One man on a lonely platform
One case sitting by his side
These are both the opening lyrics to Visage’s “Fade to Grey,” and a fitting description to the opening of Thom Browne’s debut couture show hosted earlier this month in Paris—except that the one man is model Alek Wek, and the case sitting by her side is a custom Thom Browne trunk. This is because the ’80s tune was Browne’s starting point as he started to envision his latest collection, which he tells us on a car ride from the Ritz Paris to his Parisian offices in the 8th arrondissement in this latest episode of “Day in the Life.”
“Andrew and I were listening to music, and this Visage song came up,” said Browne after grabbing breakfast (“something unhealthy”) at his hotel, “there was something about the collection that I wanted it to be a little bit somber and not as upbeat,” the designer explained. The narrative of this show consists of a woman waiting at a train station, watching couture-clad passersby as she ponders on whatever is taking up her mind. There’s a myriad of gray suits, and a few underwater motifs to underscore her drowning in her sorrows. “Things are not always so happy,” said Browne.
One thing that does spark joy, however, are fittings. “It’s always the most exciting time to see the clothing actually on the bodies,” says Browne as he meets up with his design director, Thi Wan, to walk through the collection and start fitting looks on models. As is rule chez Browne, his collection included a narrative, so rather than just a board with looks there is also one that outlines characters: There’s our melancholic passenger, played by Wek, a lineup of bells illustrated by models in bulbous trompe l’oeil gray suits, a couple of pigeons—one of which was played by Broadway magnate Jordan Roth—a bride, and, of course, a train conductor and a train, the latter of which wears a train headpiece. “Sometimes I like to be a little corny,” offered Browne with a grin.
The entire collection, Browne explains, was underlined by his now iconic signature gray suit, the building block of his business and uniform aesthetic. Each look offered a couture take on the intrinsically American style. Take a meticulously hand-beaded seersucker—which Browne co. wore throughout this video (nothing is an accident here)—as an example of reinterpreting a staple of American sartorial vernacular under the lens of Parisian couture savoir faire.
After fitting runway superstar and Thom Browne favorite Debra Shaw, the next order of business is visiting the atelier; the closeups of feathers, pearls, and sequins being applied here are a true joy to observe. As Wan explains to Browne how the back of a grosgrain coat is being re-engineered, the designer offers a piece of direction: “Matching, matching is important”—nothing surprising coming from the man who has built a business based on the idea of uniforms. The ending to Browne’s day, however, is not at his atelier but back at the Ritz, where he’ll enjoy some champagne with his partner, Andrew Bolton. “Cheers, Vogue!”
Director: Nikki Petersen
Director of Photography: Étienne Baussan
Editor: Jeremy Ray Smolik
Producer: Jamie Tobias
Associate Director, Creative Development: Alexandra Gurvitch
Associate Producer, On Set: Megan Sinanis
AC: Antoine Balland
Audio: David Amselem
Production Coordinator: Ava Kashar
Production Manager: Kit Fogarty
Line Producer: Romeeka Powell
Senior Director, Production Management: Jessica Schier
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Post Production Coordinator: Jovan James
Supervising Editor: Kameron Key
Post Production Supervisor : Edward Taylor
Director of Content, Production: Rahel Gebreyes
Senior Director, Programming: Linda Gittleson
Executive Producer: Ruhiya Nuruddin
VP, Digital Video English: Thespena Guatieri
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