Thom Browne, Part 2
By complete coincidence today, I ran into a young man wearing a Thom Browne suit( i could just tell) instead of the actual Thom Browne. There has been so much discussion about the length of Thom's pants and the snug fit of his jacket but here is his work on a real person. The fit of the jacket is no more snug, nor the pants that much shorter than the guys I shot at Kiton.
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post a commentCall me stuffy, but I just don't get it. Why isn't it arguable that his cut is just a fad or gimmick? If such short jackets and pants cuffs were flattering, one would think they would be ubiquitous in the tailored garment world by now. But the fact is they are unflattering. Sorry, Mr. Brown, bye-bye.
why are you writing about this guy Thom Browne? he will dissapear in few months! his cloths are a total disaster
What if Thom Browne doesn't disappear in a few months? Will that validate his work?
what if he does disappear? ......so?
He is "of the moment" and I see nothing wrong with that.
Maybe it is my women's background but i don't think everything has to be built to last. $4,000 for a suit or $40,000 for a couture gown, both might be only worn once, so?....... it's not my money
What he represents is at the extreme end of sartorial dressing but it is very important - The old school can get very, very stagnant. His suit appeal to guys that don't want to or don't have to look like their dads did. Really what is the difference between Thom and Yohji? Both have a cult following, so good for them!
Mr. Sartorialist: can I presume he means to make the chest on his jacket so tight? I'm not saying it's good or bad, I just want to make sure that's the intention...because why couldn't you just say that this guy should be wearing a regular instead of a short cut of this jacket?
dude, i bet this guy could win a marathon, he's got the longest legs i've ever seen
I'm still not seeing the difference between this and some guy in his 40s who found the suit he wore to his high school graduation and tried it on for old times' sake.
It's just hard to understand the appeal of a suit that looks like it doesn't fit properly.
At least I'm not alone in my ignorance.
I understand the guy's cultivating his own signature style, and all power to him. But it still looks ridiculous.
I invest a fortune in suits, and for my money, you can't top the tailors of London's Saville Row. Kilgour and Richard James are incredibly well cut and Spencer Hart make some of the coolest suits going.
And they never make the trousers too short.
The way too short jacket looks very ''nurdy'! Just hoorible!
I wear some my trousers of my suits slighty short. Depends on the fit. A slim fit trousers, it's okay. A very baggy trousers (which I don't like), it also looks 'nurdy'.
My view: this guy has terrible taste...
I have a Jos. A. Bank suit in this same grey that fits almost the same except the pants are slightly slimmer and longer. I got it at a thrift shop for $6.25. Now I can proudly bring it back into service alongside my RLs and Cornelianis posing as $4000 bespoke. Thanks!
I could appreciate any number of innovative, faskion forward takes on the men's suit. Hedi Slimane at Dior or even Costume National make fashion suits. Thom Browne suits just look riduculous - it's Little Rascals style. I'm not sure what the point is. It's an unsuccessful experiment, in my eyes. You might as well tailor a suit in burlap and cardboard and make it totally shapeless - that too would be an attempt to take the men's suit in a new direction, and it would be equally unsuccessful.
Extreme Italian style would strike me as just as fashion forward, but much more appealing. Pants with no break but touching the shoe, lots of color contrast, a flash of interesting sock, great brown shoes, slim cut but very well tailored.
a suit should be a great investment, not only because it takes time to have one made well and fit well, but also because the wearer has to be imbued with a sense of self confidence: ie looking good=feeling confident.
with that said, if i would invest however much $$$ on a suit that will fit and make me look like i raided a thrift store........
some men dont mind taking that sartorial risk, the rest of us however have to get by on the looks, experience, personality and means we have at our disposal.
thom browne is actively insulting our collective sartorial intelligence. this isnt forward thinking, this is backward-thinking. this 'designer' thinks that men should go back to dressing like we dont know any better! circa 1959.
I can never tell if it is a Browne suit or a someone looking like Jethro Bodine.
The Thom Browne look seems like it would be well suited for Drew Carey
but I do not see it as becoming a seriously contributing stylistic element
I believe Thom Browne once described his pants as being more like "leggings" than traditional pants.
Dear Sartorialist,
It would be great if you could interview Mr. Thom Browne for this site, as no other figure as ignited so much controversy as Browne.
Didn't Browne begin his career as an aspiring actor?
i'm seeing this:
either those select Thom Browne afficionados with superlative taste, buying power, who flock to the registers at Bergdorf are not readers here,
or, we have a problem Houston..
i couldn't agree more with all the criticisms.
browne's pocket square fold, which this young man is faithfully modeling is kind of dull (it's a tv man strip).
i am also a bit turned off by how certain groups like GQ magazine have been working really hard to create a hype around browne.
i'd like to add that all of this is not to say that our host The Sartorialist is not putting out a wonderful blog, and that he doesn't take great photographs and have excellent taste.
well the suits are distinct and it's one way of garnering attention to yourself.
although i agree w/ everyone else - thom browne could benefit from 2inches at the pant cuffs and some breathing room at the chest.
check out that link for more Browne outfits.
http://www.la-couture.com/defonline/H_07_04/browne.gif
That's a great link. I think people are missing the point that Thom Browne as the "artist" is allowed (and expected) to be a bit eccentric and wear his pants short. And due to the media that has been covering him, it figures that some people will try and steal his exact look to be hip.
But he does sell normal sized jackets and the pants can be cut to whatever length the buyer wants. The real question then is not one of fit, but one of whether the overall style and quality is appealing.
i'm gathering from all the responses that the tight chest is on purpose. to that end, i'd say I like the look--it's fresh, it's challenging, and he pulls it off. i think value of this clothing is pop your eyes, make you look. obviously the person wearing it knows it doesn't "fit"...but if you look long enough, your eyes adjust and maybe it does "fit."
I think the confusion lies in what you're all trying to make him. You're forcing him on as Savile Row, while he's really Carnaby St.
After all, he's a Designer, a Stylist, not an Master Tailor!
We're all trying to be purists with this guy, while this is designer clothing "sartorially inspired" (this year).
That's all. We don't judge Dolce, Varvatos, Gucci, Jacobs etc by how their clothes follow the rules! We just either like them or don't. Full stop.
He may last a minute or 10 years. For Fall 2008 he may change his direction and show neoprene g-strings.
Remember that guy Armani with the long drapy suit jackets down to your knees and flouncy deeply pleated pants??
So, bespoke fans need no fear. This is just hip stuff today which won't show up in the board room.
I get first dibs on next year's hip suits of large shoulder pads and over-length sleeves and pants.
i have already interviewed Thom once ,about a year ago for another magazine, and I will do it again soon.
Regarding -GQ and other magazines building hype around Browne. I can say that neither I nor GQ make any money from Browne (he doesn't advertise) I think people that watch these things all saw something special and different from him. It doesn't make it right or wrong, just nice to see a different voice in a sea of sameness.
I think it's great there is a designer out there who will make shorter suits. I stand 5'7 (not freakishly short, but apparently so in the retail world).
Do you know how hard it is to find a jacket 34Short?... and having it still be too small/wide. Of course a tailor can make a few alterations.
So those of you who invest in a Thom Browne suit today, can sell it to someone shorter then you tomorrow.
I have noticed the same type of jacket "fit" in women's highly styled jackets. The top button is closed and the jacket it very tight. The news people and weather people (ladies) wear these type of jackets. As a lady of a certain age, I do not wear this style.
I think that the point is well taken that this is a style that will soon be gone. The young always wear their clothing tighter than those of us who are older (with good reason!).
I do enjoy this blog and the discussion.
uh... all power to you, dude.
At least you will never outgrow it, cuz it never fit in the first place!
Maybe it will be trendy someday to sit cross legged and show half your skinny un-tanned legs. yuck.
i think we are waisting so much time talking about this guy that did not know what to do with his life and ....still does not know what to do not only with his life (that is not our business) but also with fashion and style that is now our business since the sartorialist decided to promote him!
so suits are done poorly by machine and they do not fit. he his not an artist! there is no craftmanship, no design. believe me anybody on this blog can have a suit made much much better and with a couple of friends at GQ and bergdorf convince everybody that he is designers. i agree this guy will be history soon without having ever been part of history!
It is a response to too-seriousness. It is a suit for a sense of humor, I'd say. it is a silly suit, and I love that. It is a suit for a character, and that, too, I love. It ought to be worn with a hat. Thanks for bringing the style to my attention.
It is also a reaction to the too-baggy in this culture.
Everytime I look at this picture i think of that episode of teh simpsons wheer Millhouse is forced to wear flood pants.
Sadly, I must agree with the comments above. I think that My Brown is doing something that should be applauded in "shaking up the establishment", but I'd rather he was following in the footsteps of Tommy Nutter or Ozwald Boateng than the SMERSH tailors. His suits are interesting but completely impractical. The fabrics are far far too heavy to be worn anywhere except outside in the cold. i appreciate that he is emulating a classic look by using fabrics with a heavier hand however most of these fabrics were originally used because there was no central heating in the 30's and 40's. Can you imagine sitting eating a large meal in a small packed NY restaurant while wearing a heavy woolen suit? It bears to relationship to practicality- which is one of the benchmarks of bespoke attire. However my biggest problem with Mr Brown's suits is the price- I do not understand how he justifies charging for a BMW and delivering a Mini. When I buy bespoke i am paying for the craft. If I want fashion I visit H&M. paying bespoke prices for H&M clothes makes no sense to me., but of course, each to his own.
Wow, harsh comments...just a thought, maybe that is the point? Like it or hate it, at least he is doing something new...do you guys jut want to talk about Ralph, varvatos, etc... As far as I can see there hasn't been an american designer who has caused a fuss for quite some time. and give me a break with Savile Row...have you been there recently...it doesn't exist - NEWS FLASH the whole street is being renovated and there are more crap shops with Jeans than proper tailors
Oh and it is strange that someone who should get a life and has no style is being copied by Ralph (Black Label) H & M and everyone inbetween...
I am huge fan of the sight but if guys can't think outside of the box, even more to the point of TB...we don't all have to wear the same thing!!!
Mr. Browne's clothes came along a just the right time.
Just adjust your eyes a little to appreciate how great and fresh they look.
By contrast, a current Brooks Brothers suit looks lazy, actually accentuating paunch with the low placement of their jacket buttons. Also, I for one am way tired of Gucci-ish pseudo-70s "sauve".
So bravo to Browne for introducing a little tongue-in-cheek formality, and for being so, well, American about it.
Just a little FYI, the guy in the picture works for TB.
I sleep in my Thom Browne suits.
I love them.
They feel amazing.
They are the single, most beautifully made suits I've ever worn.
Everybody smiles but not everybody gets it.
It's not for everyone. And that's the secret.
But if you're lucky and it is for you, then you - like me - will love every stitch and crease, and you will begin to understand exactly how weak and truly obsessed a man can be for well-made, utilitarian clothes.
Thom's not going anywhere. But up.
I've seen that guy around. He's beautiful, and he makes Thom's suits look better than Thom himself does. I spent the better part of a trip to A.I.Friedman observing him and how his suit moved as he did, and it was impeccable. I've tried on Thom's suits and they're just not for me, but on the right man, they're stunning.
He was stunning.
Although only in highschool i have started to follow the Miller brother's look and find it great. I've started buying vintage suits and even tucking the ties into my pants. ALthough i've recieved many comments from parents and friends i continue to dress to express. I feel that the Thom Browne line allows one to stand out in a modern day society where everyone is much to uniform and similar. I think the suits are great.