Tom Ford's directorical debut is silencing his critics- part 1

IT is a wonder that Tom Ford, the former creative director of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent who turned louche sexuality into high fashion in the 1990s, didn’t try his hand at directing a movie sooner.
On a recent Wednesday, Mr. Ford walked across a courtyard at the Beverly Hills Hotel to meet a guest for lunch. His stride was deliberate, arms slightly bent to frame his rigid torso. As he approached the table, he removed his tea-colored sunglasses. He smelled like vanilla bean. Slipping into his seat, Mr. Ford tipped his chin to his left shoulder — a conscious gesture to highlight his best side, he later volunteered. He purred hello.
Played for visual impact, it was a moment much like a scene in his directorial debut, “A Single Man,” where the main character, George Falconer, meticulously arranges a suit and tie to wear to a funeral.
Mr. Ford’s most riveting creation — more than the velvet hip-huggers he introduced in 1994 or the Opium perfume ad from 2001 featuring a writhing, naked Sophie Dahl — is his public persona. So much so, Mr. Ford said that friends have recently told him they are surprised to find that someone so seemingly calculated could make such a soulful film.
Mr. Ford isn’t one to show hurt feelings. “I think of myself as a product,” he said as he adjusted the placement of his fork and knife. But clearly such slights sting.
“I had one friend whom I’ve known for 15 years who said, ‘I’ve always thought of you as a beautiful black lacquered box with a platinum handle from the 1920s, but I never knew there was anything inside the box,’ ” Mr. Ford said. “I was, like, ‘You’ve been my friend, and you did not know there was anything more than the surface?’ ”
“A Single Man,” which opens in limited release Dec. 11, has won plaudits from critics, particularly for Colin Firth’s sensitive portrayal of George, a 1960s gay professor who contemplates suicide after his longtime partner dies in an accident.
Such accolades are something of a triumph for Mr. Ford, who was forced to finance the nearly $7 million project with his own money, after leaving Gucci in 2004 and announcing that he would become an auteur. It was a transition some in fashion thought made perfect sense given his meticulous attention to surface — and others thought was doomed, for the same reason. Until the Weinstein Company picked up “A Single Man” at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, it had no distributor.
But that kind of love goes only so far in Hollywood. For Mr. Ford to have a bona fide hit, the movie must appeal to as wide an audience as possible, much the same way “Brokeback Mountain” did in 2005. (That movie earned $83 million at the domestic box office.) If “A Single Man” manages to garner a few Oscar nominations, too, the attention could propel Mr. Ford back into the familiar role of cultural arbiter. When asked about it, he is too cautious to make a prediction. But it is a role he has sorely missed since leaving Gucci.
In the 1990s, Mr. Ford was arguably the most influential fashion designer of his generation, re-imagining 1970s chic with unsubtle sex appeal. Under his guidance, the houses of Gucci and, later, Yves Saint Laurent flourished, with Mr. Ford overseeing every creative aspect — fashion, advertising, even store design — and making the labels a can’t-live-without. But after a rancorous spat with his bosses, he left Gucci and joined the ranks of the once powerful, now unemployed.
Announcing that his next act would be filmmaking, he began spending more time in Los Angeles, where he has a home with his longtime partner, Richard Buckley.
“He was like, ‘O.K., movies!’ ” said Lisa Eisner, a publisher who has known Mr. Ford for two decades.
Now 48, Mr. Ford conceded that he wasn’t prepared for the transition. His lawyer told him to take some time before jumping into another high-profile project. But Mr. Ford balked. “I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to lose my mind,’ ” he said. “I no longer had a voice in contemporary culture.”
Like many executives facing a career crisis, Mr. Ford grappled with his self-identity. He said he struggled with depression and found spiritual meaning in the writings of Eckhart Tolle. Moviemaking, too, proved humbling. “I thought, Who needs a ‘Tom Ford’ movie?” Mr. Ford said. At Gucci, he was a superstar designing 16 collections a year. But in Hollywood, he was just another first-time filmmaker, albeit with well-connected friends.
As Ms. Eisner put it: “You are king of the world and then you are not. For him it was a lot of downtime and he does not have downtime.”

Note:
Meticulous: If you describe someone as meticulous, you mean that they do things very carefully and with great attention to detail.
Riveting: If you describe something as riveting, you mean that it is extremely interesting and exciting, and that it holds your attention completely.
Persona: Someone's persona is the aspect of their character or nature that they present to other people, perhaps in contrast to their real character or nature. (FORMAL)
Plaudits: If a person or a thing receives plaudits from a group of people, those people express their admiration for or approval of that person or thing. (FORMAL)
contemplate: If you contemplate an action, you think about whether to do it or not.
Triumph: A triumph is a great success or achievement, often one that has been gained with a lot of skill or effort.
Garner: If someone has garnered something useful or valuable, they have gained it or collected it. (FORMAL)
Rancorous: A rancorous argument or person is full of bitterness and anger. (FORMAL)
Concede: If you concede something, you admit, often unwillingly, that it is true or correct.
Albeit: You use albeit to introduce a fact or comment which reduces the force or significance of what you have just said. (FORMAL)
For example:
Charles's letter was indeed published, albeit in a somewhat abbreviated form.
= although