Tom Ford has revealed that at one point, he was receiving hate mail from Yves Saint Laurent, who passed away in 2008. Ford took over at Yves Saint Laurent in 1999, when parts of the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house were sold to the Gucci group. Tom says that at first, Yves was friendly towards him, but their relationship soon turned sour as their rivalry heated up. Tom commented that they were first friends but things changed as the business grew:
"He was supportive at the beginning, he loved the fact that we were buying the company, and he loved the fact that I was designing, and he had been very complimentary of my work at Gucci. We were quite friendly, and had dinner a few times, and my first collection, I had him up to show it to him. Our business was doubling and doubling and doubling, and when I started to get great press and the business started to become very successful, Yves became really quite hostile."
Tom says that Yves wrote to him, stating that he believed Tom ruined his reputation:
"I have letters that he wrote to me about it, you know: 'In 13 minutes on the runway you have destroyed 40 years of my career.' I am really happy I have them -- they are written in his own hand. When I'm 85, maybe I'll put them in a book -- if anyone cares."
Ford says that he works for pride and no longer needs to work for money:
"I guess what I feared was that with many designers, they sell their own labels, they lose control of their labels, perhaps things are then created which then go very much against their taste level. Your name is a funny thing. It stands for what you're about and everything I do is really about pride. I don't work for money any longer. I'm fortunate enough not to need to work for money, but I work for pride, I work because I love to work, and so the idea that one could lose control of one's own name and that things could be produced with your name on that you were not proud of scared me."
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