Tom Ford: This book is a complete catalogue of Ford's design work for both Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent from 1994 to 2004. It chronicles not only Ford's clothing and accessories designs for both houses, but also explores Ford's grand vision for the complete design of a brand, including architecture, store design, and advertising. Tom Ford features more than 200 photographs by Richard Avedon, Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, Terry Richardson, Craig McDean, Todd Eberle, and numerous other photographers including many previously unpublished images. Synonymous with high-octane glamour, opulent sexuality, and fearless fashion, Tom Ford is an iconic designer whose namesake label has devout followers across the globe, from Milan and New Delhi to Shanghai and New York. Seventeen years after his best-selling debut book Tom Ford (2004), which detailed his time as creative director for the Italian label Gucci, this second volume is a visual ode to Ford’s eponymous brand created in 2005 and encompasses cosmetics, eyewear, menswear, and his critically acclaimed womenswear line. Tom Ford 002:A fashion icon, provocative American designerTom Ford brings us his highly anticipated second book, which takes readers through the illustrious trajectory of his billion-dollar luxury empire established in 2005. Synonymous with high-octane glamour, opulent sexuality, and fearless fashion, Tom Ford is an iconic designer whose namesake label has devout followers across the globe, from Milan and New Delhi to Shanghai and New York. Tom Ford 002encompasses cosmetics, eyewear, menswear, and his critically acclaimed womenswear line.

But I think it’s very important, whatever story you tell—or at least it is for me—that you’re able to make it personal. Otherwise, why are you telling the story? It has to be something that speaks to you. TOM FORD 002 reflects the designer’s taste and unapologetic sensual aesthetic and is a true collector’s item for connoisseurs of unabashed style, design, and of Tom Ford the man." —MR MAGAZINE The special collection of photographs comes just in time for the holidays, as the perfect gift for any synonymous fashion lover and Ford fan." CRFASHIONBOOK.COMWow. So, of course, Book 2 investigates your career and life as a director. How did that come about? I’ve worked on it during COVID. The way I work on everything is somewhat intuitive. I literally had thousands and thousands of images, and I had everyone in my office print them up, so I had boxes and boxes and boxes of pictures, because while I look at things online—I live online like a lot of us do—photographs, for some reason, I need to see printed out. I just went through them. I did it very fast. Anything that grabbed my eye, I would throw into the pile that made it in. Oh, I’m alright. I have good days and bad days. It’s better when I’m working because then I’m not thinking about everything. You know what it’s like. Well, it’s certainly been an exhilarating lift going through the book, I have to say.

I think my taste has gone from a more literal sexuality to more of a sensuality. But honestly, you get to give the world your taste once, and I did that in the ’90s. My taste hasn’t changed. Yes, times have changed, so my taste has evolved. Things change a little bit, meaning a silhouette will change, a shoulder will change, a skirt length will change, a shoe heel will change. And the way people dress has changed, obviously. I think people dress more today in items than they did in a head-to-toe look in the ’90s or early 2000s. Go ahead and ask me whatever you would like. I’ll just jump right in. I would love to hear a little bit about the process of making the book. You’re making a history, you’re curating moments and images from this entire period: What was significant to you?Really since I had my son—I suppose this sounds like a cliché—I’ve become much more aware of the fact that I’m really just a link in the chain. You become aware of the world in a different way. I started by hearing an actor on a talk show talking about how plastic straws were destroying our planet. I remember thinking, “Well, that’s just crazy. Plastic straws? How could that be?” Well, once I did some research, I found out, wow, okay. That’s actually real. The number of plastic straws that are generated, what they do to our planet. And the first thing I did was switch to metal straws, and that then really has spilled over to the fact that we don’t use any single-use plastics in our house, we don’t use any plastic wrap, we use all of our water in cans.

The reason why I wanted to do that at the time was, yes, Gucci and Saint Laurent existed way before I went there, but in the case of Gucci, there really were not runway shows before I went. And there really were not complete collections. I say in the book that you get to give the world your taste once. And it’s true. I made my case at Gucci and then later at Saint Laurent. So I wanted to take that with me when I left and I wanted to put my name on it. What was your mindset in 2004 when you finished the book? My grandmother wore Tom Ford. She was both incredibly traditional and deeply transgressive of so many long-standing conventions of how a woman should be. (She went to law school in the 1940s and later drove a 1969 Jaguar E-Type and for many decades, a 1971 SL—not your typical grandma.) You know a Tom Ford woman when you see one. Well, yes, that would be one of them. So was there a moment of epiphany when you pivoted on that aspect of your life?My first film, A Single Man , was highly personal. I grafted my personality onto that of Christopher Isherwood, because I took certain themes of the original book, and then blew them up so they became the principal message behind the film.