love to drink, and especially living in London, it's just built for drinking ...

If I had been a dog walker, I would have been the most successful dog walker in Paris.

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 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.

We have to have genius creative thoughts precisely four times a year and on exact dates. I actually write them on my calendar. I write, 'Friday, Nov. 8. Three o'clock. Have a genius creative idea.'

Skin bathed in summer sunset light is sultry and sublime. Every woman looks irresistible in its glow-relaxed and sensual.

I think what's important for myself and anyone else who wants to create a film, or art, is [to] make sure that they have something to say, that they want to share something important, express something important.

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.

The thing about eyewear is that it is so potent, There are very few accessories that, if you were not wearing anything, if you put on they would date you to a whole era. You could look the Thirties, the Fifties, and the Nineties just by your eyewear. It's like a pair of shoes because it is sculptural. It exists without a face. It tells a lot about where you are architecturally or aesthetically in a particular period in time.

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 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.

My own sex life is very monogamous and happy ... just a happy married sex life!

I love fashion. What I love is the ability to express yourself, to be able to make a product and shoot an ad campaign that tosses you out into the world and lets you have a voice in contemporary culture, iconography. I felt a little bit neutered not having that voice.

What works with your skin and eyes? Use that to zero in on your wardrobe.

She needs to have a few drinks and cry a little-then she'll be perfect.

Bill Sofield has the ability to understand the architecture of a space and how to utilize it in the most beautiful way. He can create completely different styles for his clients based on who they are and what their taste is. Our efforts have always been collaborative, and I value what he brings to the table architecturally and aesthetically.

Certain directors are known for a certain kind of beauty; it becomes their signature.

I think that monogamy is artificial. I do not think it's something that comes naturally to us.

There is no more dramatic accessory than a perfect lip. It is the focus of the face and it has the power to define a woman's whole look.

I was not popular. I was the kid in school that was bullied.

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 do struggle because I'm attracted to beautiful things, yet at the same time I am actually very aware, in some sense, their lack of value and that the most important things in life are your connections to other people.

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.

There's nothing wrong with ankles. But only if you're playing football in the park.

You have to love what you do to the point that you can't imagine doing anything else with your life.

The U.S. used to be perceived as the moral leader of the world, and we have absolutely lost that.

I am not a person who is about reality. I am about enhanced reality.

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.