Thom Browne set up his show space like an art studio this evening, with an all-female model army lined up at easels along the runway. The idea, as Browne put it, was to imagine “Vigée Le Brun painting a vision of what she wanted to be in the 21st century.” The 18th-century artist was a trailblazer, rising to fame and fortune as Marie Antoinette’s official portraitist in a fiercely male-dominated milieu. She would no doubt have been completely enthralled by the subversive tableau of feminine power that Browne conjured tonight.
As the lights went up on the first look, Madonna’s rousing dance anthem “Vogue” blared from the speakers, immediately setting the tone. The silhouette—strong shoulder, padded hip, nipped waist—was unmistakably classic. It’s through this curvilinear framework that Browne filtered a myriad of exquisite reworkings of a woman’s wardrobe from the inside out. The anatomy of a sexy dress has been pulled apart several times this season, though only Browne could reconstruct it with such deliciously twisted ingenuity. The notion of lingerie dressing took on an entirely new meaning with his tongue-in-cheek trompe l’oeil flourishes. One floor-length gray flannel dress came embroidered with the faint shadow of a nude female body. Many of the models appeared to be wearing their pants and skirts around their ankles, as if they’d been caught mid-striptease. Others sported looks with split personalities—tailored Crombies on one side, fetching bustiers on the other—turning the art of seduction on its head. There were several alluring standalone coats in the lineup, too, ranging from blazers that were tightly sculpted to the body to a fur-trimmed puffer.
It’s no accident that Browne chose to render his collection in 50 shades of gray flannel, dare we say the very fabric of the patriarchy. The designer has made toying with the line that traditionally divides a man’s and a woman’s wardrobe a subtle art form; in Browne’s world, skirts and suits are essentially gender-neutral. So when a troop of men in heels and fluffy dog heads came bounding down the runway—to the sounds of “Who Let the Dogs Out” no less!—the audience all but raised a cheer. Browne’s male models were on a short leash quite literally, under the watchful eye of a stunning mistress dressed in a gown fit for an 18th-century queen. In the age of #MeToo and #TimesUp, when power structures in the workplace are undergoing a seismic shift, the symbolism was potent.
The show closed with Carly Simon’s “Let the River Run,” a song that won an Oscar for Original Song on the Working Girl soundtrack in 1989, and each model struck a final pose. Editors and buyers leaned in to take a closer look at some of the breathtaking handwork on the clothes—pearl studding, beading, exquisite appliqué, and more. “We were sewing roses onto the clothes up until 5 minutes before the show started,” said Browne, breathing a happy sigh of relief. (Side note: Some of the most gorgeous flowers in the bunch were handmade from mink.) The couture craftsmanship was nothing short of magical, and made for an unforgettable portrait of a lady.
