It's no secret that there was no love lost between designers Tom Ford and Yves Saint Laurent when the former took over the head role at the latter's label, but Ford has spoken publicly for the first time about just how bad their relationship was, going so far as to brand Laurent "evil".
Ford was taken on to design YSL's ready-to-wear collections in 1999, following the Gucci Group's takeover of the label, while Laurent himself continued to head up the house's couture operations. While the couture arm of the brand was closed in 2002, Ford held on until 2004, when he parted ways with the company acrimoniously.
The fashion world may still be reeling from YSL's death last June, but Ford didn't let that hold him back during an interview with US glossy The Advocate.
"Being at Yves Saint Laurent was such a negative experience for me, even though the business boomed while I was there. Yves and his partner, Pierre Bergé, were so difficult and so evil and made my life such misery. I've never talked about this on the record before, but it was an awful time for me," Ford said.
"I have letters from Yves Saint Laurent that are so mean you cannot even believe such vitriol is possible. I just think he was jealous, and Yves and I were friends before I took over the company. But then when we began to move the company forward and were very successful. He just became so insanely jealous. Pierre and Yves were just evil. So Yves Saint Laurent doesn't exist for me."
Picture: Tom Ford at the BFI London Film Festival in October.
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