A Grim Fairy Tale in black and white: Thom Browne Autumn-Winter 2024

For Men’s and Women’s Autumn-Winter 2024 collection, Thom Browne returned to the NYFW lineup, where he presented one more fashion tale, inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's poem “The Raven”. With perfect suits in the most powerful color combo of black and white.

The master of storytelling, Thom Browne showed his newest collection on the very last day of New York Fashion Week. Stylists, buyers, fashion reports and friends of the house gathered at the Shed, the Hudson Yards culture center, to see another fashion extravaganza, set in a snowy winter forest, where one of the male models played a massive tree dressed in a gigantic endless black puffer jacket. Well, nobody can compete with Browne when it comes to decorations.

“once upon a midnight dreary...in a snow-clad field idle and eerie...
a tree stands amid the haze, shrouded in silk moire...

a thirty-foot chesterfield puffer...the children come out from under...
eager to hear a grim, grim tale…

early in the twentieth century...sem illustrated the silhouette...

now re-examined... deconstructed... exploded... revealed in black and white…”       

In his show notes, which always look like a storyline from an actual book, the designer focused on a school of ravens and one golden bug. Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's haunting poem “The Raven”, the show started with an actual reading of the masterpiece: as part of the soundtrack, actress and “Gilded Age” star Carrie Coon read out some of the poem’s main lines.

She was not the only star participating in the performance, model royalty Anna Cleveland opened the show in a trompe l’oeil tuxedo shirt and a tweed puffy jacket, followed by industry veteran Kristen McMenamy with unforgettable surrealist braids (bravo, James Pecis!), dressed to the nines in a coat, embellished with white satin stitched ravens. While the final look had a magic outfit reveal moment of its own: when model and TikTok darling Alex Consani, who played the role of the golden bug (that comes from another Poe’s poem, by the way), closed the show in a glorious gilded jacquard cape with a ballooned hem, a group of Thom Browne gothic kids removed her cape, only to reveal a hand-knit impeccable cardigan with a matching silk duchess bubble skirt. Embroidered with ravens, of course.

The silhouettes were dark, gloomy, a bit disturbing, but never too frightening or too depressing. It’s in this magic formula, that Thom Browne has found his voice. In between darkness and light, ready-to-wear and haute couture (last time he showed during Summer couture week in Paris). It’s always a pleasure to see what ideas Thom Browne will present on the catwalk, that’s why his re-see appointments, where you can actually see the clothes in detail (for as long as you want, or at least until your next appointment) is always a must among fashion aficionados. Some of the most delicate techniques this season included hand-embroidered, feather-like ribbons wind down a crepe wool skirt, outerwear in shredded denim tweed and black tie ensembles in fun-mix tweed and tartan made of grosgrain ribbons or in intarsia and wool cashmere.

What about wearable clothes? There were stockings with delicate rose buds and fallen leaves, extra long pencil skirts with gold buttons, tweed jackets and black trenches. And yes, in the snowy kingdom of Thom Browne both women and men can wear skirts, high heels and eye-catching matte red lipstick. These lips, courtesy of the British make-up legend Isamaya Ffrench, were almost the only pop of bright color on the runway, because the collection for once was done almost exclusively in black and white color palette.

At the end, Thom Browne took his bow, lutching a giant red heart-shaped box of chocolate in his hands, that he handed to his life partner Andrew Bolton, seated front row. After all, that’s what they do when they show in New York on Valentine’s day. Don’t they? 

Text: LIDIA AGEEVA