Tom Ford: the sex symbol with sunglasses

The birth of the brand  

Thomas Carlyle Ford “Tom Ford” was born in Austin, Texas on August 27, 1961. At 17 he decided to leave for New York to study art history at New York University and fashion at Parsons School of Design. In this period he frequented numerous clubs including the well-known "Studio 54" club which allowed him to meet great artists, including the pop art guru Andy Warhol from whom the young Tom Ford drew inspiration for numerous works and sketches.  

During his last year of studies at Parsons, Tom Ford worked in Paris as an intern in the "Chloé" press office and met Marc Jacobs . He graduated in 1986 but in architecture and not art history .  

1990 was fundamental for Tom Ford, the year in which he began working for Gucci , which was in serious economic difficulty at the time. He began as a women's clothing manager and then rose to the top and became, in just a few years, creative director. Tom Ford's stylistic lines and targeted advertising campaigns relaunched the brand and brought him and Gucci into the elite of world fashion.  

In 2000 he also held the position of creative director of Yves Saint Laurent , who joined the Gucci group. Tom Ford decided to leave the Group in 2004 to create his own brand of the same name, which was born with a line of sunglasses , extravagant, non-conformist, never excessive and undoubtedly elegant. Sunglasses, always in balance between classicism and innovation, also enter into the personal style of the designer who often showed them off on red carpets and in photo shoots, combined with his impeccable outfits. Women not only dream of his creations but also of having men like him next to him, a sex symbol and a true brand of himself.  

Tom Ford was also a photographer and created some advertising campaigns for his brand. He himself declared “ I like to build things, I like to create them. Whether it's a company or a shop, a brand or a film, creating is what makes me happy, what I love to do ”  

The love of cinema and photography  

The glamor of Hollywood has always attracted Tom Ford. In 2001 he played himself in the film “Zoolander”. But his attraction to cinema was much more intense and led him to debut in 2008 as a director in “ A Single Man ”. Based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood, it tells the story of an ordinary day of a homosexual professor and his loneliness after the death of his partner. Actor and protagonist is Colin Firth who wins the Volpi Cup for best male performance at the Venice International Film Festival and obtains an Oscar nomination . The film's photography is warm and glossy, the fashion magazine shots bring out his designer soul throughout the film.  

In 2013 he played himself again in the documentary Mademoiselle C, the life of Carine Roitfeld with Karl Lagerfeld and Donatella Versace.  

In 2016 he was the director and screenwriter of " Nocturnal Animals" , based on the novel by Austin Wright Tony & Susan which tells of a broken marriage, the one between the gallery owner Susan (Amy Adams) and the writer Edward (Jake Gyllenhal). The film achieved enormous success and for Tom Ford, in particular, 2 Golden Globe nominations for best director and best screenwriter as well as the Silver Lion won at the Venice Film Festival. Often, in his films, Tom Ford included numerous references to his personal life: “ Susan (the protagonist of nocturnal animals) is literally me. It's struggling with the world that I live in: the world of absurd rich people, the emptiness and emptiness that I perceive in our culture ” are the words that Tom Ford released during an interview.  

An evolving brand  

In April 2023, during the presentation of the new autumn/winter collections, Tom Ford announces his retirement from the world of fashion . While waiting to know his future projects, perhaps linked to the cinema, Tom became a billionaire after selling his brand to the French Estée Lauder that decided to manage directly the "beauty" sector, granting the clothing division to Ermenegildo Zegna and the style glasses division to the Marcolin Italian company. 

Last September, the new creative director Peter Hawkings, Tom's collaborator for over twenty-five years, presented the spring/summer 2024 collection, in continuity with the bold and refined creations that have always characterized the brand.  

Mr. Shades greatly appreciates Tom Ford's creative flair and offers a wide range of his most beautiful and iconic models. Find out more .