107 Insightful Quotes By Tom Ford For The Fashionista In You

Everyday is one less day.

  

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

Time

  

I probably do have an obsessive personality, but striving for perfection has served me well.

Me , Personality

  

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.

Culture , Never

  

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.

  

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

  

When you find somebody good, keep them in your life.

Life

  

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.

Culture

  

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.

Life

  

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.

Life , Me

  

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

  

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.

Life , Me

  

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.

  

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

Never

  

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.

  

I'm actually very introverted. I'm very shy. I'm very emotional.

  

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?

Yourself

  

Dressing well is a form of good manners.

  

I think we're very uptight in America. You have to remember that we're descended from Puritans. Whether or not the country is now composed of immigrants, our culture as American really begins with the landing of the Pilgrims and a puritanical view of things.

Culture , Think

  

Your connections with other people are important, our connection to the earth.

  

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.

Think

  

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.

Like , Think

  

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.

Think

  

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.

Like , Think

  

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.

Life , Me

  

I think that they haven't been able to perfect a good facelift for a man.

Think

  

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.

  

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.

Like

  

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.

Time

  

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.

  

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.

  

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

Never

  

The dynamics of film directing and fashion design - in the ways that I've done it - were not dissimilar.

  

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

  

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

  

British men are peacocks. You see a lot more style on the streets here than you see anywhere else, on every level.

  

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.

Me

  

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.

Time

  

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

  

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!

Like , Think , Time

  

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.'

  

Beyonce in real life is actually quite quiet and very sweet.

Life

  

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.

Character , Like

  

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

  

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.'

Me

  

On the one hand, I want to go off and live in the desert with my dog and sculpt things out of adobe.

  

I just want to make beautiful, glamorous clothes.

  

I enjoy the speed of fashion. I love doing different things and I think I still have something valid to say in fashion.

Think

  

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.

Time

  

When I was a kid, I thought I was going to be an actor.

  

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.

Me , Think

  

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

  

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

Think

  

Students in the '60s were responsible for great changes, politically and socially.

  

College campuses were once a hotbed of political activity.

  

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

Together

  

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

Life , Time

  

Most everyone now personally knows someone who is openly homosexual.

  

L.A. is my American city.

  

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

  

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.

Never

  

The seventies is what I love. Soft, touchable beauty is what I love.

  

We have the Terminator as governor, and we had an actor as president, so why shouldn't we have a fashion designer as a senator?

  

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 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.

  

If my parents had discouraged me, I would have turned out very differently. They raised me in an open-minded, liberal environment.

Me

  

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

  

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

  

I'm a very serious person.

  

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

  

I hate tricky facial hair. If your facial hair is too spotty in places, shave. Just forget about it.

  

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.

  

I find a bath meditative and usually prepare myself for the day in this manner.

  

September 11th was a moment when America had the sympathy of the world.

  

Your name is a funny thing. It stands for what you're about, and everything I do is really about pride.

  

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 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.

  

My customer has her own sense of style and knows herself well. My goal is to help women become the best version of themselves.

  

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

  

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 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.

  

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

  

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.

Culture , Never

  

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.

Think

  

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.

Never , Think

  

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.

Life , Me

  

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.

Life , Like , Time

  

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.

Think

  

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.

Life

  

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.

Character , Like

  

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.

Think

  

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.

  

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.

Think

  

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.

  

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.

Life

  

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.

Think

  

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.

  

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.

Ego

  

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.

Like , Think