• May 12, 1997
• Vol. 47
• No. 18

Tom Ford

• 

From PEOPLE Magazine

"IN THE FASHION BUSINESS, EVERY-thing is so temporary," says the industry's current It Boy, Gucci creative director Tom Ford. "Beautiful for two or three months, and then you're tired of it." Luckily the 35-year-old, 5'10" designer maintains a sense of humor about his own place in the cycle. Bright-eyed and balding, he says, "I honestly don't know what my best feature is, but it used to be my hair."

Raised in Santa Fe, Ford, who is now based in Paris, started out as a model. And though he exercises to fit into the black and navy jackets, pants and shirts that he designs for himself, he confesses weaknesses for Coca-Cola ("I wake up every morning, and it's the first thing I have") and McDonald's ("I eat quarter pounders with cheese").

Happily, none of it shows. "He's got a classic, handsome face with great bone structure," says Manhattan socialite and client Blaine Trump. "It's that brooding, sexy, great look that everyone wants to have."