The Theatrical Allure Of Thom Browne

There’s a certain rigour that defines no brand quite like Thom Browne. Each day, the designer, who lives and works from New York, wears a pleasantly shrunken suit. It’s made up of a snug blazer, cardigan and boyish shorts – all a slate grey. He wears a matching tie, a crisp white shirt and a pair of black leather brogues.

The designers who make up his atelier have adopted his way of dressing, be it a cropped pair of trousers instead of shorts or a knife-pleated skirt cut flawlessly below the knee.

The staff that work in Browne’s stores globally – each mimicking the décor of his workplace, with grey marble walls and metal shutter blinds – mirror the look, also. Clean, narrow, tailored to an inch of perfection. En masse, the designer’s worldwide team appear to have stepped out from their own monochromatic metropolis, with each now wholeheartedly devoted to a disciplined way of living.

“I feel like uniforms bring out more of a person’s personality and make them more individual,” says Browne, 57, who’s speaking to me from his office in Midtown. “I look at it more in the opposite way to everyone else. I feel like uniform is something that’s so understandable to people, but in the way that I pose it is so not understandable, which I love to do.”

Within the strict parameters of the universe Browne envisions, fantasy flourishes. His shows prove to be Fashion Week highlights one season after the next. Totally theatrical in his approach, he incorporates lavish sets, outlandish narratives and eccentric, often animalistic, elements into his shows. You could say Browne’s catwalks are fashion’s answer to Noah’s Ark, with models morphing into everything from elephants through to tropical birds, all while carrying leather goods shaped like creatures of the animal kingdom – including Browne’s very own dachshund, Hector.

“I love putting ideas in front of people and I love the idea of them being live. I think it’s unfortunate sometimes that it’s to such an exclusive group. I would love so many more people to see [my shows],” says Browne. “The personal experience is really important. I want to make people remember what I’m doing.”

Browne usually shows in Paris. But emerging from the pandemic, during which the designer released a series of conceptual films in place of the catwalk, he decided to spend two seasons in New York. This was to support his partner Andrew Bolton, who had the mammoth task of curating In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, a vast, two-part exhibition at the Met Museum, where he is head curator of the Anna Wintour Costume Center, exploring eight decades of fashion stateside.

For May’s coinciding Met Gala, Browne dressed everyone from Lizzo and rapper Gunna to Oscar Isaac and inseparable couple Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker. The sheer breadth of A-list talent, each donning the designer’s playful twists on classic black tie attire on the red carpet, spelt out Browne’s position as an American design powerhouse.

“The most inspiring characteristic in somebody is their wanting to be themselves, and that’s what you see in [the celebrities that wear my clothes],” says Browne. In September, the front row of the brand’s womenswear show was populated by Janet Jackson, Erykah Badu and Doja Cat. “These are people who understand the little nuances that are so important to me, and the reason why I put these ridiculous ideas out. I want people to open their minds.”

Launching as a namesake made-to-measure business for men in 2003 (prior to this, the designer led Ralph Lauren’s Club Monaco brand), Browne, who is from Allentown, Pennsylvania, 90 miles from New York, has spent the last two decades carving himself out as a US fashion success story. By 2011, he had expanded to women’s ready-to-wear and was showing his men’s collections in Europe. The following year, he dressed Michelle Obama for the second Presidential Inauguration. Today, the brand has more than 80 stores globally, including flagships in London, Tokyo and Miami.

Browne suited both the Cleveland Cavaliers and FC Barcelona teams and has also expanded into categories such as fragrance and childrenswear following Zegna’s 85 per cent acquisition of the business in August 2018 – valuing Thom Browne at a hefty £420 million.

These have all been crucial factors in the build up to Browne’s appointment as the chairman of the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America). Succeeding a fellow Tom, this time Mr. Ford, Browne began his post in January of this year, where he is in charge of steering the trade association, which has more than 400 brands as members and organises New York Fashion Week.

“I’m an American designer, and I love being here in New York. I feel like there’s such an energy here in American fashion that I think the world needs to re-engage in,” says Browne. I’m keen to know what advice he has for the next generation of designers emerging from the US, who are establishing their handwriting and the framework of their businesses as we come out of the pandemic. “You have to commit to doing this long-term and don’t do anything that’s going to take away from how special you are right now. Take time in developing your ideas and your collections because they need time. It’s not going to happen overnight.”

Last June, Browne returned to Paris with an extra-cheeky menswear collection. Rounding out a sweltering week spent at the shows, the designer offered his own pastiche of an old couture style fashion show, with models carrying numbered paddles and Debra Shaw, Marisa Berenson and Anh Duong dressing up as couture clients – arriving fashionably late as they each scurried to their place on the front row.

There’s a certain kinkiness that has shadowed Browne’s shrunken suits all these years. With this season’s outing, his subversive eye gleamed brightly. The designer anchored his tailoring – cut from feminine fabrics in pastel hues – with barely-there mini skirts, micro-bikinis worn over chiselled pecs and jockstraps in red, white and blue. Scantily clad, Browne’s boys looked like gents who lunch (if they headed to the dance floor of queer London club night Adonis straight after, that is).

“I love to make things funny or ugly or just more interesting than the norm,” says Browne. “I’m taking tailoring and introducing it to everyone in different ways. In women’s clothing, you can play with the body in a more provocative way. It’s always fun to play with guys that way, too.”

He ventured to the South of France to develop the collection’s tweeds, which were perforated with denim, seersucker tulle, leather, lace and multi-coloured ribbon. “I take the idea and quality of couture, with fabrics that feel very French, and then make them my own by playing with proportions in interesting ways. It was a good mix of Thom Browne and Paris.”

Browne’s troupe adopted the uniforms of sailors, surfers, tennis players and cowboys, the latter equipped with an erect, pierced codpiece so sharp it could poke your eye out. Throughout his career, he’s toyed with gendered archetypes with an educated wit that challenges his customer to dare.

It’s an ethos which has garnished the design sensibilities of his most talented students, most notably Jackson Wiederhoeft and Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry, who both cut their teeth in Browne’s atelier. “I’m like a father with kids. I want them to go and be true to themselves, succeed and not screw it up,” says Browne. Do they still call him for a pep talk, every now and then? “My advice is my opinion and sometimes I don’t feel like it’s always so valuable. I think what I’ve learned over the last 20 years is figuring it out on my own. Nobody can figure that out for you. That’s what creates true success. Of course, listening to people and respecting their opinions [is important], but ultimately [you should be] doing what feels instinctually right for you.”

Browne’s own triumphs are rooted in his defiance against menswear’s changing tides. After a decade-long ruling of casualwear, the industry seems to be smartening up, with an increased focus on tailoring seen at the shows in Milan and Paris. Here, Browne proves a master of his craft, drawing both inside and outside the lines in total bliss.

Taken from Issue 57 of 10 Men – NEW, DAILY, UNIFORM – out now. Order your copy here. 

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