Minimalism doesn’t exist in the world of Thom Browne. Even at his most toned-down, the designer’s tailoring and unique perspective operates in its own glittering universe. Enter: the fall 2025 collection, which was wholly devoted to Browne’s signature tailoring. The brand presented the collection with an artful runway show at The Shed in New York City on February 11. Inside the all-black space was a trail of 2,000 paper cranes scattered all over the floor and hanging from the ceiling; a single birdcage and desk sat in the center of the room. The vision paired well with the designer’s past few shows, which ranged in themes from the Paris Olympics to The Little Prince and the work of Edgar Allen Poe. Fall 2025 marked the designer’s first return to ready-to-wear after a brief fling with couture in Paris. Despite the category this season, Browne always manages to infuse his clothes with an air—and the techniques—of haute couture.
“The collection started with reintroducing what I want people to come to me for,” Browne said in an interview backstage before the show. “And that is tailoring. But tailoring done in 64 different ways, 64 different shapes, proportions, lengths—and done through the idea of classic heritage fabrics that were all developed for the collection in different colorations from the gingham shirt.”
The designer dug deep into his signature gray-and-navy color palette, remastering the vision of his very identifiable aesthetic. Two models posing as ornithologists opened the show, before a parade of 64 models donning complex and sometimes perplexing takes on suiting walked the runway. The looks were freaky and fantastical, the kinds of pieces we all crave from a Thom Browne show.
“The last few looks are more on the conceptual side,” Browne explained. He used trompe l’oeil on classic silk fabrics and heritage tweeds, or 3,500 glittering crystals layered up a dress worn by a male model. Alek Wek closed the show in a gingham bustled ballgown (draped with 40 meters of heritage tweed) covered in chunky colorful crystals with a sculptural gold bullion embroidered jacket. “That encapsulates the whole collection,” Browne added of the final look.
Freedom is the theme of this collection: “It’s based around birds and how they represent freedom,” he said. “Being able to be free to express things exactly the way you want to express them and tune out all the noise that wants to give you too much advice. I think sometimes, as designers, it’s nice when you come to one of my shows, and you see my show through my eyes and not through other people’s ideas of what they think people should see.”
Along with the gingham, frothy pastels, and lusciously detailed knits, there were dog-shaped Hector bags, colorful feather eyelashes, and Oxford shoes—all must-haves within the Thom Browne universe. “You always get Hector,” Browne said of his pup-like accessories. “It wouldn’t be a show without Hector.”
