Tom Ford

More on Tom Ford: Favorite L.A. lunch: The Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills. But he parks at Barneys New York so he can walk to the store and check out the competition. Guilty pleasures: Hostess doughnuts and diet soft drinks. Ford gave up drinking alcohol two years ago. Guilty pleasure TV shows: "Desperate Housewives," "Glee" and the occasional reality show, though he won't say which ones. Shopping go-to: Firstdibs.com. Everyday uniform: When he's not naked ("I'm naked from 5 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Monday morning, he says)

More on Tom Ford: Favorite L.A. lunch: The Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills. But he parks at Barneys New York so he can walk to the store and check out the competition. Guilty pleasures: Hostess doughnuts and diet soft drinks. Ford gave up drinking alcohol two years ago. Guilty pleasure TV shows: "Desperate Housewives," "Glee" and the occasional reality show, though he won't say which ones. Shopping go-to: Firstdibs.com. Everyday uniform: When he's not naked ("I'm naked from 5 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Monday morning, he says)

Tom Ford has ruminated about death ever since he was a small boy growing up in Texas. It was the flip side to his early, genetic fascination with beauty. "Everything in life is bittersweet for me, because when I see something beautiful, I also see it aging, old, dead, gone," he says. "I was very aware of mortality. I was very aware of my time on the planet." Still today, almost every morning he awakes and wonders, "If I die tomorrow, what am I going to miss?" Ford speaks quickly and hypnotically, words rolling out with a seductive, almost aromatic intensity.

Tom Ford knows how to work the spotlight. During last year's awards season, the designer-director was riding the success of his first film, "A Single Man. " This time around, he's introducing his long-awaited women's collection and new boutique on Rodeo Drive with a star-studded opening party Thursday. The campaign to whet the public's appetite for the clothes began in September during New York Fashion Week, in a private showing where they were modeled by some of the most stylish women in the world (Beyoncé, Julianne Moore, Lauren Hutton and Daphne Guinness among them)

Designer Tom Ford is next up for the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Award. On March 28, he will be honored with a party and a plaque in the sidewalk of a street that personifies high style. Designer Giorgio Armani was previously honored in this way. But first, Ford must finish his farewell tour. He will present his last women's ready-to-wear collection for Gucci in Milan next week and his last for Yves Saint Laurent in Paris in early March.

When last heard from, Tom Ford was serving as guest editor of Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue and putting himself, Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley on the magazine's cover (he with clothes on, they without). Now word's out on his next venture: The former Gucci designer will launch a line of ready-to-wear and custom clothing, footwear and accessories for men under the Tom Ford label.

Tom Ford, the American designer who helped create a new, younger generation of high-fashion customers, on Tuesday confirmed what he'd long been hinting: He will step down as designer of the Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent brands on April 30. He will also resign his post as creative director of Gucci Group. Domenico De Sole, the managerial whiz behind the fashion powerhouse, will also depart.

Tom Ford switched from the catwalk to the red carpet Friday, presenting his directorial debut -- an intimate movie about coping with loss and grief -- at the Venice Film Festival. "A Single Man" stars Colin Firth as a college professor coming to grips with solitude after his partner of 16 years dies. Also starring are Matthew Goode, playing the professor's partner, and Julianne Moore as a longtime friend who harbors an unfulfilled love for Firth's character. The movie was the last of 25 films to screen in competition for the Golden Lion, Venice's top prize.

Tom Ford owns this town, even as he prepares to leave it tonight when he takes his final bow at Gucci, the event of fashion week here. He has the windows at the Gucci store on the famous shopping street Via Montenapoleone, where a pair of richly embroidered jeans from a past collection is featured next to a blush satin corset-back dress that's pure sex, pure Tom. In a restaurant frequented by the fashion flock, his photo hangs near the door, as celebrity head shots do in Hollywood dry cleaners.

Tom Ford stepped up to accept his Anteater lapel pin Monday at UC Irvine, accepting with it the job of athletic director, which has been vacant for more than six months. "A friend said to me that the first thing I needed to do was to change the logo. Who wants to be an Anteater?" Ford said. He does. "The Anteater is absolutely a great marketing item," Ford said.

Even dressed down in a checked shirt and corduroys, Julianne Moore radiates that certain glow that separates movie stars from the rest of us. What's her secret? "I just finished bathing the dog," she says, pushing damp, loose strands of red hair off her face, "and I ended up having to get into the shower with her." The 49-year-old actress makes a considerably more glamorous appearance in designer Tom Ford's writing and directorial debut, the recently released "A Single Man." Based on Christopher Isherwood's novel and starring Colin Firth as George, a grief-stricken professor whose lover has been killed in a car accident, the movie -- which takes place in 1962 -- might be a claustrophobic dirge were it not for Moore's turn as Charley, the decades-long best friend and neighbor.

If you're a costume designer, could there possibly be anything more intimidating than working for the man who saved Gucci? Just to make things a little more frightening, let's also assume he's taking his first cut at directing a feature film. What do you do? If you're Arianne Phillips, whose credits include designing Madonna's concert costumes and such period films as the Johnny Cash biopic, "Walk the Line," you enjoy an utterly satisfying collaboration with fashion icon-turned-rookie director Tom Ford on his adaptation of the Christopher Isherwood novel "A Single Man."

Having just turned 20, Nicholas Hoult -- son of a piano teacher mother and a now-retired commercial pilot father in Wokingham, Berkshire (about 13 miles west of London) -- has already marked 13 years in the business. He has evolved from the round-faced boy of BBC television episodes and the Hugh Grant film "About a Boy" to the angular, runway-handsome epitome of searching, youthful beauty in Tom Ford's "A Single Man." "Some people grow up, they think they know who they are and there's kind of a beat where suddenly nothing makes sense around them, why they're here on Earth," he says of his character Kenny, a student who shows an unusual interest in one of his professors (played by Colin Firth)

Hot to talk about: the finale of "Top Chef"? Kevin, FTW. (No, that's not a spoiler. It's a hunch. I wouldn't be upset if Mike pulled off an upset though. He can be cocky, but I rather like watching him concoct all sorts of delicious-looking craziness.) (Wednesday) Please do talk about: "A Single Man" Not since Mr. Darcy has Colin Firth been so extraordinary. The film, a potent examination of regret, heartbreak and desire from fashion designer-turned-director Tom Ford, follows a single day in the life of George (Colin Firth)

Tom Ford has ruminated about death ever since he was a small boy growing up in Texas. It was the flip side to his early, genetic fascination with beauty. "Everything in life is bittersweet for me, because when I see something beautiful, I also see it aging, old, dead, gone," he says. "I was very aware of mortality. I was very aware of my time on the planet." Still today, almost every morning he awakes and wonders, "If I die tomorrow, what am I going to miss?" Ford speaks quickly and hypnotically, words rolling out with a seductive, almost aromatic intensity.

Colin Firth first came to international attention as Mr. Darcy, the thinking woman's sex object in "Pride & Prejudice," and then as Bridget Jones' slightly dazed consort, conspicuously named Mark Darcy. But the role of his life may be as George Falconer, the main character in Tom Ford's adaptation of the 1964 novel "A Single Man" by Christopher Isherwood. FOR THE RECORD: Colin Firth: In an article last week about Colin Firth and the film "A Single Man," the name of painter Don Bachardy was misspelled as Bacardi.

Colin Firth first came to international attention as Mr. Darcy, the thinking woman's sex object in "Pride & Prejudice," and then as Bridget Jones' slightly dazed consort, conspicuously named Mark Darcy. But the role of his life may be as George Falconer, the main character in Tom Ford's adaptation of the 1964 novel "A Single Man" by Christopher Isherwood. FOR THE RECORD: Colin Firth: In an article last week about Colin Firth and the film "A Single Man," the name of painter Don Bachardy was misspelled as Bacardi.

Act 2, Scene 1: After 13 years at Gucci, four of those at Yves Saint Laurent as well, designer Tom Ford is settling back into his life in Los Angeles, contemplating trading the fashion industry for the film industry -- he's already signed with Bryan Lourd at Creative Artists Agency -- and thinking about a new set of wheels. "I could get a sports car," Ford, 42, says during a break from shooting Gucci's fall ad campaign with Mario Testino at a photo studio on La Brea.

The list of creative talent at CityCenter reads like a Who's Who from the worlds of architecture, design, fashion and food. Here's a sampling of some big names associated with the project: JHANE BARNES The fashion designer, whose upscale clothing sells at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, created the uniforms for employees at Aria Resort & Casino. DALE CHIHULY The multimedia artist, who created the ceiling of colorful glass flowers for Bellagio, will have a gallery showcasing his work at Crystals retail center.

Tom Ford switched from the catwalk to the red carpet Friday, presenting his directorial debut -- an intimate movie about coping with loss and grief -- at the Venice Film Festival. "A Single Man" stars Colin Firth as a college professor coming to grips with solitude after his partner of 16 years dies. Also starring are Matthew Goode, playing the professor's partner, and Julianne Moore as a longtime friend who harbors an unfulfilled love for Firth's character. The movie was the last of 25 films to screen in competition for the Golden Lion, Venice's top prize.