Inside Thom Browne’s Fantastical New York Fashion Week Show with Penn Badgley, Queen Latifah and Lil Nas X
Over the course of 35 minutes, Browne delivered a theatrical and extravagant spectacle inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved 1943 novella, The Little Prince, which tells the story of a young boy traveling the universe seeking wisdom and discovering the unpredictable nature of adults. Browne’s collection not only displays his masterful and fantastical prowess as a designer and tailor but also evokes deep emotion about loneliness, loss, determination, and exploration.
“I was really inspired by how The Little Prince tells the story about how kids understand everything and see things more clearly than adults do,” Browne told Vanity Fair immediately following the presentation. “And that adults hopefully don’t lose that sense of innocence that is so beautiful in kids. It’s a powerful and important story. That was really the idea, to show a fantasy that makes the world a better place to live in like the way kids see, and I like to see things like that with my designs.”
Staged at The Shed, the theater space in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, the presentation greeted the 450 guests with a large white airplane (similar to Alfred Hitchcock’s crop duster in North by Northwest) stuck in real sand to recreate the plane crash in the Sahara from Saint-Exupéry’s story. Etched in the sand were large numbers, suggesting an hourglass and a clock. High above the plane, planets and stars hung suspended from the ceiling. The show began with a model portraying a disoriented crashed pilot wandering in the desert dressed in a white voluptuous jumpsuit with articulated sleeves in white cashmere styled with a mini button-back dress in hand-dyed blue seed beads and green silk thread fringes. She then encountered the Little Prince, wearing one of Browne’s signature gray flannel tweed jackets with a four-stripe band on the arm. Then came a string of models representing the dangerous baobab trees that grow on the prince’s planet. They were styled in sheer white organza dresses with high white hair buns and creepy long curled fingernails and toenails.
The following act highlighted a parade of adults who, in the words of the prince, see only what is in front of them. These models showcased a series of tweed coats and jackets, all with large exaggerated shoulders, with suits and ties underneath. They carried briefcases emblazoned with clock faces, and the heels of their chunky shoes were composed of round clock faces. The models walked to the orderly ticking of a clock’s second hand.
The next group of models represented the children, wearing reconstructed and deconstructed looks in mixed pinstripe wool flannels with elaborate gold hats adorning their heads. For the finale, all the models walked back onto the sand-filled catwalk as couples, holding hands to represent unity, to the accompaniment of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from the Broadway musical Carousel.
“To step into Thom Browne’s world really is a trip,” said Queen Latifah moments after the show. \”I have never seen anything like this. I’m feeling really inspired. It’s great for a creative person to be in this environment and see all the imagination, diversity and the beauty he creates with his designs. I’ve really enjoyed this time.”
Erykah Badu shared the same sentiments, remarking about how donning the designer’s clothes can make one feel powerful. “Thom has poked a little hole in the dam and all of the art came flowing through,” said Badu, who was dressed head to toe in his designs with gold rollers in her hair. Her look was inspired by Lucille Ball from I Love Lucy. “He’s an innovator. It’s always totally different at his shows and he has the wildest imagination. I feel I can be anyone by wearing his clothes.”
Browne’s whimsical designs have become a favorite among celebrities, especially Whoopi Goldberg, who sat front row at Tuesday’s show next to Browne’s partner, Andrew Bolton, head curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The View host is a long time friend of Browne’s and has worn his designs for multiple press events. She admires him for his meticulous suit tailoring and his capes, but mostly for his not being swayed by critics who originally panned him for the unconventional silhouettes he’s now known for.
“He doesn’t care what other people think. He designs what he wants, and it works,” said the EGOT winner. “From my experience, a lot of people used to make fun of me for my style, for wearing oversized shirts and sweatshirts or high heels with socks. They said, ‘That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.’ What I realized is not to listen to others. Nobody is going to make you feel good but you, and Thom knows that.”
Browne has modernized suits by changing traditional proportions. Today, his influence has popularized the slim-and-shrunken silhouette and launched a revolution in menswear that has transformed men’s tailoring and sartorial standards. His creations also are blurring traditional gender norms. Men are now wearing skirts with confidence and women are opting to wear tuxedos to formal events.
“I think the liberation in gender fluidity expressed in fashion makes the world a safer space,” said actor Tommy Dorfman while backstage. “We have an opportunity as celebrities, luminaries, people out in the public, and designers like Thom Browne are leading the path forward to give people a space to feel safe and free externally through their clothes. The more Thom Browne army there is in the world, I feel the world would be better as a result of that.”
Emmy winner Christine Baranski, who wore a tailored tuxedo look by Browne that featured a tie and a matte black, sequined caped jacket to the Met Gala last May, applauds the designer for moving toward genderless fashion, not conforming to any sort of norm.
“Honestly, I feel male and I feel female when I wear Thom Browne. It’s just the best combination,” said Baranski as she entered the show. “He brings that fluidity which makes me feel badass, comfortable, super smart, modern but classic. No other designer makes you feel this way. Throughout history men have been wearing gowns and dresses, and I don’t know where we get this idea that we can’t do that now. I feel like today, thanks to Thom Browne, we are catching up and just letting go of our structured way of thinking about male and female.”
Also attending Browne’s highly coveted show were Lil Nas X, Stranger Things actor David Harbour, Atlanta star Zazie Beetz, actor Rebecca Hall and her husband, The Gilded Age’s Morgan Spector, Vice President Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter and knitwear designer Ella Emhoff, model Karolina Kurkova, rapper Pusha T, celeb stylist Brad Goreski, writer Gary Janetti, Huma Abedin, and actor Penn Badgley. Badgley shared that Browne left an indelible mark on him when he first began working on Gossip Girl at the age of 21.
“He was the first name I remember hearing and loving when I wore his clothes during the early Gossip Girl days,” said Badgley moments before the show. “So when I was first introduced to the world of fashion, and this is not a lie, and this is just by chance, for the first time, I really loved wearing a suit because of his designs, and then when I found out he was American, I just thought it was so cool. I just loved everything about it—the fit, the look. His clothes are very special. They didn’t have to do anything to this suit I’m wearing now. I just put it right on. That speaks volumes.”
Jesse Williams has collaborated with Browne for many important events. He wore a custom look to attend the 2022 Tony Awards where he was nominated for best actor in a featured role for the Broadway play Take Me Out.
“Working with Thom Browne, it’s been blossoming into a really wonderful relationship. It feels natural and it pushes me a little bit to spaces that I wouldn’t necessarily look for,\” said Williams backstage. “I like the combination of a brand with heritage and with new, innovative playful designs that are both masculine and childlike. I’m really loving it so far.”
Now that Browne has presented his latest fashion show, will he continue his storytelling-first approach to fashion with big extravagant shows?
“It’s what I love doing and I won’t stop. It’s important,” said Browne. “I want people to see that everything I do starts from a place of pure creativity and what you see in the shows is that,” he said. “And then everything else happens. But it always starts with that creativity with these runway shows. It’s about creating a beautiful world for everyone to enjoy.”
