Tom Ford

Tom Ford is gay with his partner, Richard Buckley, who is a journalist. They have been together since 1986 but only three years after being together, Buckley was diagnosed with cancer.

After his partner recovered, they moved to Italy and had a son called, Alexander John Buckley Ford, who was born in September 2012.

Thomas Carlyle ‘Tom’ Ford’ was born to realtors, Shirley Burton and Tom Ford, in Austin, Texas. He spent his early life in Houston, San Marcos and Santa Fe.

He studied at St. Michael’s High School and at Santa Fe Preparatory School, from where he graduated in 1979. He enrolled to Bard College at Simon’s Rock and then moved to the Big Apple to study art history at New York University (NYU).

He began to focus on acting for television commercials and dropped out of NYU after only one year. He then began studying architecture at Parsons The New School for Design.

In his final year as an architecture student, he spent a year in Paris, wherein he interned at Chloe’s press office. He spent the remainder part of his final year studying fashion, but nonetheless, graduated with a degree in architecture in 1986.

Right after he graduated from university, he was keen on working for Cathy Hardwick, an American designer. He called her every day in the hope of securing a job under her one day; and so he did. He worked with her as a design assistant for two years

In 1988, he worked at the clothing brand, Perry Ellis, with whom he worked for two years. However, he grew tired with American fashion and decided to venture out into the world of European fashion which according to him, was ‘classier’.

He relocated to Milan in 1990 and was appointed as the chief women’s ready-to-wear designer at the failing European luxury goods brand, Gucci.

In 1992, he took over as Gucci’s design director and within a matter of months expanded menswear and other apparel sections. He also led the brand’s pret-a-porter fragrances, image, advertising and store design.

In 1993, he was in charge of eleven product lines and even though most of the popular creations were his, his contributions were dwarfed by those of Mello, who was the face of the company.

His collections Spring/Summer 2003 for Gucci and YSL, which was launched at the Paris Fashion Week, is regarded as one of his greatest collections. This fashion line focused largely on animal prints on t-shirts, pants, kaftans and gowns. The line became a true trend-setter as it was introduced during a time when animal prints were in vogue.

He made his directorial debut with ‘A Single Man’, which released in 2009. The film was considered unconventional and received rave ratings from the audience and critics. The movie went on to collect a total of $24,964,890 at the box-office and was featured at a number of prominent festivals including the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie was also nominated for an Academy Award for the category of ‘Best Actor’, the BAFTA Awards and the Independent Spirit Award.