“If you’re going to do it, you might as well do it,” says Thom Browne with a little bite. “What’s the point otherwise?” For fall 2021 Browne has thrown down the gauntlet, not only doing it, but going for it. His men’s and women’s collections are an outrageous flexing of his prowess, garments made on such an extreme scale they’re almost overwhelming to look at, let alone think about wearing. There is not a shred of coziness, comfort, or relaxation here. If anything, Browne’s silhouettes have become stricter, more confining, more formal.
His starting points are always deceptively simple, like fusing black-tie clothing with sport apparel. Fall continued themes Browne began toying with for spring 2021: the Olympics, monochrome, athleticism under the guise of formalism. But rather than relax a silhouette as he did with his Deco-looking spring line, here he cinched and corseted, fanned out skirts, and shrunk jackets to little shrugs layered over voluminous wool piqué and flannel shirtdresses. A ball skirt that looks like layered puffers took more than 100 pattern pieces to make. A pleated trench coat required 209 patterns.
The most mind-boggling pieces are made of curved plissé, inspired, Browne says, by the lines ice-skaters make on the rink and those that slalom skiers do as they race down the mountain, as Lindsey Vonn does in Browne’s dreamlike Fashion Week film. Of a gigantic white bow slung around a low corseted waist, Browne repeats his refrain: “If you’re going to do a couture bow, do a couture bow.” Underneath those bubble helmets and big-time bows are models of all genders, but Browne insists gender really doesn’t matter. He’s making beautiful clothes for everyone.
That sounds honorably egalitarian, but of course you must wonder: Who on earth is going to wear this? To that Browne delivers his rebuttal forcefully: “You don’t have a business if you don’t have the creativity to create the business.” The Browne business is estimated at $500 million. “The point is to create a world that is interesting; that world will make that classic jacket interesting.” His go-big-or-go-home mentality not only works—it’s a slap in the face to the pandemic-pivot, cozy-core crowd. As a spectator to the Fashion Designer Olympics, I’ll be honest, it’s pretty riveting to watch Browne challenge and prod his peers, making grand gestures and finding success because of it. He has some good challengers: Tom Ford, Rick Owens, and Browne alum Daniel Roseberry, each a patternmaker with a showman’s panache. Will another worthy challenger summit the mountain and try to strip these guys of their gold medals?
