Inside Thom Browne’s Fantastical New York Trend Week Present with Penn Badgley, Queen Latifah and Lil Nas X

After spending years exhibiting primarily in Paris, designer Thom Browne formally returned to New York Trend Week with an otherworldly runway presentation to showcase his ladies’s and males’s fall/winter 2023 assortment on Tuesday night. All eyes have been on the prolific clothier, desperate to see what he would unveil on the runway now that he’s chairman of the Council of Trend Designers of America.

Over the course of 35 minutes, Browne delivered a theatrical and indulgent spectacle impressed by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved 1943 novella, The Little Prince, which tells the story of a younger boy touring the universe searching for knowledge and discovering the unpredictable nature of adults. Browne’s assortment not solely shows his masterful and fantastical prowess as a designer and tailor but in addition evokes deep emotion about loneliness, loss, willpower, and exploration.

“I used to be actually impressed by how The Little Prince tells the story about how youngsters perceive every thing and see issues extra clearly than adults do,” Browne informed Self-importance Honest instantly following the presentation. “And that adults hopefully do not lose that sense of innocence that’s so stunning in youngsters. It is a highly effective and necessary story. That was actually the concept, to indicate a fantasy that makes the world a greater place to reside in like the best way youngsters see, and I prefer to see issues like that with my designs.”

Staged at The Shed, the theater area in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, the presentation greeted the 450 visitors with a big white airplane (just like Alfred Hitchcock’s crop duster in North by Northwest) caught in actual sand to recreate the airplane crash within the Sahara from Saint-Exupéry’s story. Etched within the sand have been giant numbers, suggesting an hourglass and a clock. Excessive above the airplane, planets and stars hung suspended from the ceiling. The present started with a mannequin portraying a disoriented crashed pilot wandering within the desert wearing a white voluptuous jumpsuit with articulated sleeves in white cashmere styled with a mini button-back costume in hand-dyed blue seed beads and inexperienced silk thread fringes. She then encountered the Little Prince, carrying one in every of Browne’s signature grey flannel tweed jackets with a four-stripe band on the arm. Then got here a string of fashions representing the harmful baobab timber that develop on the prince’s planet. They have been styled in sheer white organza attire with excessive white hair buns and creepy lengthy curled fingernails and toenails.

The next act highlighted a parade of adults who, within the phrases of the prince, see solely what’s in entrance of them. These fashions showcased a sequence of tweed coats and jackets, all with giant exaggerated shoulders, with fits and ties beneath. They carried briefcases emblazoned with clock faces, and the heels of their chunky footwear have been composed of spherical clock faces. The fashions walked to the orderly ticking of a clock’s second hand.

The following group of fashions represented the kids, carrying reconstructed and deconstructed seems in combined pinstripe wool flannels with elaborate gold hats adorning their heads. For the finale, all of the fashions walked again onto the sand-filled catwalk as {couples}, holding arms to symbolize unity, to the accompaniment of “You will By no means Stroll Alone” from the Broadway musical Carousel.

“To step into Thom Browne’s world actually is a visit,” stated Queen Latifah moments after the present. “I’ve by no means seen something like this. I am feeling actually impressed. It is nice for a artistic particular person to be on this setting and see all of the creativeness, range and the wonder he creates along with his designs. I’ve actually loved this time.”

Erykah Badu shared the identical sentiments, remarking about how donning the designer’s garments could make one really feel highly effective. “Thom has poked a bit gap within the dam and all the artwork got here flowing by,” stated Badu, who was dressed head to toe in his designs with gold rollers in her hair. Her look was impressed by Lucille Ball from I Love Lucy. “He is an innovator. It is at all times completely totally different at his exhibits and he has the wildest creativeness. I really feel I might be anybody by carrying his garments.”