As New York Fashion Week wrapped up after six days of some great collections but not-so-great logistics and scheduling snafus that forced some buyers, press, and assorted guests to choose between two shows. For many back-to-back shows, getting from one to the next was impossible. The audience gripes were plenty, but governing bodies feel the schedules and locations are out of their hands. While show navigation is tricky anywhere, New York is particularly challenging with its outer-borough fascination of late and, perhaps, as the offerings are viewed nearly as exciting. Two collections on Wednesday make for a strong argument against that notion.
Thom Browne
The 5 PM Wednesday timeslot may have been the Swan song for NYFW, but Thom Browne had another bird on mind for his Men’s and Women’s Fall 2024/2025 collection: “The Raven.”
As guests entered the vast show space at The Shed, they discovered a barren tree and snow scene flanked by a centerpiece of a 30-foot-tall Chesterfield-style puffer coat display manned by a model. A giant grimy window, broken in one spot, allowed the models to enter the runway.
The Edgar Allen Poe poem read aloud by The Gilded Age actress Carrie Coon sufficed for the soundtrack as Browne’s lead character, the Raven, appeared in a ‘stole of shredded tuxedo made from strips of black mohair and silk, canvas, and lining, grosgrain and labels; below her trompe l’oeil bodice in white silk twill, spirals of hand-embroidered, feather-like ribbons wind down a crepe wool skirt’ according to a press release but perfectly sums up the intricacies of Browne’s creations. On her head was a fluttering mess of blackbirds and tulle over a top hat.
Backstage, Browne spoke to FashionNetwork.com about the collection, which felt more sinister than some of his previous themes, usually drawn from American iconography and camp so extreme it becomes couture, especially to the high level of craft and imagination that goes into his clothes.
“This is dark, but it’s romantically dark. It feels true to the story, so not so happy but romantically beautiful and lovely,” he said, adding, “I’m an American designer; I like people to see that I’m American and the sensibilities that I play with and a lot the iconography [I reference]. Edgar Allen Poe is such an important American author. I thought it important to use a poem from his that felt like the mood I wanted to set,” he explained.
One thing that helped keep it light was the four children who appeared one by one from under the teepee created by the looming down statue, complete with movable arms. The kids joined the Raven and sprinkled ‘bird seed’ confetti around the set’s parameters cordoned off by split rail fencing; their pure curiosity and wonder was a joyful sight.
Backstage Browne referenced French caricature illustrator Georges Goursat, aka SEM, whose drawings of insects wearing formal attire such as tailcoats, which informed braids that protruded from models’ heads mimicking antennas; the braids often continued as streamers hanging off the garments which manipulated and extended the bits and pieces that make up traditional tailored clothing in inconceivable ways. Browne cemented his design DNA on this feat yet continues to amaze.
“I’ve been playing with deconstruction for a while, and I love playing with the idea of all the elements of jacket, trouser, skirt, and coat and mixing it in a way that makes tailoring more interesting to people,” he explained. Thus, a traditional black suit jacket and white shirt combo was rejiggered to lay like a shawl on the shoulder and cinched and exaggerated in the midsection to resemble Victorian waistcoats. A particularly striking style used different iterations of black and white plaids. In some cases, a hump gave volume to the upper back. In others, the shoulders were sharply padded and extremely wide to mimic the blackbird.
“The two shapes of the imposing shoulder details almost feel like a raven swooping down,” Browne said.
The poem repeats several words such as ‘nevermore,’ which was splashed across tweed jackets that looked if they were haphazardly semi-coated in tar whose sleeves dripped in ribbons; crows and florals appeared as black velvet intarsia silhouettes on white fabrics; deconstructed tuxedos had transformable strap details, bolero-style jacket topped cumberband waist slim skirt styles that Browne said he plucked from the 1910s. In keeping with the brand, witty accessories such as platform booties, men’s brogues, and a myriad of bag designs were covered in plastic a la grandmother’s living room furniture. Walking sticks were naturally topped with golden raven heads.
A group of cocoon cape-style gowns introduced a final look on gold, primarily the only color in the collection. “The mood of the collection lent itself to a black and white collection, but also, I was challenging myself by taking the two colors and making sure there was a lot of depth in each,” he explained, offering this for shiny metallic last look.
“That was the end of this season’s episode of the Thom Browne story hour; maybe next time I’ll explore another Poe poem, “The Golden Bug,” maybe, we’ll see.”
Brandon Maxwell
In a daring move, Brandon Maxwell chose one of the out-of-the-way locales that, until now, was strictly Gabriela Hearst’s territory, the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It’s recently repurposed as a movie and TV production hub and is like a small town. Backstage, Maxwell explained the move, which swayed in white carpet with 40-plus feet tall white panels flanking the top of the runway, arguably made for a dramatic show space—more so than the Agger Fish space—and was very much about creating a thread from the previous collection.
“For my spring collection in September, it was a white box and really tight with around 93 people, so this space is the bigger version of the idea in terms of space. I started each collection at the same time,” he told FashionNetwork.com post-show.
Maxwell maintained the similarities ended there despite the gentler moods prevailing. “For Spring, I was in an angry place, going through some things as you do when you are 39. and There were hard knots with the jewelry, but it was also soft and drapey. I’ve been exploring that space between hard and soft. When the brand started, it was very structured, rigid,” he reflected, noting that the hardness gave way to personal strength and a gentler approach.
The layered hem of the opening dress in white floated down the runway like waves crashing on the shore (punctuated by fire engine red pumps that checked many of the looks and was a nod to Maxwell’s childhood obsession with Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.) The dress’s bodice featured unfinished pattern edges that created a soft flap while also form-fitting on the upper body, demonstrating the tension.
The two prints of the collection were plucked from images Maxwell took on a trip to the Southwest, where the designer had an aha moment of finding beauty in nature’s destruction, one of which was of mountains. This clarity has seeped into the approach: a tightened show lineup from 53 to 35 looks and a showroom full of auxiliary pieces to launch a strong sales market. “An exploration of hard and soft; that is where I am. I am focused in my life post-pandemic and post-other things, and I have a renewed focus on this brand that bears my name,” he added.
Paul Andrew
New York has never been known as a luxury accessories town; that honor goes to Milan and Paris. However, it is the city where Paul Andrew founded his eponymous shoe brand prior to helming the creative director reigns at Ferragamo. He’s returned to his adopted city and is in the fifth season of his brand’s relaunch. He is also carrying the lone torch, admirably so, in making accessories a part of NYFW. He followed up his debut Rockefeller Center Spring 2024 preview with his Fall 2024 collection at the newly opened New York outpost of the Italian gallery Artemest, known for showcasing Made in Italy crafts. Considering Andrew’s connection to the country that makes his shoes, it was fitting.
While the new Paul Andrew has been marked by shoes for a Roaring 20s party girl, this season, Andrew has pared back on the frivolity for shoes that are practical for city life but have a level of uniqueness. To wit, shearling line lug sole boots, loafers with zipper details, cushioned insoles on slides, and sandals were comfort-seekers’ style cat nip. Slides and clogs offered another comfort approach. Andrew knows, though, that sometimes you need a statement shoe. The designer drew upon Jean Arp, glass artist Jochen Holz, and Frank Gehry’s seductive architecture to create a new lacquered and Plexiglas heel called the Glass Heel. A feminine expression arrives in the Bow series just in case the Paul Andrew girl decides to party again.
Copyright © 2024 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.