Browne stages a stylish show
NEW YORK, Sept 12, (AP): When designer Thom Browne left New York Fashion Week four years ago to start showing his label in Paris, it left a hole in the New York calendar. No designer tells stories with his clothes in the same way, creating fashion shows that are more like elaborate theatrical productions.
Never content to simply ply his wares on a regular runway, Browne has long created complex, mystical universes, often evoking past centuries: An eerie cathedral, an 18th-century hospital operating room, a tiled swimming pool filled with bathing beauties. And his characters have often seemed to hark from another planet altogether.
Returning to New York this season — albeit only temporarily — he stayed true to this tradition, mounting a show Saturday evening that told the story of a grand old house, a magical garden and statues coming to life.
He said he wanted to focus his Spring 2022 collection — menswear and womenswear — on American craftsmanship. His collection explored classic suiting — with twists like missing pieces, asymmetrical sleeves, and various skirts for men — and also featured tulle creations for women in the trompe l’oeil style (literally, deceiving the eye.)
Guests included some of Browne’s celebrity fans: NBA player Russell Westbrook, wearing one of Browne’s signature skirts; actors like Dan Levy, Hailee Steinfeld, and MJ Rodriguez; and skier Lindsey Vonn.
As guests entered a darkened theater space on the far West side of Manhattan, they milled around a huge rectangular garden in the middle of the room. Before the show began, Browne emerged to ask for a moment of silence in remembrance of 9/11.
Browne made his name creating men’s suits — distinctive shrunken suits, favored by the likes of LeBron James, or more recently skirt suits, like that worn by Levy at the Emmys. But he is also known for couture-level creations for women. His enormous quilted and feathered gown for Cardi B at the 2019 Met Gala took 10 people to merely hold her train.
There were more minimalist creations on display Saturday, in a show Browne called “an homage to American designer tailoring and sportswear.” He opened with a couple of cyclists with horse’s heads riding 19th-century-style bicycles around the room — nothing too unusual for Browne.
Maxwell
At the end of Brandon Maxwell’s show at New York Fashion Week, his models were doing something models don’t usually do on runways: They were smiling.
Maybe that’s because Maxwell had dressed them in clothes meant to project joy and fun — psychedelic patterns, shimmering fabrics and bright colors, in casual garments that evoked a day in the park or at the beach.
“Don’t we all want to be on a beach at this point?” Maxwell said during a backstage interview after Friday night’s show. “Life has not been a beach for the last year and a half.”
In the past, he said, his designs have been a more literal reflection of his mood and experiences. “If it’s a dark time, it’s been dark clothes, and tight,” he said.
But this time, rather than focus on the bleakness of the past year, Maxwell said he wanted to “find the beauty in this moment.”
So he imbued his Spring Summer 2022 collection with a casualchic aesthetic featuring bold prints in pinks, oranges and greens, plaid board shorts, shiny windbreakers, jackets and trenchcoats, dresses in bright metallics, and tees emblazoned with a mushroom design. There were long dresses, too, but made casual by wide stripes or bold psychedelic prints.
Beachwear also made an appearance, with models in bikini tops carrying rolled towels or blankets fashioned into cross-body bags. Some toted matching oversized backpacks. Supermodel Gigi Hadid closed out the show in a silvery, patterned pantsuit with a bikini top.
Maxwell is known for his lavish gowns and formal wear, favored by notables including Michelle Obama, Meghan Markle and especially Lady Gaga. But he said his real personal style is more laid back.
“I’m a very casual person,” he said. “I have a pair of shorts on under these nice pants that I’m putting on for you.”
Though Maxwell was excited to return to an in-person show, he said the experience was bittersweet.