The Pitfalls of Hiring a Guest Creative Director

Posted on January 3, 2006

The Vanity Fair Hollywood issue is always very popular, so it's only natural that there would be some editorial angst about the content and how the photo spreads are going to turn out. This year Tom Ford was chosen as the creative director for the Hollywood issue, but the collaboration has been anything but easy on conservative editor Graydon Carter, according to Page Six:

Tom Ford's stint as creative director of Vanity Fair's Hollywood issue is getting messier by the minute. West Coast sources say the former Gucci designer's frequent fits and imperious manner during photo shoots have forced the magazine's battle-weary fashion stylists to take extreme measures. According to a source close to the L.A. set, Ford's finicky taste in designer labels has run his staff so ragged, they now remove the tags on all garments before Ford can see them. "It was getting comical," says our spy. "He would like a dress and then look at the label and send it back because he hates that particular designer. Eventually, somebody got the idea to just cut out all the labels so he couldn't tell what was what." Meanwhile, back in New York, sources say editor Graydon Carter is getting concerned. "Graydon's a conservative guy, and Tom's out there telling people everyone in the issue's going to be naked and bringing in all these outside photographers who've never worked at VF, like [debauched downtown snapper] Terry Richardson. It's been one disaster after the next, and I think at this point he's just praying Tom doesn't embarrass everyone." A Vanity Fair spokesperson could not be reached.

A spokesperson "couldn't be reached" to deny that the entire issue is balancing on a knife's edge, while Tom Ford throws temper tantrums over labels in the clothes then decides to shoot everyone au natural? That doesn't sound good at all.