Translated by
Paul Kaplan
Published on
15 Feb 2023
Survivalist sophistication at Thom Browne, whose parade was set with a white biplane stranded in a desert of gray sand; it was her first show since her appointment as head of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
The plane had crashed inside The Shed, the gigantic exhibition space in New York’s Hudson Yards district, lit by white paper suns, moons and stars.
Her aristocratic-looking passengers, greeted by half a dozen aliens, were dressed in low-shouldered tunic dresses and sphere-shaped hats. Houston, we have a problem.
Thom Browne circled this artificial desert to make a giant dial, symbolizing the march of time. Clocks were also the leitmotif of the collection, appearing on the side of handbags and shopping bags, or even on the heels of a range of mules, which made it very difficult for the models to walk on the catwalk.
But the main motive of this mixed Fall-Winter 2023 collection was deconstruction. Like in the adventure movie Flight of the Phoenixwhere a group of explorers reunite parts of their crashed plane to complete their flight to Benghazi.
Like a vast assemblage of all the favorite elements of his DNA — little boy flannel suits, cricket blazers, bouclé coats, red and blue stripes, striped ties, banker stripes and pleated skirts — in a dozen wild silhouettes. As one spectator said: “Thom Galliano”.
It’s been a busy week for Thom Browne, who hosted an inaugural cocktail reception for journalists and VIPs at Nine Orchard, the trendy hotel on the Lower East Side, with Anna Wintour and CFDA CEO Steven Kolb in attendance.
The editor-in-chief of Vogue American spoke of an overnight flight from New York to Milan with Browne, during which she had to “put on these rather unstylish belted pajamas”. But while Anna Wintour eventually fell asleep, Thom Browne “sat, stood, working the whole flight. And there was something about him that made me think he was some kind of sentry, watching over us all, ready to take action. This is precisely what characterizes our new leader: he is our sentinel”.
As it was Valentine’s Day, he had placed small boxes containing two heart-shaped chocolates on the seats of the guests. He then garnered a double ovation, the first by saluting after the finale, the second by walking over to partner Andrew Bolton to hand him a big red heart.
As the models paced the large dial, a lyrical version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic “You Never Walk Alone”, the anthem of several football clubs, rang out in the huge space of The Shed.
Who knew Thom Browne was a fan at heart?
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