>> Now that filming is underway on Tom Ford's directorial debut, A Single Man, this is sure to be the first occurrence of many, especially since he's got a 2009 release date on the horizon, but here he is yesterday, in the first photos from the set in LA. He's got a new role as director, but it's still the same old Tom — who else would he be caught with than two less-than-clothed extras?
*image: pacific coast news
>> INSIDER WIRE —Tom Ford has added two more to the Julianne Moore, Colin Firth and Matthew Goode trifecta for his directorial debut A Single Man — Ginnifer Goodwin will play Mrs. Strunk, a suburban mom who doesn't share her husband's dislike of their gay professor neighbor (Firth), and Nicholas Hoult will play Kenny, a sexually ambiguous grad student who shows an unusual interest in Firth's character. Ford, meanwhile, will not be doing the movies' costumes: Arianne Phillips, Madonna's stylist and Oscar nominee for Walk the Line, will take care of that. [Reuters, Fashionista]
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>> INSIDER WIRE —Don't ever expect to see Stefano Pilati give Yves Saint Laurent the Tom Ford treatment. When asked about sex last night at his London College of Fashion lecture, Pilati offered to take his clothes off and then replied, "I never touch the idea of sex. Sex one of the most complicated things; it's too subjective. And if you have subjectivity, you have to balance it out - with you skills, your knowledge, the values of your brand. Sex for me is personal." Guess he's just continuing in his anti-Tom Ford ways . . .
*image: source
>> INSIDER WIRE —Starting Monday, Tom Ford will officially be a director — that's when he starts filming his debut movie in LA. Colin Firth and Julianne Moore are confirmed for A Single Man, he as a gay professor and she as his longtime friend, while Matthew Goode is picking up the student's role that Jamie Bell was originally in talks for. The movie is set in 1962 — which explains why Tom's asked Mad Men's production designers for their help. [E! Online]
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I’m thinking satin, I’m thinking slashed to the crotch, I’m thinking. . . who the f*ck ordered these danish pastries? You know I don’t do carbs on non-leap years. Fire them! Fire them all!
”Under him, the company invested cannily in young designers, including Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen. Though Ford insists he takes "absolutely no credit" for the success those three have had since, Ghesquière nearly welled up when I asked about Ford and said the designer "taught me everything".
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>> INSIDER WIRE —Looks like Tom Ford is as obsessed with the look of Mad Men as the rest of us — word is he's brought in the production designers for the hit series to work on the look of his debut movie, an adaptation of A Single Man, which starts filming in November and is expected to wrap by the end of the year. In the meantime, he's also appearing on the cover of the new German Vanity Fair. [E! Online, TFS]
>> INSIDER WIRE —Funny how things work: When Tom Ford left fashion to direct movies, things never fell into place, but now that he's back in fashion, his directorial dreams might just come true. Ford acquired movie rights to Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel A Single Man — about a gay college professor who deals with the recent death of his lover — last November, and plans to begin filming in LA this November. No studio is attached to the project yet, but Julianne Moore, Jamie Bell, and Colin Firth are all in talks to star. [E! Online]
>> Stefano Pilati is certain about one thing — he doesn't think his predecessor at Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford, is gifted — and he wasn't alone. When he went to work for Ford at YSL, "I was being tested by everybody at YSL . . . Even the receptionist. They all hated Tom, and they were all telling me about Mr. Saint Laurent and what he used to do."
But as for how Stefano thinks of himself — that's where things get a little less black-and-white. In this Sunday's New York Times Magazine, the designer tells Lynn Hirschberg he had interlocking male and female symbols tattooed on his arm at 13 — as an act of defiance. The now out designer lived for many years as a heterosexual, surprising women with his switch. "He always had girlfriends, and I thought Stefano was open to anything, but that may have been wishful thinking on my part," one said. He's even been known to try on his women's collection to check the garment. Once, Valerie Hermann, CEO of YSL, walked in on him in a petticoat: "I said, ‘Stefano, take that off!"
»Nina Garcia is rumored to have charged $60,000-$70,000 per public appearance in her final months as fashion director at Elle [Gawker]
»Before Teen Vogue, there was Junior Bazaar [bunny BISOUS]
»If he has a child, Tom Ford will not allow it to be seen or photographed [Chic Report]
»Daisy Lowe parted ways with IMG [Fashionista]
»Making of Longchamp Fall 2008 video with Kate Moss and Gaspard Ulliel [YouTube]
»Sophia Kokosalaki is going from two to four collections a year [Vogue UK]
»Coming to you during NY Fashion Week: designer Dorothy slippers [FabSugar]
»Christy Turlington, Gisele Bundchen in August 2008 W [W, W]
»First peek at Rag & Bone shoes, Proenza Schouler sunglasses [Style File, The Cut]
