Thom Browne closes NYFW with Edgar Allan Poe runway spectacle

You can count on Thom Browne to craft a storybook spectacle evermore.

For his fall/winter 2024 season, the New York designer closed New York Fashion Week with a theatrical runway inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” the faux snow-laden catwalk set to a hair-raising reading of the macabre poem by actress Carrie Coon.

The spirit of Valentine’s Day made for a prickly juxtaposition of the stage’s ominous ambiance and Poe’s haunting tale of mourning, heartache and an encounter with a foreboding raven.

“It’s entertainment,” the Council of Fashion Designer of America chairman, known for his catwalk showmanship, told Vogue. “The last thing I want is for people to come to my show and say, ‘That was OK.’”

He added: “People’s experiences at shows are very personal to me.”

In front of a stacked front row consisting of Queen Latifah, Janet Jackson and Anna Wintour, the first model emerged from an entryway fashioned like a broken window donning a top hat adorned with a glittering black raven appearing in flight, a tuxedo-inspired vest and a quilted overcoat.

As she circled the stage, children in tailored blazers and trousers emerged from beneath the gargantuan, floor-length puffer jacket worn by a model on stilts à la Mother Ginger, who is posing as a skeletal tree.

Thus began the steady procession of models, acting more as characters in Browne’s gothic fairytale, donned carefully tailored three-piece suits, trenches and overcoats in his hallmark monochromatic color palette of mostly black, gray and white. Some models, with lace headpieces atop their gravity-defying braids, wore textured pieces with frayed tweed, while other items were adorned with a multitude of vintage-looking buttons.

Paying homage to the literature, some jackets and tights were adorned with the silhouettes of ravens and roses, while garments were emblazoned with the word “nevermore.”

It wasn’t until the closing ensemble — set to Coon’s bone-chilling shrieks of “nevermore” ringing in the air — that Browne broke his own design code, debuting a dramatic gold number. The removal of the ballooning metallic cape revealed a matching, rose-patterned skirt beneath embellished with ravens and a Browne’s staple red, white and blue bow paired with a shimmering gold knit cardigan.

“Thom’s designs reimagine men’s suiting — an icon of American capitalism, a symbol of one’s desire to rise above one’s station. In the American imagination, the number of suits a person owns is proportionate to their wealth and influence,” Coon told Vogue.

“Thom has both embraced and subverted that lineage with humor and playfulness, but also gravitas. I love that the show parallels that attitude by embracing a dark and iconic piece of American literature.”