Visionaries: Tom Ford Review / Memorable Quotes

A month ago I finally watched Tom Ford's much talked about episode of Visionaries. I was meaning to write about it immediately after I watched it but I get into this habit where I become passionate about the topic at hand that when I write about it it becomes overwhelmingly elaborate and ambitious.

Fashion people are private people. Often we just see the final product on the runway and on the racks. So when they allow cameras in to their work space and in to their brain it's a big treat.

Before I watched the doc I never could relate to Tom Ford, the man or the brand. I assumed the brand was sexy and the man was outrageous. But after watching it I found an appreciation to the meticulous hand Ford uses on the line and discovered that there is more to Tom Ford than his outrageous persona.

So don't be like me. Watch it right away and then tell you're friends. Whether you like fashion and/or need some life/career advice you're sure to enjoy this.

There's SO many great quotes to take from this:

On style:

"Style for me is some thing completely different. You could be what we consider in our culture unattractive and have great style. You can have no money and have great style. You can have a lotta money and have great style. More often you have a lotta money and you have terrible style. And you just plaster yourself in what you think you're supposed to wearing. And you've lost yourself."

"Style for me is some one who figures out who they are. What works on them. What they feel good in and develops that. Develops their character. And the outer expression of their character is what is style. "

 On death:

"I can absolutely die tomorrow I would not care because I feel like I have lived. I feel like I've had a great life and I've experienced every thing I could've experienced in my life. I don't wanna die. There are lots of things I'd like to do. I'd like to think my window's not quite gone yet but I'm comfortable enough and at peace enough with having lived and having experience death doesn't freak me out at all."

On being a successful designer:

"90 percent of my success is my drive. There are a lot of designers who are more creative. But maybe they don't work as hard. Maybe they don't have my drive."

Check more notable quotes after the jump :

On his intimate presentations:

"I have learned over the years, you should do some thing first and then talk about it. Not talk about it talk it up. Because then you talk things up to a level where you can't possibly live up to people's expectations."

On fashion's connection with culture:

"Fashion for me is not just clothes. It can be a mirror of where we are culturally at a moment in time. Or an indicator of where we are going."

"Moving fashion used to be one of my chief goals. It's not necessarily any more. Fashion needs to change when life changes. You only need to move fashion forward when there's a reason to move fashion forward."

On consumerism:

"We promote materialism which ultimately is not what brings us happiness. [There's a] certain enjoyment to be gained in materialism. You have to keep it in perspective because really it's nothing. We don't own any thing in our life. We don't any thing in the world."

"I  struggle because I am attracted to some ways to beautiful things yet at the same time I'm actually very aware in some sense of their lack of value and that the most important things in life are your life are your connections with other people."

On materialism:

"Nothing lasts. And that's in a way the beauty of it all. Once you can accept this, nothing lasts."

And finally a beautiful line Tom Ford came up with he included in his debut film, A Single Man:

"A few times in my life I've had moments of clarity where the silence drowns out the noise and I can feel rather than think."