Tom Ford has married his long-term partner Richard Buckley.

The fashion designer revealed he has tied the knot with his boyfriend of 27 years, with whom he raises a son called Alexander John Buckley Ford, during an 'in conversation' session with Lady Kinvara Balfour in London last night (07.04.14).

Flashing his wedding ring to the crowd, he said: ''I lost so many friends in college - I would say more than half of my closest friends. Richard, my partner of 27 years, had also gone through something also quite tough in his life. We are now married which is nice.''

Tom is pleased that landmark legislation allowing gay marriage in England and Wales was passed last month, despite civil partnerships already being legal for the past few years.

He added: ''I know that was just made legal in the UK which is great; we were married in the States.''

Tom and Richard met at a fashion show in the 80s and instantly hit it off, with the Texan-born star previously confessing he saw his ''entire future'' mapped out in front of him as soon as he laid eyes on Richard.

The 52-year-old designer also admitted Jay-Z's recent rap ode to his sharp suits has worked wonders for his brand, describing it as one of the ''best things'' to ever happen.

However, he joked that hearing 60,000 people shout out his name at the rapper's concerts completely ''freaks [him] out.''

According to the Daily Telegraph, he laughed: ''I want to crawl under a rock because I'm actually very, very, very shy and no one ever believes this! I really am very shy.''