Background Image

...

British People Still Wear Clothes. By Clothes I Mean Actual Clothes: Jackets And Shirts And Ties And Suits. The Spirit Of Beau Brummell Is Still Visible. English Men Make An Effort. We’ve Lost That In The Us. Everyone Is More Concerned With Being Comfortable.

-Tom Ford

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

British People Still Wear

Tom Ford

...

British People Still Wear Clothes. By Clothes I Mean Actual Clothes: Jackets And Shirts And Ties And Suits. The Spirit Of Beau Brummell Is Still Visible. English Men Make An Effort. We’ve Lost That In The Us. Everyone Is More Concerned With Being Comfortable.

Views: 8

Topic

More From Tom Ford

I Don't Wear A Lot Of Color. In Fact, I Don't Actually Like Color On Myself. I Love Color But It's Very Challenging, It's Very Powerful, It Can Overpower You. I Think If My Eyes Were Closed And Someone Put A Red Jacket On Me, I Would Be Able To Feel That It Was Red. I Don't Feel Great In Color.

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.

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.

I Am Great At Delegating When Someone Is Doing Great Work. The Problem - And This Sounds Terrible - Is That There Are Very Few People Who Are Strong Enough For You To Be Able To Delegate To.

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.

Fashion Is Ruthless The Way Every Three Months You Have To Think About Everything All Over Again.

Men Don't Wear Fashion Any More Except In Italy And London. Americans Have Lost That.

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 Think That Monogamy Is Artificial. I Do Not Think It's Something That Comes Naturally To Us.

September 11th Was A Moment When America Had The Sympathy Of The World.

Dressing Well Is A Kind Of Good Manners, If You Ask Me. When You're Standing In A Room, Your Effect Is The Same As A Chair's Effect, Or A Sculpture's. You're Part Of Someone's View, You're Part Of That World, And So You Should Dress Well. I Find It's A Show Of Respect To Try To Put On Your Best Face And Look As Good As You Can.

I Think That Something That People In General Forget To Do - And It's True, Not Everyone Has The Financial Means To Do This - Whatever Clothes You Buy If You Really Want Them To Fit Well, You Need To Have Them Altered Or Tailored. And Whether You're Doing That Yourself, Whether You're Taking It To Your Drycleaner That Has A Tailor, You Need To Alter And Tailor Everything, Whether It's Expensive, Whether It's, You Know, Whether It's Inexpensive. If You Want It To Really Fit Your Body, Even The Best Clothes Have To Be Tailored.

I Guess I'm Just One Of These People Who, When I Decide I'm Going To Do Something, I Just Do It.

Once Upon A Time We Did Not Focus On A President's Private Life.

Once Upon A Time

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.

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.

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.

It's Funny, Our Beauty Standard Has Become Harder And Tougher Because We Live In A Tough Age. I Don't Think Anyone Wants To Walk Down The Street And Feel Vulnerable. You Want To Walk Down The Street And Feel Like You're In Control.

Want Girls To Let You Put Your Fingers In Certain Places? Get A Manicure.

British Men Are Peacocks. You See A Lot More Style On The Streets Here Than You See Anywhere Else, On Every Level.

I Realized That The Way I Approached Architecture Was With A Somewhat Fashion Brain. That Didn't Get Me Very Good Marks In School, Because Everyone Thought Fashion Was Lightweight. In Architecture They Say, "well, Why Is The Door Pink? Where Does It Go? What Does The Pink Mean? What Does It Symbolize? All The Other Doors Are Beige, Why Is That One Pink?" I Was Like, "well, It's Pink Because It's Pretty."

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 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.

When The Youth Of America Gets Together, Amazing Things Happen.

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.

I Love New York. It's Given Me So Much As A Designer. When I Moved Here, I Wanted To Tap Into The Glamour Of The City Immediately. More Than Anywhere Else, New York Offers Itself Up - You Arrive And Get A Rush In A Flash. It's Dazzling. Everywhere You Look, There Is Decoration, From A Pair Of Jewel-encrusted Shoes In The Window In Bergdorf Goodman To The Chrysler Building. And New York Is Incredibly Democratic. Everyone Is Packed Into This Tiny Space. You Are Confronted With All Manner Of People, And I Love That.

When I Was Young, I Wanted To Be A Movie Star. But I Realized That You Have No Control Being An Actor. So I Went To Architecture School In Nyc, Because I Was Crazy About Buildings. Then I Began To Realize That I Got More Excited About Vogue Coming Out Each Month Than I Was About My Projects.

Style For Me Is Some One Who Figures Out Who They Are. What Works On Them. What They Feel Good In And Develops That. Develops Their Character. And The Outer Expression Of Their Character Is What Is Style.

It Was Like One Of Those Dreams At High School When Everyone Else Has Clothes On Except You.

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!

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.

The U.s. Used To Be Perceived As The Moral Leader Of The World, And We Have Absolutely Lost That.

I Am Tired Of The Cult Of Youth. The Cultural Rejection Of Old Age, The Stigmatization Of Wrinkles, Grey Hair, Of Bodies Furrowed By The Years. I Am Fascinated By Diana Vreeland, Georgia O’keeffe And Louise Bourgeois, Women Who Have Let Time Embrace Them Without Ever Cheating. Society Today Condemns This, Me, I Celebrate It.

I Do Everything Completely Naked

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.

Women Are Objectified In Our Culture. And More And More, It Takes A Great Deal Of Confidence, Especially As A Woman, To Break The Mold. You Know, You're Afraid That You're Going To Covered In A Magazine As A "fashion Don't." That's Why You See All These Girls On The Red Carpet Looking The Same.

You Have To Be Passionate, You Have To Be Engaged And You Have To Be Contributing To The World.

Oh My God, So Many Young Girls Now Look Like Whores!

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.

If I Were Straight And I Were Trying To Seduce A Woman, I Could Do It Just By Standing Up At The Table When She Came Back From The Bathroom. It Works. Every Time I Do That, All The Straight Men Are Sitting At The Table And Their Wives Are Kicking Them. "look At That!" "you Never Do That For Me!"

The Idea Of Losing Someone That You Love Could Throw You Into A Situation Where You Could Not See Your Future And You Really Would Be Living In The Past.

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.

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.

Dressing Effectively Is A Kind Of Excellent Manners.

I Believe That When You Really Want To Do Something, You Should Go Ahead And Do It. I Mean, I Feel Fear, But I Never Let That Stop Me.

Moving Fashion Used To Be One Of My Chief Goals. It's Not Necessarily Any More. Fashion Needs To Change When Life Changes. You Only Need To Move Fashion Forward When There's A Reason To Move Fashion Forward.

I Want To Make Beautiful Clothes For Women And Men Who Appreciate Detail And Quality. The Product Must Be The Best But This Is Almost Secondary To The Service The Customer Will Receive.

Style Is Very Different From Fashion. Once You Find Something That Works, Keep It.

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.

I Think We Are Becoming More And More Linked, And Before Long, We'll All Be One Culture. It's Happening In Every Field, Not Just Fashion. Actually, I Think The Only Hope For Peace Is If Culture Is Homogenized. Unfortunately, Money Seems To Be The Only Solution To Political Disagreements. If We Are All Linked Through Culture And Trade, It Won't Be Worth Fighting Each Other.

It's Hard Not To Be Sexy In A Pair Of High Heels.

She Needs To Have A Few Drinks And Cry A Little-then She'll Be Perfect.

Keep Your Jacket Buttoned. Always. It's Just Really Flattering—it Will Take Pounds Off You.

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 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.

Only Hire People You Want To Have Dinner With.

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?

If We're Having A Glitzy Over-the-top Moment, Fashion Is Very Glitzy And Over-the-top, You Know, Over-the-top. If We're Having A Moment Where Things Are, You Know, We're In A Recession, Fashion Becomes Quiet. So, In Terms Of Popular Culture, Fashion And Especially Women's Fashion Is Incredibly Interesting, Aside From Satisfying Just A Particular Need To Create And Arrange Things In A Way That One Sees As Beautiful. And So, In A Certain Way, It's Fulfilling. In Another Way, It's Very Fleeting Because It Doesn't Last Very Long. You Know, A Beautiful Moment In Fashion Goes Away Very Quickly.

To Me, Beauty And Sadness Are Very Closely Linked. Truly Beautiful Things Make Me Sad Because I Know They Are Going To Fade. When I See A Beautiful 20-year-old Boy Or Girl-and They Are Breathtaking-i Am Filled With A Kind Of Sadness. But Maybe They Are Beautiful Because We Know They Are Not Permanent And They Are In A Kind Of Transition.

I Was Not Popular. I Was The Kid In School That Was Bullied.

While Fashion Is Exciting Because It Changes All The Time, It Is Also Fleeting. Film, Though, Is Forever. In A Way Therefore, Film Is The Ultimate Design Project.

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.'

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.

We Do Objectify Women In Our Culture. We're Starting To Objectify Men A Little Bit More. And There Is Nothing Wrong With That. Objectify Maybe Is The Wrong Word. Celebrate Their Bodies And Use Beautiful Men, Beautiful Women As A Tool To Get Your Attention And To Sell Things. But No-one - We're Very, Very Uncomfortable In Our Culture With Looking At A Naked Man. You Know, Naked Women Are Everywhere, Selling Everything. And Again, This Is Quite Sexist. But Naked Men Make Us Nervous.

I Hope People Will Put Aside Tom Ford The Fashion Designer And Think About Tom Ford The Filmmaker.

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.

France? I Don't Want To Be Anti-french But There Isn't A More Unattractive Group Of People On The Streets.

My Real Life’s Not Like The Fantasy Tom Ford World – With Naked Girls Pouring Perfume Everywhere. It’s More Staying In And Watching Friends On Television.

I Just Want To Make Beautiful, Glamorous Clothes.

You Know That Only Thing That Has Made The Whole Thing Worthwhile Has Been Those Few Times That I Was Able To Truly Connect With Another Person.

Every Season, Really, Has Their Own Chemistry.

I Don't Believe In Playing Around Much With Suit Cuts. I Like A Fairly Classic Shape That Gives A Man Strong Shoulders, A Fitted Waist, And Long Legs. Classic Simplicity Always Works.

Artists, Like Yourself, Are Born With A Need To Express That's Just Innate.

The Dynamics Of Film Directing And Fashion Design - In The Ways That I've Done It - Were Not Dissimilar.

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 Think Loneliness Comes With Being Creative, Because You Are Obsessed With Creation. And It Is So Satisfying That Sometimes, I Have Noticed, I Completely Neglect My Friends And My Family, And They Fall Away.

Banking Types Should Take Their Cue From Gordon Gekko. Or Pick The Best-looking Banker In Their Firm And Copy Him.

Fashion Is Very Quick. It's Very Disposable. It's Immediately - It Tells You Exactly Where We Are In Our Culture, Especially Women's Fashion.

When I Come Home I Actually Take Off All My Clothes, And I Wear No Clothes Until I Leave. I Eat Naked. I Do Everything Completely Naked.

I Think Some Journalists And Bloggers Want Their Articles To Be Clever, And The Way Into That Is By Writing Nasty Things. I Think Our Culture Likes To Be Mean. I Don't Just Find This In Fashion - I Find It In The News. More And More, It Is About Ripping People Apart.

The Gucci Woman - You Know What She’s After. The Saint Laurent Woman - She’s Going To Torture You A Little Bit. You Might Have Sex, But She Will Drip A Little Hot Wax On You First.

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?

If I Had Been A Dog Walker, I Would Have Been The Most Successful Dog Walker In Paris.

We Are Actually Starting To Manipulate Our Bodies, Because We Can, Into A Shape. We Are Becoming Our Own Art. But What Happens For Me Is That It Desexualizes Everything. You Know, You Start To Look More And More Polished, More And More Lacquered And You Look Like A Beautiful Car. Does Anyone Want To Sleep With You? Does Anyone Want To Touch You? Does Anyone Want To Kiss You? Maybe Not, Because You're Too Scary.

Dressing Well Is A Form Of Good Manners.

Yes, I Still Take My Baths All Day Long. They're Meditative. I Have Three A Day.

I Find A Bath Meditative And Usually Prepare Myself For The Day In This Manner.

Fashion Creates A Bit Of A Dream

People Always Ask Me How I Start A Collection, And I Tell Them That I Just Look Around. What Am I Tired Of? What Am I In The Mood For? Real Fashion Change Comes From Real Changes In Real Life. Everything Else Is Just Decoration.

I Enjoy The Speed Of Fashion. I Love Doing Different Things And I Think I Still Have Something Valid To Say In Fashion.

Choose Your Team Carefully. So Much Of Your Success Is Due To The People Who You Surround Yourself With. Your Friends, Your Family, And The People That You Work With -- They All Play An Important Role In Inspiring You And Supporting You And Giving You Stability. These Are The People In Your Life Who Will Be Honest With You.

I Don't Understand All These Breasts Right Now, And They Don't Look Like Breasts. They Look Like Someone's Taken A Grapefruit Half And Inserted It Under Your Skin. I Mean It's - It Doesn't Even Bear Any Resemblance To What A Natural Breast Looks Like. But We're Starting To Think That This Is What Women Should Like. And Young Girls Are Looking At These Breasts And Thinking, Oh, I Need To Go Have My Breasts Done Because They've Lost Touch With What A Real Breast Actually Looks Like. I Find It Fascinating, I Find It Disturbing.

In Fashion As In Life, The Right Thing At The Right Time Is The Right Thing. The Right Thing At The Wrong Time Is The Wrong Thing.

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'm Very Aware That When My Friends And I Sit Around Over Dinner These Days, The Conversation Invariably Turns To How Crass The World Has Become. Tweeting? It's One Of The Silliest Things Ever.

It's Not A Feminizing Product; It's Designed To Make Your Skin Look Better.

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.

Be True To Yourself

I Think That They Haven't Been Able To Perfect A Good Facelift For A Man.

College Campuses Were Once A Hotbed Of Political Activity.

This Is Going To Sound Crazy, But The First Thing I Do When I Get Home Is Take Off All My Clothes - At Home, Just Around The House. I Take Everything Off. I Can't Stand Clothes! I Take Everything Off - My Shoes, My Socks, My Watch, Shirt, Everything. I Am Completely Naked.

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.

Certain Directors Are Known For A Certain Kind Of Beauty; It Becomes Their Signature.

At Home, Off-duty, I Wear T-shirts From Fruit Of The Loom - But I Have Them Tailored.

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.

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.

When You Decide You Want To Make A Film, You Start Listening To Everything That Anyone Has To Say About Filmmaking And Reading Everything, And There's A Maxim About Film Being A Visual Medium, And So You Need To Make, In A Sense, A Silent Movie And Layer On Dialogue.

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.

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.

You Can't Fake Anything. If You're Honest And True And You Love Something, And You Put That Energy Into It, People Can Usually Feel It On The Other Side.

If You Are A Designer, Sometimes It Is Better Not To Delegate, Because Someone Pays Money For Something That You Designed, So It Should Be Exactly The Way You Want It, Exactly The Way You Would Have Chosen It. People Call Me A Control Freak, And I Say, "well, My Name Is On The Shoe." It Means The Heel Needs To Be The Way I Want It And Not The Way Somebody Else Wants It, And The Toe Needs To Be Exactly The Way I Want It, And The Fabric And The Material Have To Be Exactly The Way I Want It. It Is Not A Democracy - It Is A Dictatorship.

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.

On The One Hand, I Want To Go Off And Live In The Desert With My Dog And Sculpt Things Out Of Adobe.

What Works With Your Skin And Eyes? Use That To Zero In On Your Wardrobe.

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.

It's Really Never Fair To Judge People Because None Of Us Know What's Going On Inside Anyone Else's Head.

My Goal Is To Help Women To Become The Best Version Of Themselves.

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.

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.

I Like To Just Have Fun And Be Silly And Say Pretty Much Whatever Comes Into My Mind, Do Pretty Much Whatever I Want.

I Don't Work For Money Any Longer. I Work For Pride.

L.a. Is My American City.

American Cities

Fashion Is Everything. Art, Music, Furniture Design, Graphic Design, Hair, Makeup, Architecture, The Way Cars Look - All Those Things Go Together To Make A Moment In Time, And That's What Excites Me.

I'm A Perfectionist, To The Point Of Insanity.

I'm A Natural-born Boss, I Have To Say. I Just Like To Be Good At Things. Even As A Child, I Was Boss Of My Family.

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.

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.

Right Now Everything Is Pumped Up. Cars Look Like Someone Took An Air Pump And Pumped Them Up. They Look Engorged. Lips Pumped Up, Breasts Pumped Up, Everything Is Pumped Up. And It's Also Kind Of Off-putting. It's Sexual But In Such A Hard Way That It's, For Me, Not Sexual At All. Whereas The 1970s, Breasts Were Smaller. People Were Not Wearing Bras. Farrah Fawcett's Sexuality And Sensuality Was A Very Touchable Sexuality. She Was Kissable. She Was Friendly.

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.

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 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'm Extremely Organized. The More Things I Have To Work On And Can Bounce Back And Forth Between, The More Energized I Am.

You Have To Love What You Do To The Point That You Can't Imagine Doing Anything Else With Your Life.

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.

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.

If You Are Creative, Sometimes You Give Up A Lot Of Things That Other People Have.

British People Still Wear Clothes. By Clothes I Mean Actual Clothes: Jackets And Shirts And Ties And Suits. The Spirit Of Beau Brummell Is Still Visible. English Men Make An Effort. We’ve Lost That In The Us. Everyone Is More Concerned With Being Comfortable.

It's Really About Putting That Sort Of Quality And Beauty Back Into Our Life.

Most Everyone Now Personally Knows Someone Who Is Openly Homosexual.

I'm Very Direct. I Don't Have Tantrums. I Don't Yell Or Shout. I Do Expect An Awful Lot From My Staff, But No More Than I Expect Of Myself.

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 Am One Of Those People Who Isn’t Great At Anything, But I’m Pretty Good At Most Things.

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

I Don't Want To Find Myself Designing For The Press.

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.

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.

Time And Silence Are The Most Luxurious Things Today.

I Was The Sensitive, Shy Kid That Was Teased A Lot. I Was Very Definitely Bullied. I Mean, From An Early Age, I Dressed More Like An Adult, You Know, Jackets And Very Slim Trousers And A Raincoat. And I - Even When I Was 7, 8, 9-years-old, Carried An Attache Case To School Because I Just Hated The Sloppiness Of A Book Bag.

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.

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?

In My Adult Life I've Understood That If I Put An Enormous Amount Of Love And Honesty Into Something, Usually That Shows In The End.

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.

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.

I Think There's Nothing More Painful For Anyone Than Unrequited Love. If You've Ever Had That Kind Of Physical Access To Someone And Then, All Of A Sudden, That Is Denied, And Yet You're Still In Love With That Person, It's Very, Very, Very Painful To Be Around That Person In A Certain Way.

Unrequited Love

Both Film And Fashion Are Businesses Where The Audience Doesn't Feel Or See The Work That Goes On Behind The Scenes.

Behind The Scenes

London Is One Of The Few Cities Where People Still Dress Properly And Fashion Exists. Every Day I See Women Who've Thought About Their Outfits. They've Picked Out The Bag, Put On Proper Shoes. ... 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.

I Interview These People All The Time Who Come To My Office And Say, "i Want To Be A Fashion Designer." I Tell Them Where They Should Start, And They Say, "i Don't Want To Do That. I Don't Want To Get Anyone Coffee." Don't They Know It Is Great To Get People Coffee?

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.

If It's Not Fun, I'm Not Going To Do 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 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 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.

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.

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.

Perfection Is Almost An Illness With Me, But Sometimes I Have Moments Where Everything Is Absolutely Clear And You Can Feel, Rather Than Think.

First Of All, I Love Women. But I Lust After Beautiful Women In The Way That I Lust After A Beautiful Piece Of Sculpture - This Will Probably Get Me In Trouble - Or A Beautiful Car. I Believe Everyone's On A Sliding Scale Of Sexuality. There Are Moments Where I Am Sexually Attracted To Women. But It Doesn't Overpower My First Impulse; My Lust For Them Is The Same As My Lust For Beauty In All Things.

I'm Actually Very Introverted. I'm Very Shy. I'm Very Emotional.

Film Is An Incredible Way To Express Yourself And Your Vision, As Is Fashion, But You Have To Make Sure [to] Be Confident And Honest And True To Yourself And Say Something That Means Something, Because That Is Really The Point Of Any Art.

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.

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.

Yeah. Iʼve Always Felt This Way. I Mean Weʼre Born Alone, We Die Alone. And While Weʼre Here We Are Absolutely, Completely Sealed In Our Own Bodies. Really Weird. Kinda Freaks Me Out To Think About It. We Can Only Experience The Outside World Through Our Own Slanted Perception Of It. Who Knows What Youʼre Really Like. I Just See What I Think Youʼre Like.

A Few Times In My Life I've Had Moments Of Clarity Where The Silence Drowns Out The Noise And I Can Feel Rather Than Think.

If My Parents Had Discouraged Me, I Would Have Turned Out Very Differently. They Raised Me In An Open-minded, Liberal Environment.

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 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.

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.

One Of The Most Important Things Is To Figure Out What Your Look Is — I Don't Wear This Black Suit-white Shirt Combination All The Time To Try And Be Iconic — But Because I'm Most Comfortable In This. Cary Grant Never Turned Up In A Pink Jacket And Hot Pants And I Don't Feel The Need To Experiment When I Know I Like Dressing This Way.

Dressing Well Is An Expression Of Manners.

Part Of My Family Were Ranchers. So You Were Expected To Be Quite Macho. You Weren't Expected To Cry. I Was The Exact Opposite Of That.

There's Nothing Wrong With Ankles. But Only If You're Playing Football In The Park.

Just Because One Is Spiritual Doesn't Mean That One Doesn't Like Crocodile, Cashmere. We Live In A Material World. We Still Experience These Things. It Doesn't Mean To Completely Disregard Them.

Style. People Talk About It Being Stylish And Beautiful, That's At The Service Of The Story. Style For Me Means Nothing Without Substance And There Are Moments And Things About The Film That Are Stylish But Hopefully At The Service Of The Story.

We Are Living In A Material World, So Why Not Live With Something Beautiful?

When I Was A Kid, I Thought I Was Going To Be An Actor. I Actually Studied Acting When I Was At Nyu, And I Made A Lot Of Television Commercials - That's Actually How I Put Myself Through Nyu And Through College.

Television Commercials

What's So Wrong With Vanity? It's Different From Narcissism, You Know? It's Not About Admiring Yourself-it's About Taking Pride In Your Appearance.

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.

The Seventies Is What I Love. Soft, Touchable Beauty Is What I Love.

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.

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 Like To Relax And Lie In The Water. It Is The Way I Calm Myself Down. But Every Time I Walk Past My Bathroom, I Go In And I Put On Some Perfume. I Use Different Perfumes For Different Moods. If I Feel That I Need To Calm Down, I Put On Certain Fragrances That Are More Sensual. If I Feel That I Need To Energize, I Put On Something Else. Fragrance For Me Is So Important.

I Think That Right Now We're In A Very Hard Moment And Off-putting. I Mean, Look At Shoes Today - Women's Shoes. They Couldn't Possibly Get Any Higher And Meaner And Sharper. But Then Again, You Go And Watch Most Films Today, They're Violent And We're Living In A World That Is, At The Moment, Quite Hard.

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.

There Are No Right Or Wrong Answers, There Is Only Intuition

Everyday Is One Less Day.

When You Find Somebody Good, Keep Them In Your Life.

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.'

If I'm Having A Bad Day I Put On The Very Best Thing I Have. I Polish My Shoes, I Shine Everything Up, Because That Helps Me Get Though The Day. It Helps Me, You Know, It's In A Sense Armor. It Says, Okay, I'm A Mess Inside But You Know What, On The Outside I'm Going To Be Pulled Together, Everything Is Okay.

There Aren't Many Strong Or Charismatic Candidates Today, Because Many People Can't Withstand The Scrutiny.

I Was Lucky Enough To Have Had Great Success Early On In Life; To Have Had All The Things The Material World Can Offer. And Yet, I Realized That What I Had Actually Neglected Was The More Spiritual Side Of Myself, Which Has Always Been There. But It's Easy For Us In Our Culture To Become Consumed In A Sense By Materialism. Now Materialism Is Fine. 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 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.

This Is Something I Realized After Stepping Away From Women's Fashion For The Last Five Years. When You Are Inside, It Is Such A Tiny Group Of People Who Think That This Is The Most Important Thing In The World. But When You Get A Little Bit Of Distance, Someone Will Say To You Something Like, "don't You Think That Shoe Is Blah?" And I Will Be Like, "what Shoe? I Don't Know What You're Talking About." It Is Very, Very Inside.

Trending Author

Charles Perrault

Category