Thom Browne on Fashion as Social Mirror Thom Browne | Big Think

Thom Browne on Fashion as Social Mirror

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Designer Thom Browne on fighting the man and the uniform.

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Thom Browne:

Thom Browne is a New York based men's fashion designer. After graduating Notre Dame, Browne moved to Los Angeles to try his hand at acting. Though he landed a few commercials, he wasn't terribly successful. He realized his true calling was in fashion, and in 1997 moved to New York. His first job was as a salesman in Giorgio Armani's showroom; he moved to Club Monaco's design and merchandising departments before launching his own label in 2001.

Browne's designs are something of a throwback to a pre-business casual era: New York Magazine has described his work as evoking "a fetishized, black-and-white-movie masculinity." The Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Browne 2006 Menswear Designer of the Year. Browne designs with a very specific impression in mind: "It's a very nice, very Continental, very charming world," he says.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Question: What does a style say about its era?

Thom Browne: Well specifically the ‘50s and ‘60s, everything post-World War II . . . I mean everybody was more . . . it was more like a uniform, and there was something really refreshing about that. Going through the, you know, late ‘60s and ‘70s, more of everything easing up and, you know, the world of, you know, maybe fighting the establishment a little bit. So in a way there were all those kind of times that definitely fashion has changed along with those times. And now I think we’re . . . we’re in a time of people having so much and the resources to be able to buy so much that there are so many choices out there. Which I think sometimes isn’t always the best thing for . . . for people. Hmm. I think in a way it . . . it does. And I think in a way sometimes that’s why when you look at kids and having school uniforms, I think that’s . . . that’s probably a really good idea. Because I think it’s . . . in a way it takes that . . . that burden and that preoccupation with . . . for . . . in the kids that don’t have control over what they actually can buy; of really focusing on what is more important for them while they’re at school as opposed to what they’re wearing. So it does contribute a little bit too much.

Question: Does fashion widen the income gap?

Thom Browne: I think in a way it . . . it does. And I think in a way sometimes that’s why when you look at kids and having school uniforms, I think that’s . . . that’s probably a really good idea. Because I think it’s . . . in a way it takes that . . . that burden and that preoccupation with . . . for . . . in the kids that don’t have control over what they actually can buy; of really focusing on what is more important for them while they’re at school as opposed to what they’re wearing. So it does contribute a little bit too much.