>> The relationship between Yves Saint Laurent, his business partner Pierre Berge, and his ready-to-wear successor Tom Ford was clearly a strained one.  In 2004 as Ford was leaving the label, Saint Laurent said of Ford: "I think he has a lot of talent for, what do you call it, marketing. But he never showed interest in the archives."  In between tales of his first sexual escapades and how he snuck his longtime partner Richard Buckley into A Single Man, Ford returns the favor in the December 2009-January 2010 issue of The Advocate:

“I don’t even remember much about my time at Yves Saint Laurent, though I do think some of my best collections were [there]—other than that black-and-white initial one. That one wasn’t very successful and wasn’t very good. But being at Yves Saint Laurent was such a negative experience for me even though the business boomed while I was there. Yves and his partner, Pierre Bergé, were so difficult and so evil and made my life such misery.

"Pierre and Yves were just evil" »

>> A Single Man, which Tom Ford directed, coproduced, cowrote and called "the most personal thing" he's ever done, premiered today at the Venice Film Festival.  The first trailer for the movie — which features a cameo by Ford's favorite ad model, Jon Kortajarena, as hustler Carlos — has also hit YouTube: see below; the colors and work of Mad Men's production designer Dan Bishop, who filled the same role for A Single Man, is instantly recognizable, and apparently the show's star Jon Hamm does an uncredited voiceover in the film.

The movie is already receiving good reviews — the Times UK called it "a thing of heart-stopping beauty . . . There will be critics who will be unable to get past the director’s background, but rest assured: Tom Ford is the real deal." Variety's verdict: "Luminous and treasurable, despite its imperfections. An impressive helming debut for fashion designer Tom Ford."

And Ford himself is finally talking about the film:  “People who don’t know me well will be very surprised by the film. It shows a different side of me."  Despite Ford's fascination with sex in the fashion arena, the film contains no sex scenes.  

He just finished editing A Single Man two weeks ago, and hopes this is the "the beginning of a parallel career alongside fashion," he tells WWD. "The process seems really natural to me, and I'd ideally like to make a film every three to four years."  But he's trying to keep his two careers separate: "I didn’t want to be perceived as some fashion designer who’s come to Venice and decided to make a film . . . I wanted to avoid anything to do with fashion, and I wanted the film to speak for itself."

Video: the trailer! »

Tom Ford with his longtime partner Richard Buckley, Mamma Mia! Premiere; London, June 30.

*image: source