See you at The Ivy, Mr. Browne
“I always forget how nice it is here, so comfortable. I love it here, but New York is where the work is.”
It’s a little strange to hear kind words about Los Angeles uttered from the lips of Thom Browne. Anyone familiar with the American menswear designer -- who's become one of the most iconic figures in the industry over the past decade -- knows he’s the sort of person who appears to have been born on the floor of a haberdashery, was first fitted for a suit while teething and learned how to make a proper martini at age four.
What’s more, seeing Browne in person and failing to wear a suit in his presence feels sort of like spitting in the holy water bowl at the entrance of St. Peter’s. Hence the halo of shame radiating around my head at Wednesday night’s Brooks Brothers party in Beverly Hills, where Browne was in attendence -- celebrating the release of American Fashion Menswear, a CFDA-sponsored book written by former New York Times Magazine men’s fashion director Robert E. Bryan (“Sure, even though I’m not getting a commission on this,” Bryan replied with a smirk when I asked him to sign his book.)
Browne was surrounded by the local bowtie mafia’s board of directors, which included an entertainment attorney, a television producer and naturally, Cameron Silver. I first met Browne two years ago at a sparsely attended meet-and-greet at Barneys New York in Beverly Hills, and found him to be an immediately likeable guy—even if it’s true that his work, as The New York Times’ Cintra Wilson once put it, is “almost hostile: disdainfully smart, fretfully natty and prohibitively elitist in its quality thread count.”
His runway spectacles are among the few menswear shows in New York that are indelibly electric, and his Brooks Brothers Black Fleece line brought much-needed verve to a brand whose overly baggy woven button-front shirts I’ve had to take immediately to the tailor to excise several inches of fabric (a fellow writer in attendance admitted she's had to do the same, but the golf fanatics in baggy woven shirts I see every day in my building’s elevator haven’t yet gotten the memo).
The Black Fleece label, on the other hand, does not require such alternations. In fact, it screams My impeccable tailoring will be wasted at your little Aliso Viejo Golf Club. Away with you. As for Browne’s eponymous line, well, times are tough for a $5,000 suit. The collection sat on precarious financial ground until white-knight backer Cross Company swooped in with a $3 million investment in July (there have been reports that the investor will infuse even more cash into the company soon).
But money issues aside, to dismiss Browne's design talent as a fad that relied on societal excess -- an argument made by more than one critic -- is absurd.
Seeing Browne in L.A., however, I can’t help but imagine him visiting stereotypical Los Angeles scenarios that are definitely less black-tie optional, and more break-out-the-Uggs-it’s-December.
My favorite fantasies: Thom Browne in line at Pink’s. Thom Browne perusing piles of hoodies at the Ed Hardy store on Melrose. Thom Browne sipping Diet Coke on The Ivy’s patio at a table next to Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom.
And it turns out the third daydream isn’t off the mark. One of Browne’s favorite dishes in the city? A chopped salad … at The Ivy. “I’m serious,” he says. “You can’t get it anywhere else. It’s amazing. Just grilled vegetables with chicken and shrimp. The paparazzi are there. But they’re not there for me.” (Campanile is also a favorite, as is AOC.)
In the 90s, Browne lived in L.A. for a stint, attempting to become an actor and taking any commercial work thrown his way. “I was trying to act. It was horrible.” Now when he’s in town, Browne prefers to stay at Hotel Bel Air. Scratch that, given current renovations, however. He now opts for West Hollywood spots like Sunset Tower and Chateau Marmont, in part given their proximity to Laurel Canyon, where he once lived on Jewett Drive.
“It reminds me of home,” he says. As for style advice to Angelenos, Browne’s response is reliably on-message. “I do appreciate people having their own style,” he says. “It’s just not as refined as it could be.” For the sartorially challenged, he recommends the men’s and women’s knits from Black Fleece’s current collection, or the line’s men’s and women’s fragrances, Browne’s first olfactory concoctions ($125, available at brooksbrothers.com). But of course.