American fashion designer Tom Ford takes the February 2011 cover of Interview Magazine, dubbed the Men's Issue.
The 49-year-old designer claims gays make better designers (aren't we better at everything?), but that he looks at his models from a purely aesthetic place.
"It’s my business to make a woman or a man beautiful, and I’m working with a model in a fitting, and I’ve objectified them to the point that they become an object," he says. "They’re something that I’m modeling or shaping or sculpting, but I’m very aware that even though I make them physically beautiful, their soul and personality and character is somewhat detached from that."
As for his own sexuality, Ford says he's attracted to beautiful women, though not in the same way as men.
"I lust after beautiful women. First of all, I love women. But I lust after beautiful women in the way that I lust after a beautiful piece of sculpture—this will probably get me in trouble—or a beautiful car," he says. "I believe everyone’s on a sliding scale of sexuality. There are moments where I am sexually attracted to women. But it doesn’t overpower my first impulse; my lust for them is the same as my lust for beauty in all things. It’s not like I ever think, “Oh, my god, I’ve got to spread her legs and fuck her.”
The dashing Ford was photographed by Craig McLean for the Interview piece.
Read more of his interview online.