America was founded on the principle of freedom of speech.
Artists, like yourself, are born with a need to express that's just innate.
As a fashion designer, I was always aware that I was not an artist, because I was creating something that was made to be sold, marketed, used, and ultimately discarded.
Both film and fashion are businesses where the audience doesn't feel or see the work that goes on behind the scenes.
But I don't think I would have the stomach for the maneuvering that is necessary in politics.
But I hate to say it, because people are going to laugh when they read that Tom Ford thinks he might go into politics.
But the more information you have, the more comfortable you are with the broad range of human experience, the more you start to see the human side of things.
But when I put my mind to something I can really focus on it.
College campuses were once a hotbed of political activity.
Despite their great success in that area, I still think that George Bush has never learned to speak in public.
For the next few years I'll spend half the year in London and half the year in LA and Santa Fe.
From the time we're born until we die, we're kept busy with artificial stuff that isn't important.
Fun isn't a word I think about so much.
However, my first goal as a filmmaker is to have something to say.
I just hope there are a lot more people like me voting in Texas than we hear about.
I like to just have fun and be silly and say pretty much whatever comes into my mind, do pretty much whatever I want.
I think of LA as my American urban experience, London as my European urban experience, and Santa Fe as my country escape.
I think that monogamy is artificial. I do not think it's something that comes naturally to us.
I think we appear as the most morally corrupt country on the planet.
I worry about, consider, and question everything that I'm doing.
I'm a Texas resident, so my vote will be cast in a red state.
I'm a very serious person.
I've been reading every script I can get my hands on, so I can come out of the summer with a couple of projects that I'm ready to start.
If I had been a dog walker, I would have been the most successful dog walker in Paris.
If my parents had discouraged me, I would have turned out very differently. They raised me in an open-minded, liberal environment.
If you live in a small town, or a place where everyone is more or less the same, it's easy to dislike anyone you don't know.
Just look at the Paris Hilton phenomenon and the way every other teenager looks like a prostitute.
L.A. is my American city.
Michael Moore's film has done a wonderful bit of PR for us all over the world.
Most everyone now personally knows someone who is openly homosexual.
My mother was always very political and very much a Democrat.
Once upon a time we did not focus on a president's private life.
Over the last twenty or thirty years, which in the scheme of things is fast, we've become comfortable as a society with homosexuality.
September 11th was a moment when America had the sympathy of the world.
Students in the '60s were responsible for great changes, politically and socially.
Thanks to all the increased communication that television, film, and the internet have created, even people in small towns in Middle America are exposed to the same things as people in urban areas.
The Bush administration has squelched freedom of speech.
The fact that no one wants to take responsibility for the intelligence failures is unbelievable.
The U.S. used to be perceived as the moral leader of the world, and we have absolutely lost that.
The U.S. used to be seen as the land where you could find freedom, and create a new life for yourself, whatever your background.
There are a lot of wonderful people in Texas, people who have a social, political, and environmental conscience.
There aren't many strong or charismatic candidates today, because many people can't withstand the scrutiny.
True artists - and I do think there are some fashion-designer artists - create because they can't do anything but create.
We can do the rest of the interview naked.
We have the Terminator as governor, and we had an actor as president, so why shouldn't we have a fashion designer as a senator?
We live in a country of differences, and we should be able to voice those differences.
We're also breaking ground this week on an amazing house out there designed by Tadao Ando.
We're still trading on that whole flash thing, and for me the Paris Hilton thing is almost an evolution too far of that.
What I did as a fashion designer for both Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent was to create a character and then costume that character throughout her life.
What's wrong with sluts? If sluttiness is what you like, what's wrong with that?
When I'm in town, I sit in front of my computer, connected to the world. I need to go away in order to think.
When the youth of America gets together, amazing things happen.
When we began the war with Iraq, I made a statement that, although I was proud to be an American, I was embarrassed by the actions of our administration.
You can share a link to this page with your friend!