September 16, 2026 |
At the tail end of a long New York Fashion Week, Thom Browne provided a bit of levity and a lot of entomology. Inspired by the 1988 Disney film A Bug’s Life, the set featured giant leaves and daisies looming over the audience. It opened with an army of dancing caterpillars in halter bathing suits and tulle skirts, including Kai Schreiber, who sashayed her way into an onstage chrysalis and reemerged at the end of the show in a low-slung handkerchief skirt with a butterfly print. (Her proud parents, actors Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts, snapped pics from the front row.)
This season marked Browne’s 25th anniversary, and the show featured all his signature flourishes: madras plaids and grid check piqués met silks, stripes, and pleats. Traditional tweeds came in grays and pinks. Browne prides himself on providing his customers with a modern uniform, and there were certainly plenty of pieces to work with here as long as you don’t have insectophobia. His beloved tailored overcoats and jackets featured a menagerie of creepy crawlers: jacquard grasshoppers, sequin flies and moths, bedecked bees feeding from sunflowers. Ants marched across checked skirt suits as if they were invading a picnic. We assume Browne’s dedicated fanbase, many of whom attended in his signature gray flannel suit, will be game to play along. The accessories also captured the show’s spirit. Grasshopper clutches and beetle attaché cases replaced Browne’s usual Wiener dog motifs. Cute bug faces peered out from the toe caps of ankle-strapped pumps. Straw boater hats affixed with netting.
At one point, the music shifted from a chirpy Randy Newman track to Metallica’s heavy metal banger Moth to a Flame, and a tribute to the Black Widow emerged in a tightly cinched dress of black silk duchess satin, silk moire, and mohair. More butterflies followed in black cocoon-shaped leather overcoats with appliqué featuring colorful scales.
As per tradition, the closing look was still a bride, but this time she wore a duchess satin jacket with intarsia wing panels framing her face, with a high-waisted, ivory-coloured pleated asymmetrical skirt. On her feet were some seriously high glittery platforms with wings attached at the heels. One couldn’t help but think that those shoes wouldn’t have been out of place in another butterfly lover’s closet – the recently departed Dolly Parton.
Photography courtesy of Thom Browne.
