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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.

-Tom Ford

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But As An Adult

Tom Ford

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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.

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

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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.

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

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.

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'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.

Dressing Well Is An Expression Of Manners.

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.

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.'

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

I Thought I Was Fabulous And Everyone Else Was Stupid.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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!"

I'm Living The Exact Life I Planned On Living When I Was Five.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

I Think That The Older You Get, The More You Become Your True, Essential Self. You Find The Things That Make You Happy. You Whittle Away The Parts Of Yourself That Mean Less To You.

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

Once Upon A Time

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

Dressing Effectively Is A Kind Of Excellent Manners.

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

Dressing Well Is A Form Of Good Manners.

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 Think People Who Are Attracted To The Fashion Industry Are People Who Are Really Insecure And Looking For A Certain Identity.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

This Sounds Crazy, But I Know So Many Famous People, I'm Just Not Intimidated By Anyone. I Feel Really Comfortable With It.

Fashion Creates A Bit Of A Dream

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.

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.

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.

I Find I Can Get So Much Done Between Midnight And 4 A.m. Everything Is Quiet, No One Is Disturbing Me, And If I Go To Bed Then, I Just Lie Awake Thinking Of Ideas. They Are Very Creative Hours For Me. One Night A Week I Crash Out, Though.

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.

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

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 Probably Do Have An Obsessive Personality, But Striving For Perfection Has Served Me Well

For Fleur De Chine, I Imagined The Romantic And Mysterious Women From Asia's Cinematic Past-from The '30s Femme Fatale In A Cheongsam And Dark Lipstick, To The'60s Hong Kong Heroine Of In The Mood For Love. I Wanted To Capture That Fascinating, Exquisite And Slightly Scandalous Femininity.

Mysterious Woman

College Campuses Were Once A Hotbed Of Political Activity.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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'm A Very Serious Person.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Skin Bathed In Summer Sunset Light Is Sultry And Sublime. Every Woman Looks Irresistible In Its Glow-relaxed And Sensual.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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?

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

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'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 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Only Hire People You Want To Have Dinner With.

Never, Ever, Ever Wear Anything You Are Uncomfortable In. Because That Is What You'll Project: 'i Look Like A Fool.'

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

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

Give Me The Control, Don't Ever Come On The Set, And I'll Show It To You When It's Cut.

A Beautiful Woman In Our Culture, And I Would Like To Say, You Know, This Was Different In 1962, But It Still Exists Today - I Know A Lot Of These Women -treats Different In A Different Way; Meaning That If You're A Beautiful Woman, You're Incredibly Powerful Within Our Culture. The World Operates Differently For You. Then, At A Moment In Time, And It Has Nothing To Do With You, It's Like The Carpet Is Just Ripped Out From Under You, And The Way That You've Operated In The World No Longer Works.

I Know One Day I'll Be Irrelevant. No Matter How Hard You Try There Is A Cultural Moment, But Eventually That Window's Gone, Your Time On Earth Is Finished, And You Might As Well Leave. I Could Absolutely Die Tomorrow - I Would Not Care. I Feel Like I've Lived, I Feel Like I've Had A Great Life.

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'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.

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.

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.

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.

Students In The '60s Were Responsible For Great Changes, Politically And Socially.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Most Everyone Now Personally Knows Someone Who Is Openly Homosexual.

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 Like Putting On A Suit. I Like Putting On A Tie.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

I Am Not A Person Who Is About Reality. I Am About Enhanced Reality.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.'

I Do Everything Completely Naked

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.

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.

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.

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.

Every Season, Really, Has Their Own Chemistry.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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

Time And Silence Are The Most Luxurious Things Today.

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

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.

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

Glamour Is Something More Than What You Put On Your Body. It Has To Do With The Way You Carry Yourself And The Impact You Have On Others.

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

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 Hate Tricky Facial Hair. If Your Facial Hair Is Too Spotty In Places, Shave. Just Forget About It.

Everyday Is One Less Day.

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

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 Suppose, Yes, I've Been Guilty Of Provocation But It's Also Just Common Sense Marketing - Put A Bottle Of Scent In A Woman's Cleavage, Or Between Her Thighs - And Men Will Notice.

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.

Tweeting? It's One Of The Silliest Things Ever.

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

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 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 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.

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

L.a. Is My American City.

American Cities

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.

Real Fashion Change Comes From Real Changes In Real Life. Everything Else Is Just Decoration.

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