“Since April 2005, when he announced his licensing deal with Estée Lauder for a beauty and fragrance line, Tom Ford has been building his eponymous brand, adding to it sunglasses and menswear. Just one year into the launch of his menswear label, what co-founder and chairman Domenico De Sole says will become a $1 billion brand. Ford has already opened shops in New York City and, most recently, Milan and plans to expand globally, with more than 100 freestanding stores over the next 10 years. In phone conversations and e-mail messages, Ford talks to TIME’s Kate Betts about his midlife crisis, Barack Obama’s style and whether he will venture back into the women’s-wear business”.

Read the complete interview for a very interesting read, here.