Designer Tom Ford was among the 150 newcomers to the annual Forbes list of the world’s richest people released last week. The 61-year-old with a deep understanding of human sexuality — and women’s sexuality in particular — entered the list with LeBron James. That’s kind of cool.

Tom Ford is one of the few gay guys I know, who is comfortable saying: “I lust after beautiful women. First of all, I love women. But I lust after beautiful women in the way that I lust after a beautiful piece of sculpture -- this will probably get me in trouble -- or a beautiful car. I believe everyone's on a sliding scale of sexuality. There are moments where I am sexually attracted to women. But it doesn't overpower my first impulse; my lust for them is the same as my lust for beauty in all things. It's not like I ever think, "Oh, my god, I've got to spread her legs and fuck her."

I imagine that some of our dear young people would be horrified at Tom Ford’s comments, but I’ve always loved his attitude and didn’t have to hear the words out of his mouth.

To follow Tom Ford the designer for any length of time — you know he loves women from Stella McCartney, who is godmother to his son Jack, to the actor Julianne Moore. She starred in Ford’s 2009 film ‘A Single Man’.

The first time Moore met Ford, she was nominated for an Oscar and had checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel with her two-month old baby. “I wasn’t really in Tom Ford shape,” the actor told Vogue. “The first thing Tom did was pick up my little boy—who’s now 21—and said, ‘I want one of these.’”

There are many layers to Tom Ford and these layers drift through every element of his work and life.

Signing a one-year-contract last November with Estee Lauder, agreeing to stay with the brand as Lauder digests their big-leagues’ purchase, it’s very Tom Ford to get edgy on his way out the door in this Spring 2023 campaign film. It’s equally edgy to have Steven Klein behind the lens, creating this tableau of subtle, erotic tension and beauty that provokes questions.

Models for the Tom Ford Spring 2023 Campaign include Akbar Shamji, Annemary Aderibigbe, Felice Noordhoff and He Cong styled by Carine Roitfeld. K Studio acted as Creative Director./ Hair by Jawara; makeup by Yadim

Ford’s women always own their own power in his world, and it’s no accident that the male actor is both pounding on the wall to be heard and finding no connection on the other end of the phone in this Tom Ford Spring 2023 campaign film.

This reality is not a figment of Ford’s drama-loving imagination. It’s a very real commentary on modern life and heterosexual relationships in 2023.

The designer’s purpose is not to answer or to offer solutions to the complex issues of our times or to human nature itself. It is to unmask them with beauty [he can’t help himself] and to not run away from complex — sometimes ugly and hurtful — non-linear narratives.

Ford never subordinates women in the process of his creative inquiries, which is why many of us just love him. It says more about his character than words can convey. ~ Anne