My Thom Browne coverage in the Sun

is online here:

The phrase ‘masculine bonnet’ was my editor’s contribution. A bonnet is a hat that ties under the chin, as these do certainly, but still.

The Browne show confronts me in several ways, first in the relation between the runway and the racks. The most wearable bits were the six pocket coats and the formal coats with piping, as I reported. Also important for Browne fans is widening of available fabrics to include stripes, argyles and plaids. The other stuff is mostly for show, as in many couture runway shows. The webbing and feathers, Siamese trousers, straitjacket ribbons and stiltwalkers move a lot of tight gray worsted suits, just as a Calvin Klein or Dior runway show moves a lot of perfume and underwear. It maintains the erotic power and general associations of the brand.

The erotic associations of Thom Browne are confounding because while they bind, constrict and hobble men, they do not feminize. This precise noplace has been tagged by many ringmasters before Browne: recall the menacing androgyny of the MC in Cabaret, or Malcolm McDowell in Clockwork Orange.

Browne’s circus imagery – the striped tent and welcome to the ‘craziest show on earth’ -- sends a mixed message. The circus ring is generally reserved for feats of skill and daring, like his stiltwalker, while the sideshow is for freaks of nature, like his Siamese twin-suit or his tied-up crazies. Browne’s skill is evident in the details of the tailoring, something unfortunately best seen from the back and not seen in most full frontal runway coverage (menswear usually lacks the detail shots that womenswear enjoys), but what he is daring to do mystifies me as it does many others like New York Magazine’s Amy Larocca. I don’t understand how it frees or liberates, and neither do I understand how it makes enslavement exciting.

On the other hand, bare ankles for fall and winter are out, and socks are in. Be glad for that.