You’d have to be a real jerk to leave a viewing of Thom Browne’s latest without a smile on your face. If this collection had an overarching theme—and it didn’t, really—it was “good vibes.” That attitude ran through the mackintosh fabrics in a variety of Kennebunkport country-club colors, and extended to the flowers embroidered on everything from gray pin-striped coats to a bell-shaped organza frock, and crossed the threshold into sublime silliness in the form of pumps with heels shaped like those spouting whales found on preppy pants. If that all sounds rather Muffy and Buffy, that was sort of the point—at an appointment today, Browne noted that he garnered the inspiration for his palette from the saturated mid-century Americana images found in Time/Life, and that he was looking back, as well, at the upscale American sportswear of that era.
Of course, Browne’s Muffys and Buffys aren’t your grandmother’s canasta buddies, so to speak. Browne’s updated versions are apt to don a white piqué coat cobbled together from bits of button-down and blazer and pleated skirt. These and other deconstructed looks riffed on the “appropriated tailoring” Browne explored in his heady show last season. The execution was less chilly and challenging here. And Browne’s other deconstructive touch—the coats and jackets with exposed tailoring, down to the stiffening felt and hand-done pig stitch—wasn’t chilly or challenging at all. His design intellect was on full display, but the garments themselves were perfectly accessible.
There was a welcome plainspokenness to many of Browne’s pieces this time out. He showcased his mackintosh fabrics in lean slickers with contrasting fur collars and equally charming white-edged bustiers shown with gown-length skirts. His items in bouclé—another carryover from Fall—were simply cut and limbed with chains. And best of all, there were Browne’s pebbled pastel knits, which looked like nothing much but felt like something of bygone quality. The knits spoke for themselves, the way the easygoing sportswear of Bonnie Cashin or Bill Blass used to. You didn’t have to think your way into these looks. Feeling was enough.
