Thom Browne has built a career on playing with the tenets of what it is to make, and to wear, a uniform.
His largely grayscale palette, his cropped silhouette, his red-white-and-blue grosgrain ribbon signature–these visual elements are all measured parts of his design discipline. And yet, he then adds visual whimsy, imbuing each season with a kind of fantastical Americana that liberates the restrictions of his liveries while giving them a rollicking sense of imagination. The look played beautifully yesterday in Palm Beach, Florida–a city famed for its own uniforms, forged mainly on clubby codes (think: tucked-in collared shirts, Trillion cashmere sweaters, Cartier bracelets, blazers to dinner, Stubbs & Wootton slippers, et al.). Browne and Co. were in town celebrating the opening of their latest store.
At the Royal Poinciana Plaza, the boutique’s site, the juxtaposition of the designer’s highly defined aesthetic–worn at the luncheon by the likes of Karolina Kurkova, Lisa Perry, Paige Lorenze, Ayan Broomfield, and more–against the leafy ladies who lunch, Bentley-idling-in-the-valet vibe of sunny Palm Beach was kind of an amazing vignette. And it all looked perfectly in place, given that another of Browne’s signatures–a binding thread with this new locale–is, indeed, preppiness. There were candystripers in gray seersucker aprons, doling out sorbet. There was Amy Fine Collins in a smart cardigan and a white tee with a trompe l’oeil necktie. There was Suebelle Robbins, the self-described “Instaqueen of Palm Beach,” with ribbons in her hair and a purse in the shape of Hector, Browne’s if-you-know-you-know dachshund.
Plus, it should be said: regardless of one’s politics, the city has become a political focal point, given POTUS’s home there. All of Browne’s red-white-and-blue elements, mingling in the Royal Poinciana’s courtyard, felt somehow patriotic and a bit subversive in tandem.
After the initial reception, guests headed to the nearby restaurant Sant Ambroeus for a proper lunch of arugula salads, branzino, and cheesecake. Browne made a toast, acknowledging the family-like feel of the room. “Karolina,” he said, gesturing across the table to Kurkova, “is the very, very, very, very first woman to have worn Thom Browne.”
With his arrival in Palm Beach, we suspect many more will be dressing the part very soon.
