Fashion shows never start on time, and usually come littered with eye rolls as A-listers swan through to the front row fashionably late. Though at the Thom Browne men’s show Sunday evening, guests cheered as the likes of Anh Duong, Marisa Berenson, and 10 cover star, Debra Shaw, scrambled to find their seats dressed in the finest Thom Browne tweeds. The gaggle of brand muses acted as couture clients in the maison’s mock-up salon, as 34 boys came carrying numbered paddles like the haute couture shows back in the day.
But this is Thom Browne we’re talking about here. Prim and proper suit jackets in feminine fabrics and pastel hues came anchored by barely-there mini skirts and jockstraps in red, white and blue. His scantily-clad troupe adopted the uniforms of sailors, surfers, tennis players and cowboys, by way of Browne’s signature shrunken and supersized proportions. He headed to the South of France to develop his tweeds, which came perforated with denim, seersucker tulle, leather, lace and multi-coloured ribbon.
Thom Browne has long been a byword for gender non-conformity, he shrinks and swells masculine and feminine dress, collaging the two to craft an out-there wardrobe that still feels sophisticated and grounded to the idea of strict uniform. His power lies in his ability to challenge his customer. Will they be sauntering down the streets wearing the pierced, erect cod piece that closed the show? Maybe not. But Thom Browne entices the intrigue to dare.
Photography courtesy of Thom Browne.
