Saturday, January 18, 2020

BEAUTY: Clothing--Thom Browne

In an unexpected move, Thom Browne skipped a runway presentation of his FW '20-'21 collection at Paris Fashion Week in favor of a lookbook. But if you are missing the theatricality and complex storytelling of a Thom Browne show, fear not for I bring good tidings of great joy. This lookbook sports a pretty interesting, visceral story and a fecund set so hang on...

Writing for Vogue, Luke Leitch cheekily summed it up:
"Take a pinch of ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (“Eat Me”). Add just a dash ANIMAL FARM (Stephen Jones’s [who made all of the masks of wool on papier-mâché] pig mask was especially intense) and maybe a soupçon of 'Eyes Wide Shut.' Scatter as seasoning into a significant mixture of Thom Browne. Et voila!"

But Browne's website tells the story like a fairy tale:

this is a tale of eight friends
who share the same taste ...

a statuesque host, his guests,
a cake ...

at sundown the group arrives by limousine,
they stretch their hind legs and shake out their manes,

mr. giraffe leads them inside,
where things may, or may not, be quite what they seem ...

“welcome,” he says “the champagne is on ice”
and they all raise a glass “to one wild night” ...

each guest sets the scene in their classic tailoring,
in twills and tweeds, and an animal motif ...

the group settles in with a roar and an oink,
mr pig and mr lion in skirts: one in checks, one in pleats ...

on two sturdy tables that look almost alive
there are flowers and candles, fruits and rich sweets ...

mr. giraffe opens the dining room doors with a flourish,
his twill suit is living as much as the room is ...

“we begin with dessert,” he tells his companions ...

thom browne surely does look yummy ...
they all marvel at the cake ...

piece after piece they clean their plates,
a confection in layers of red, white and blue ...

when they finish at last, they rise, and toast again,
then head slowly outside ...

now nearing dawn, the host swings his neck in farewell,
“may we do this again, same time next year”


Less about clothing and more about a narrative, this sumptuous, fantastical lookbook says...what? An indictment of hunting and poaching? A plea for vegetarianism for the good of the planet? A wise reminder to all ravenous oppressors that some day, the fork may be in the other hand? All of the above?


https://www.thombrowne.com/

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