Be
still, my beating heart. It is only one more person to be escorted
into the Oxford Union’s debating chambers, joining a long, impressive
range of speakers, from former weapons inspector Hans Blix to the highly
controversial Michael Jackson. But as Tom Ford walked his confident
stroll and stopped to take center stage in front of his student audience, I
could not help but revert to a giddy thirteen-year old. I leaned
over and whispered to Tom’s publicist, Lisa, “He is so cute!” She
nodded in unison. Dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit and white
shirt, unbuttoned to reveal a generous eyeful of his tanned, manicured
chest, he certainly portrayed the self-proscribed,
quintessential “ Gucci
Man.” His helm at Gucci Group may be over, but ten years of practice
as a creative designer culled a signature aura of sex mixed with charisma
which remains over the top.
At one point, an inquisitive student asked Tom
why he always wears his shirts unbuttoned. The fashion visionary replied with a mischievous
glint in his eye, “I like my chest”--he
begins rubbing it as squeals of delight erupt from the students-- “And I believe
you should always flaunt and accentuate the parts of yourself you like,
while covering up the parts you don’t.”
The aggressively confident Gucci Man has his (seldom employed) limits.
Never one to shy away from the spotlight, Tom showed surprising signs
of humbleness throughout the evening. He began his speech by describing
his initial reaction upon receiving an invitation to speak at the
university: “I
was honored and immediately said yes, and then became apprehensive
because I did not know what I could offer to such an exceptional group
of intellectuals.” Lisa had told me earlier that Tom had prepared
a 90 second slide show introducing his career with Gucci and YSL rive
gauche, afraid that “Tom Ford” was not a recognized name
around here. His least favorite part of the
job was working with haughty celebrities. (A claim Suzy Menkes, renowned writer for the International
Herald Tribune, later scoffed at during an intimate drink reception
upstairs, well out of Tom’s earshot.) The fashion guru also showed
his perplexity with one of industry’s most inundated disputes
surrounding ultra-thin models. Attempting to answer “Why
do you only use pin-thin models?” his reply was far from his usual steady
eloquence. He was elusive, apologizing because “this reasoning
may not make sense to anyone but myself”, believing that hyper-thin
was a rarity (especially in America where “men and women are
as big as this table!”), that rarity is a much sought-after beauty,
and therefore something “fascinating and attractive.”
The
Gucci Man knows how to indulge; in fact, he writes the manual. In the
words of Anna Wintour, women and men “woke up to the fact
that a little glamour was missing from their lives--and Tom’s
clothes, always sexually empowering, captured their imagination.” Tom
would say that Gucci was not about the clothes so much as a lifestyle: to think big; walk big; do big. “Fashion
is a fundamental, primary luxury like steak or caviar or champagne.
Fur feels good. Drinking feels good. I like to drink.” A slow smile spread across his
lips. “Sex feels good.” His aim had been to "take
a feeling, the zeitgeist and turn it into a more tangible thing.” Some thing—a
5k purple embossed velvet Gucci flap bag with pink crocodile trim,
a jeweled-enamel dragon ornament, and a double-strand gold bamboo-chain
shoulder strap, perhaps? Speaking of money students seldom have, how
did Tom answer the question about the outstanding price tags that hang
on luxury clothing? Picking up a glass bottle of water, he slams it
back down on the table, gestures at it and says, “It’s
not like we just say to ourselves, ‘Let’s see how much
we can charge for this!’” He believes that the hand-made
details, the outstanding quality, the care and energy that goes into
each piece is well worth its price. And honestly, the savvy business
man side of him had me convinced.
Afterwards during the private reception, Tom stood to the side while
a handful of students milled about, waiting for the right opportunity
to approach him. My friend Alvin handed Tom a copy of his hefty compendium,
and he signed it graciously, even blowing on the page to make sure
the ink dried before shutting the book and carefully placing it back
into the box. He was equally sweet and polite when I talked to him,
mainly about a California friend who “is in love with
you and Madonna.” He gave me a startled look, as if the two mixed
just as well as stiletto heels and a frumpy windbreaker.
His parting advice for a successful life: “Do something
you love.” He had stopped loving fashion--“You
can only make the slit so much higher, the stiletto so much taller.” Just don’t
dim those glamour and glitterati lights too quickly; Tom Ford may have
left the runway, but he may not be far from the red carpet. He has
recently purchased a Richard Neutra home high in the hills of Bel-Air
and is considering a career in producing. He is weighing his film options
with care, believing that "When
you leave a film, it should challenge you, touch you - it needs to
enrich you in some way.” And considering how influential he has
been to the fashion industry in the past decade, you can bet he holds
the same ideology for everything he chooses to do in life.