FOOD,FASHION, LOVE, AND SUCCESS. CHICAGO'S TOMMY WALTON SHARE'S HIS EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY WI
There is something happening here that isn’t happening anywhere else," Says Chicago artisan Tommy Walton. “The city has had an awakening and people from all around the world are paying attention, and the tourists are flocking to Chicago.” Walton, practically bubbling over with enthusiasm, may sound like the Chicago Chamber of Commerce, but it isn’t misplaced. Since the tourism industry in the U.S. took a major nose dive following 9/11, Chicago hasn’t just come back, it’s thrived. Before 9/11, Chicago generally ranked relatively low as a must see destination, but now it is not uncommon for tourist magazines and websites to rank the town in the top 5. Several websites have Chicago ranked third only behind only Las Vegas, and San Francisco, as a bucket list destination. So what is behind the Chicago renaissance? Walton says, “People are discovering how beautiful the city is, how clean our streets are in downtown and how manicured the parks are. Horticulturaly, we have more tulips planted in Chicago than are planted in Amsterdam. We have the most amazing architecture, the skyscrapers, and on top of all of that you’ve got this artistic scene, this museum scene, the fashion scene and the food thing is just exploding.” Aside from his partner of 32 years, Fashion and food are perhaps Tommy Walton’s deepest passions. When at home he says, “Our kitchen is the heart of our home, and my stove is always hot to the touch.” So where did this love affair with fashion and food begin? “I put myself through fashion design school in the 80s by working for film and commercial caterers.” He began cooking behind the scenes and says, “I started getting all of these offers to cook at galleries and to bring food into people's homes. Really, I was very lucky.” Perhaps he was lucky, or perhaps he made his own luck with talent, persistence, and style. He continues, “I used to dress up for the parties and people seemed to like what I wore, and the way I presented the food.” As the word spread, he soon found himself serving food on yachts, private jets, and on film sets. “When the Blues Brothers were filming in Chicago, we catered for them. Then when I was only 19 years old, I got to cook breakfast for Aretha Franklin. I’ve cooked for Richard Pryor, Della Reese, Stockard Channing, and when Chicago had Endless Love” he adds with a laugh, “I got to spoon feed Brooke Shields while she got her makeup done!” As he puts it, “I really worked behind the scenes in the restaurant world without ever becoming a traditional chef. That’s how I put myself through school, which led to me becoming a fashion designer.”
While in school Tommy competed against, and often partnered up with Roger Price. He says, “We were each other's main competition. Eventually, together, we started sewing things and we began getting into stores and small boutiques in Chicago.” Their early work immediately began garnering praise both inside and outside the fashion industry. Tommy continues, “We won the Marshall Fields Distinction and Design Award back in the ‘80’s which led to us winning a contract with that department store.” As their names became more widely recognized, and their designs and products gathered increasing respect, they added the Fashion Group International Award, and the Rising Star Award to their lengthening list of achievements. With well earned pride, he says, “After we won the Fashion Next Competition Award from the Chicago History Museum, we became lifetime honorary Costume Council Members.” Walton, laughing at the suggestion that The Costume Council sounded like it probably gives people advice on what to wear at Halloween, explains that “It’s made up of a bunch of people who sit on many different boards and are the chairs of several different artistic organizations in Chicago.” He says, Roger and I have always just hung out at the museum and then after we won the award, they wanted to put our collection on permanent display.” It really was quite an honor because the last designer to receive the award was School of the Arts Institute Chicago (SAIC) alumni Roy Halston Frowick, whose product line was simply called Halston. That was in 1969. Walton adds, “So we are the next ones. We have been thrilled to serve on the board and offer our advice to their exhibitions, galas, balls and things like that.’ He goes on saying, “We are the only living designers in Chicago that have been commissioned to do a permanent collection for the Chicago History Museum.”
You would think that being a world-famous fashion designer, running a business, and serving on museum boards would be enough to keep any man busy, yet Walton somehow finds the time to give back to the industry by teaching at the SAIC. “At school,” He continues, “I’m teaching my students the very traditional classical old-fashioned way of designing things, but at the same time I am doing the futuristic cutting edge most avant garde thing.” Those cutting-edge technologies include 3D digital printing, laser cutting, and vacuum form plastic for accessories. Most recently his students held a fashion show in the greenhouse at Garfield Park and Observatory. He says, “We had a huge extravaganza. It was a spectacular display of my students work.” A greenhouse would seem like an odd place to hold a fashion exhibit, but Walton says, “It was a perfect venue.” Proud of his student's accomplishments he says, “It was unbelievable. Some of their work looked like it was just growing out of the ground. It was really cool.” Seven years ago, after a 25 year relationship, Tommy and Roger were finally able to get married. He says, “Roger and me, we’ve always supported each other in every way.
When he was going to Paris for four months a year for 15 years, I would stay in Chicago and hold the store down. Whenever I had a crazy project Roger would put himself on the back burner and support me 100%” After initially learning to cook in college, Walton naturally became the chef in their kitchen. Then, he says, “One day I answered the phone, the caller ID said Beverly Hills, and I picked it up and they said Hi this is Master chef calling for Tommy Walton. I said what the hell is Master Chef calling me for? They told me I had filled out the entry forms, and I thought this had to be a mistake and so I hung up the phone” Unbeknownst to Walton, Roger had entered him for consideration on the popular reality television series. Continuing Walton says, “He said you’ve been cooking for me for 25 years. Everyday is something different” And perhaps understanding his partners irrepressible outgoing nature Roger said, “You were born to be on television.” A couple of days later, the producers of the show called him back and with Roger’s encouragement, he decided to take the chance and try out for the show. For the audition, he cooked a salmon three different way and after a three-minute presentation, he was led to another room where he met the producers.
He left the meeting not knowing if he had impressed them or not. When he got home, he found Roger standing there in anticipation and the phone ringing. He continues, “It was them, and they said they wanted me to go to the next stage!" Out of 40,000 applicants only a small percentage were selected to continue forward, he says, “When I went to LA, I was in the top 100. After a few weeks, I was in the top 60, then the top 50 and then the top 20 and then suddenly I was in the top 10!” What the 6 million viewers believe they see each week is an overly ferocious Gordon Ramsey castigating a bunch of unsophisticated novice chefs. Ramsey has been called a fire-breathing dragon, but behind the scenes, he is said to be a very supportive coach and teacher. Some of the contestants are inexperienced, and many do prove to be less than adequate. However, they are almost always incredibly creative and gifted practitioners of the culinary arts. With a laugh, Tommy says, "Of course, Master chef is the scariest thing in the whole wide world.
To have to cook in front of Gordon Ramsey is absolutely death defying.” But then he continues and says, “Gordon may be a fire-breathing dragon, but he’s a great teacher. He demands your absolute best, and he knows how to pull it out of you.” He pauses, then in a more serious tone says, “Gordon Ramsey is the best teacher I've ever had.” That’s high praise from a successful entrepreneur who holds every important design award available in Chicago, as well as being a college teacher himself. Both Roger Price and Tommy Walton are from the south side of Chicago and while Walton revels in the downtown finery, he is always aware of his roots and what is happening in that part of the city. He credits his attraction to and study of the arts, especially fashion and cooking as saving him from the street. He says, “Art has the power to save people and, in a way, I feel like I’m sort of a pied piper of art and theater and fashion and food.”
Though Chicago is the third most popular tourist destination in America, it is the frequent violence and shooting that inform many people's opinion of the city. However, Chicago is, and always has been a Mecca for artists of every discipline. Walton continues, “There is a vital artistry that is a part of Chicago. Art saved me, so I just want to give back.” Giving back means mentoring young boys by helping them learn art. He believes that teaching kids to follow their artistic passions could possibly save them the way it saved both Roger and himself. He says, “People are angry and shooting each other, but they need to know that there is beauty.” He has a point because when you look back at ancient civilizations very often it is their art and education that have survived. Cave paintings, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Greek literature, Roman architecture, and eastern philosophies are just a few of the cultural antiquities that have survived the ravages of time to capture generation after generation of human imagination. After all, as Tommy Walton says,
“If you don’t learn how to open your mind to art it is the end of civilization.”
