AP/AFP – The beloved novella The Little Prince tells us that we see clearly only with our hearts – that what is essential is invisible to the eye. Fair enough. But Thom Browne, in a fashion show channeling the famed 1943 tale, couldn’t help but dazzle the eye, too.
Browne’s shows are elaborate, lengthy, fully realised theatrical productions, with backstories and narration and music, along with fashions featuring endlessly inventive craftsmanship.
A small airplane, stuck in the sand (real sand). Planets and stars, twinkling from above.
What was it this time… oh, of course! Browne had brought his guests to the Sahara to recreate the plane crash from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s story.
Models displayed a series of coats in sumptuous tweeds, all with exaggerated huge shoulders, with suits and ties underneath. They carried briefcases bearing clock faces – indeed, the heels of their chunky shoes, too, formed round clock faces, as did the stage itself. They walked to the methodical ticking of a clock’s second hand.
