Talk with Tom Ford

This past tuesday night I had the pleasure of attending a "Talk with Tom Ford" at the upper east side's renowned 92nd Street Y. As a self proclaimed fashion nerd, it was surreal to sit and watch the Tom Ford talk about everything from being bullied as a child for carrying a briefcase in lieu of a messy backpack, to his unprecedented reign at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, meeting Richard Buckley the love of his life 25 years ago, to his stint at retirement before diving back into womenswear to start his own collection inspired by the 30 most inspiring women in his life. (Including the likes of Julianne Moore, Beyonce, Lauren Hutton and Marisa Berenson.)

Tom talked a lot about the mentors in his life and the advice given to him that he's always valued, such as "only hire people you want to have dinner with" which he learned form Dawn Mello and "you have one decision to make in life, you can either be happy or not be happy" which was his grandma "Duckie's" motto.

Even talking about being an anal Virgo, Tom oozed charisma and charm.  He was entertaining, funny, and seductive in the way he answered questions and played off the audience. Fern Mallis even said how we were quite the lucky crowd because her inbox had been filled for days and her phone ringing off the hook with friends asking for tickets for the event which sold out instantly over four months ago. A second room had to be opened for people to watch a live-stream of the talk on screens. (The only other luminary the Y has ever offered that for was for Woody Allen!)



Ford shared so many wonderful insights into his life and career which I took many notes on but couldn't possibly write about it all. I manage to sneek these two photos, but for a more detailed recap of the event you can check out this Womens Wear Daily article and watch the video montage of highlights (above) that Fern Mallis shared a few days ago. A few of my highlights were:

-The influence of Halston on his designs (especially his early work), and Madame Vionnet on Halstons. Because "the art of creativity is concealing your source." -Coco Chanel

-He talked about the fact that people don't realize how hard people work in fashion, and with such passion. Its not appreciated or understood by those outside of the industry.

-Being at the helm of the Gucci Group and deciding what designers he admired and had potential but didn't conflict with his designs, eventually picking Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen and Nicolas Ghesquiere.

-Gwyneth Paltrow at this years Oscars was one of his favorite fashion moments. He loved that she was brave enough to wear it and it was a proud moment.

It was a fabulous night and one that I will not soon forget. (Right up there with attending the Vogue fashion show and being commissioned to sketch for Barbie at NYFW.) How often you walk into a Y filled with air kissing fashion folk and sit in audience among such notable industry people as Glenda Bailey, Valerie Steele, Dawn Mello, Cathy Hardwick, Renaldo Barnette (whom I brought as my dapper date), Aaron Potts (another talented friend) and designer Brandon Sun, to name a just few, and get to listen to a fashion design genius talk for nearly 2 hours. I'm still on a fashion high, and it was three nights ago!