Thom Browne: New York Runway | Fall 2015 RTW
Thom Browne’s latest fall 2015 collection brought Showtime’s Penny Dreadful to mind. The late Victorian Era is often referred to as “The Cult of Mourning”. This is due to the fact that Queen Victoria’s late husband Prince Albert was the love of her life and after his death, she spent the rest of her life, which spanned 4 more decades mourning him. This meant wearing all black and black jewelry- this is where the term “Jet Black” came from, as a lot of the jewelry was made of Jet. It became fashionable to wear mourning clothes, as the Queen did.
Dark but eerily beautiful mourning maidens walked down the Thom Browne runway. The dirge of the show was Björk singing about the death of a relationship…how appropriate. The collection is mostly black on black. The patterns are created by using different fabrics, textures, findings and embellishments. The juxtaposition and placement of fabrics and trimmings made it look intricate and ornate at times and gave a depth and a texture to the clothing. Zippers, which one would think would be a little too edgy were widely used in the collection and worked beautifully. They echoed where the seams would have been and gave the garment great lines, while making it current. This truly was a modern day interpretation of mourning clothes. Most of the silhouettes were in a slight A-line. There is even a velvet and wool pattern, which has an appliqué over it making it look like a plaid, even though it’s all just different interwoven shades of black. Another look was of a hauntingly stunning mourning bride. The lace and appliqué formed a stained glass window pattern, which reveals a bare midriff and breast ever so elegantly. This look for me was the showstopper.
There is a strong influence, which one would expect of menswear. Cropped pants, tailored shirts, long blazers and overcoats. We see the cropped trousers, which are a Thom Browne signature in his menswear line translated nicely here into Women’s Ready to Wear.
The hats, headpieces and veils were ultra futuristic. Some were like modern fencing masks and worked brilliantly with the collection.
The jewelry was a modern interpretation of mourning jewelry. The Victorian tradition often including the late person’s hair inside the locket. Here the hair was seen in the show, but modernized into a tassel effect. The models wore long locks of jet-black hair on jet bead necklaces.
In the background there were Angels clad, and yes, even their hair was plastered white. There are even Angel wings embroidered on the back of a men’s blazer. The angels of death stood in the background looking on like a little Guardian Angel Fashion Flock.
All images courtesy of Style.com
