Meeting Our Inner Child at Thom Browne's Fall/Winter 2023 Show

It’s only February and 2023 is already monumental for American designer Thom Browne. At the top of the year, Browne succeeded Tom Ford as the Chairman of the CFDA. Later that January, Browne beat sportswear giant Adidas in the battle of the stripes. In his first collection since winning the trademark lawsuit, some of us were expecting his Fall/Winter 2023 collection to be stripes galore. That said, with references from past shows including Cinderella and Moby Dick, Browne’s next stroke of genius for his Fall/Winter 2023 collection was anyone's guess. 

Tick tock, tick tock signaled the start of Browne’s latest show, which was held in a room that modeled an analog clock. A solar system hung overhead a crashed plane laying slightly askew inside a circle of reference numbers. “Two lost travelers meet on planet Earth,” said the narrator as two models walk the runway. One is not from this planet, we are told. A series of celestial beings begin to emerge wearing long, slim-fitting turtleneck dresses matching the color of the sandy desert floor beneath them. Decorating these otherwise muted garments was colorful childlike imagery of varying themes, from elements of nature to the entire universe. 

Stories themselves, these imaginative looks starkly contrasted the mature suit layers that followed. Adults, said the narrator, “always need to be told what to do. They only see what’s in front of them.” Massive padded shoulders, three-dimensional fabrics, and rigid tweeds appear restrictive taken with the haphazardly robotic gaits of the models, reminiscent of businessmen on a lunch break. Pieces are beautifully tailored per usual, but there is a sense of disillusioned predictability. Meanwhile, we see pointed platform shoes suspended by clocks while models carry bags of mutual imagery as if to say that grownups are physically burdened by time.

Later looks incorporate a sense of childlike whimsy with the addition of embroidered planetary motifs. The business attire we saw previously is now deconstructed, falling into a delightful mess. Blazers hung off-kilter, some aren’t on shoulders at all. Formerly pristine ties are now diagonal or loose slung over a single arm. The collection’s earlier color palette of navy, light gray, creme, and red has been replaced with silver and cool-toned grays. Turtlenecks are paired with off-the-shoulder tops featuring theatrically oversized puff sleeves and long sweeping trains. Classic elements such as contrast piping, strong shoulders, and elegant lines persist, but there is a sense of play in their beautifully undone chaos. In short, it looks like Wall Street met its inner child.