Thom Browne brought the American preppy trend and his singular aesthetic to Milan, staging his brand’s first runway show in the city in the courtyard of the stately Neoclassical Palazzo Serbelloni.
Monday was probably the hottest day in an already brutally scorching fashion week here but the models walking the length of the palace’s courtyard seemed unfazed, despite Browne’s signature layering of garments.
The designer and his team labored to ease the discomfort of guests, with mist fans, ice cream and umbrellas to protect those seats that were entirely under the sun — but it was no easy feat.
No matter. Enter the first three models wearing Thom Browne’s seersucker skirtsuits over capri-like pants and accessorized with gloves, laced-up boots, ties, beekeeper hats and carrying watering cans covered in the suits’ fabric — a reference to the 400 seersucker flowerpots, arranged in a central grid in the porticoes of the palace.
The gardening and outdoors theme continued with the arrival of bugs, bees, dragonflies, honeycomb and floral motifs embroidered or inlaid on the garments as the Randy Newman soundtrack of the 1998 Disney/Pixar film “A Bug’s Life” filled the courtyard. That wasn’t surprising since Browne told WWD in a preview that the idea for the playful visual representations came to him after watching the movie on a plane. “It was a charming kind of nonsensical story that was fun to play with,” he said.
Relying on parent Ermenegildo Zegna Group’s luxury fabrics division, the research into precious materials and the craft of the production continues to be elevated. The brand’s classic tailoring appeared lighter thanks to windowpane check cool wool, technical nylon seersucker, open-weave cotton and grid check wool pique, among others. Short-sleeve sports coats were unlined and poplin shirts had detachable contrast collars and cuffs layered with fine gauge cotton knits. The designer offered suits with elaborate patchwork, radial embroidery camouflage and hand-painted checks. Browne’s signature palette of grays, white, red and navy was there, but there were new pops of emerald green — seen, for example, in an asymmetrically cut Cordura trench — yellow and pastel pink.
“Sometimes people get too locked into this specific story, or thinking that they need to wear Thom Browne head to toe,” the designer said during the preview. “I’m a designer, and I do design from head to toe, but there are so many simple pieces you can take and wear on their own with other things. That just takes personal style, but I love the idea each one of these pieces can be worn individually if you so choose.”
He couldn’t have said it better, because the layering often distracted from the beauty and perfect execution of each piece. The classic game of “Love me, love me not,” plucking the petals off a flower one by one, came to mind — and love me could be the final answer here.
