>> 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" »

>> Tom Ford is mulling a return to women's fashion as early as next season; he feels like fashion has floundered since he left Gucci in 2004, he told W, and wishes the decade didn't have such a lack of definitive looks: "I don’t mean that that has anything to do with my leaving. I could feel [fashion] starting to flounder before I left, which helped me feel good about getting out at the time.”

But it wasn't all good: Ford had "a pretty intense midlife crisis" two years before leaving Gucci, around his 40th birthday.

“I started to sink emotionally, spiritually. I became a little bit lost. Leaving Gucci, it intensified because I had been able to cling to my job and to my work and to my identity as a successful fashion designer, and all of a sudden that was gone. It forced me to really think, Well, what am I, who am I, what am I about? It took me a bit of time to figure that out. I think this happens to most people in their life if they’re insightful enough to indulge it and to get through to the other side.”

 "I hope I don’t come off sounding too rich and spoiled." »

>> After a month's worth of rumors and a noticeable uptick in his Yves Saint Laurent womenswear designs making appearances during Fashion Month, Tom Ford has confirmed that he plans to launch a signature women's collection "very soon" — according to WWD's sources, he's looking for a Fall 2010 launch, assuming that financing — he's estimated to be looking for at least $50 million — comes through. Ford notes:

Financing is extremely expensive right now, so if we find financing in the right situation we’ll be able to start [a women’s collection] soon. If we don’t, we may have to wait a while . . . You know it will take me 18 months when I start, because [I have] to hire the team, find the factories, put everything together and then get the stores ready so there’s a place for these clothes.

As for that new film »

>> Tom Ford Already Working on New Movie —Now that Tom Ford has A Single Man nicely squared away in a distribution deal with The Weinstein Company, he's already looking forward: although Ford's business partner Domenico De Sole declined comment on reports that they were looking for funding to launch a signature womenswear line, sources say the plan is to have the first collection for the Fall 2011 season.  And he's already writing a new film project, "very different" from A Single Man: “I don’t want to talk about it yet. I want to live through the rest of this experience. I just finished editing two weeks ago, so it’s not out of my system yet.” [WWD, Times UK]

>> Carine Roitfeld Still Loves Tom Ford's Womenswear From 2003 —Tom Ford and his muse when he was designing Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, Carine Roitfeld, must still think along the same lines: just as it's hinted that he's preparing to make a return into womenswear, she's pulled a skirt out he designed for Yves Saint Laurent's Fall 2003 collection — leaving much of her flank exposed through side lace panels — and worn it during both New York and London Fashion Weeks. [Fashin]

>> It's just been a matter of time.  The first murmurs of Tom Ford expanding into womenswear came way back in February, and today come reports that in the wake of his directorial debut A Single Man being picked up last week by The Weinstein Company (who will likely put it into play for the Oscars with a limited December release), Ford is seeking funding for a foray into a women's line.

The amount sought is to the tune of $50 million or more, according to a report from two unnamed sources by private equity site peHUB, and the search just began in the last two weeks. The original rumor from February had Alessandra Facchinetti, who was top womenswear designer under Ford at Gucci, heading up the new line for Ford; she still hasn't publicly popped up anywhere else, so it's still a possibility . . . 

>> 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's directorial debut A Single Man — and the first project from his newly-minted production company, Fade to Black — premieres in competition at the Venice Film Festival tomorrow; Variety notes that he's been super secretive of the movie those far, "forgoing interviews, press screenings and, perhaps most notable of all, advance sales."  

Stuart Ford, who is handling the film's sales, says that interest is "huge," but they "made a decision not to do pre-sales, the principal reason being that we want the film's eventual distributor to make a decision based on the film itself, after seeing it. Even though Tom is an unproven quantity as a director, the film will play for itself — it's a high-class piece of filmmaking."

>> Carine Roitfeld Credits Tom Ford with Her Icon-Making Style — Carine Roitfeld says she's over the big, shaggy fur coat she has worn repeatedly the past 12 months, but she's re-embraced handbags and is looking for a "a black, belted, slightly military coat, just below the knee; a black cape — 'not too fantastical'; and a velvet pencil skirt ('always on the knee, no one has ever designed the perfect velvet pencil skirt')" this season, the Times UK writes.  So who helped her hone her look? "It wasn’t until I started to work for Gucci in the Nineties that it started to become clear to me. And that’s because Tom Ford was pushing me to do the dark eye make-up, to wear high heels and to keep things very simple and lean.” [Times UK]

>> Tom Ford Starring in His Own Perfume Ads Again—Tom Ford made waves when he put himself on the cover of the March 2006 issue of Vanity Fair he guest-edited, and this time, he doesn't have Rachel McAdams dropping out from the shoot at the last minute to blame:  He's appearing in the new ads for his own Grey Vetiver — which he photographed himself, of course. [Models.com, Fashionista Twitter]

UPDATE: It appears Tom didn't take it as far as we originally thought — he does the photographing for his other campaigns, but in this case, Terry Richardson, who snapped Tom when he appeared in his own fragrance campaign back in 2007, did the honors again. [Models.com]