Thom Browne on Tailoring, How to Wear Short Shorts & Channeling His Theatrical Fantasies Into Shows

Thom Browne’s installation at the Bon Marché in Paris. Photo: Courtesy

Thom Browne mania has hit Paris with the opening of an installation-cum-pop up store by the designer in the heart of posh Left Bank department store Le Bon Marché. For the event, held concurrently with the store’s Brooklyn-themed showcase, Browne shipped over the set from his Spring-Summer 2016 New York Fashion Week: Men’s show. Conjuring a Fifties-meets-futurism office space, the vast, neon-lit mirrored cube, striped with rows of silver brogues, combines elements from across the designer’s collections.

While London has Savile Row, and Italy Naples, Browne, who recently acquired a tailoring facility in Long Island City, flies the flag for America’s tailoring tradition with a range of made-to-measure Made in New York suits (identified by a gray label in lieu of his signature tri-color tab) that were limited to his Hudson Street store…until now. The award-winning designer, considered one of the most influential menswear designers of his generation, is known for his signature cropped-leg, shrunken gray suit — his own “uniform.”

Clad today in an impeccable seersucker jacket and matching shorts, and seated at a retro desk at the entrance of his installation, Browne — whose upcoming projects include a guest editor role for A Magazine’s December issue and a show at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum for March 2016, in the role of guest curator — talks suits and sartorialism with Yahoo Style.

Yahoo Style: How long have you been wearing a suit and how did you dress as a teenager? I heard you used to spend a lot of time customizing vintage clothes when you were a young wannabe actor in L.A…

Thom Browne: Well the classic idea of clothing for me started as a kid, growing up in a big family with my parents basically just buying navy jackets and gray trousers or khakis for all of us. It’s like a classic American uniform that we all grew up wearing. Clothing was never something that I thought that much about growing up, so, for me, simple classic clothing was what I always wore and something I felt comfortable in. In L.A., playing with vintage clothing, I’d be the only one buying the suits in the vintage store; it was a treasure trove of classic and old American suits.

So is your love of the suit linked to nostalgia for the golden age of dressing?

It’s a bit of that, but also just the uniformity of it, the idea of not having to think much about what I’m going to wear, this idea of keeping things uniform and simple and structured.

You seem to live your life that way, too. I read that in New York you go to the same café every day after your run and order the same breakfast…

Pastis has closed now and I have a puppy so I don’t go out for breakfast anymore… But I do like routines, I like things to be organized and structured.

What about when you’re traveling?

When traveling, if I’m not at work, I’m mostly at my hotel, which is why the choice of hotel is so important. In Paris, I’m staying at La Réserve. It’s so quiet, and the service is so quiet, which I love. It’s just a beautifully done hotel.

With your shows being so theatrical, with all these character creations, are you living out your actor/director fantasies?

Yes, I do love the idea of directing a show for each collection; I just like to entertain people. I love for my shows to be an experience for people and to tell a story. The clothing is very important, but I think for people to really remember them and more is to really surround it by something that leaves an impression.

Thom Browne’s installation at the Bon Marché in Paris. Photo: Courtesy

To go back to your family, there’s a picture on your Facebook page of your father exiting an airplane and being handed his jacket. The suit, is it in any way linked to him specifically?

It’s funny because, yes, he’s probably laughing up in heaven that I ever use him as a reference, but there was something so beautifully classic about my father and the last thing he ever thought about was his clothing. But the wingtips that were the first pair of shoes that I introduced in my collection were basically referencing my father’s wingtips. The classic way that I approach most of my collections is a reference to my father, but also classic American clothing.

Is developing New York’s tailoring tradition part of your vision?

[It really is] and that’s why it’s a bigger story than just the clothing. To get that level of tailoring in New York is something that I would love people to be introduced to, and also to recognize the quality that it is. People don’t always think of America or New York for that level of hand tailoring.

Does New York have a history of tailoring?

Well, hand tailoring and American tailoring does have a history. Rocco [Ciccarelli, an expert tailor who works with Browne] always said American tailoring was a mix of Italian, French and English tailoring because of all the immigrants who came and created it, each time taking the best elements of each of those traditions.

Where do your tailoring instincts come from?

I’m not sure…The beauty of sartorial and tailoring I’ve gotten to appreciate more since meeting Rocco, and the beauty and art of making clothes. Developing fabrics for every collection is so important. I think now with everything being so universal it’s important to make your collections unique.

What do you hope you have brought to the world of tailoring?

Just that people see tailoring differently. When I started, I specifically made pieces for myself that I couldn’t find. I like playing with proportion and coming up with a distinct style that people can recognize. It’s nice to see that it has been appreciated, it’s about that level of quality and tailoring, but introducing it to a younger guy.

Where exactly should your short pants fall, ideally?

For a guy who wants a pair for work, it’s really so that it hits the shoe and that there’s no break in the trouser. And for the short, he can wear it as short as he wants.

Can anyone pull it off, the short look?

As long as they look comfortable in it. There’s nothing worse than somebody who looks a little uncomfortable because then it is not working.

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