First Down, First Look! Thom Browne GQ Launch a Football Capsule With a Chic Scrimmage

This season, New York Fashion Week got its very own Super Bowl Sunday—albeit in far more intimate surrounds than any stadium. At the behest of designer and the fashion set’s would-be NFL commissioner Thom Browne—he is the CFDA chairman, after all—the brand’s nearest and dearest gathered on Manhattan’s Upper East Side for a friendly touch-football game in collaboration with GQ. Just a stone’s throw from Browne’s new Madison Avenue boutique and the Sutton Place home he shares with Andrew Bolton—recently restored and originally built for Anne Vanderbilt—the school’s rooftop field house proved an idyllic stage to launch a capsule of football-inspired ready-to-wear and accessories in shades of grey and white.

“I feel like the kind of annoying old science teacher who was reassigned to do gym class,” the global editorial director of GQ quipped. “I’m happy to be here, though, because this is a longtime Thom Browne event that I always thought was the coolest thing. GQ’s Sam Hine has a long history of participating in the event, and he’s back here today, and we have some exciting partnerships around sports and Thom Browne, so we thought, ‘What better way to kick off fall—which is everyone’s favorite season to get dressed for—than by partnering up on this pigskin classic?’”

Presiding over the 6-on-6 game—grey team vs. white team, a nod to the collection’s core colors—was fitness aficionado Joe Holder, who happily served as master of ceremonies, DJ, referee, and general head of merriment, rallying the likes of Danny Ramirez, Julez Smith, Delaney Rowe, and Wisdom Kaye to give it their all. Most needed no convincing: the competition heated up quickly, with the more athletic-minded players dodging and diving with abandon. Ayan Broomfield earned her stripes early. “I feel like when you’ve been an athlete for so long, it’s hard to turn it off,” she told Vogue, alongside equally acrobatic teammates Tyriq Withers and Jack Innanen. “I was diving and jumping for the ball, and honestly, it’s been incredible. I heard Thom used to play with his dad when he was younger, and I think it’s cool that he’s created this brand and he’s instilling little things from his childhood along the way.”