Inside Thom Browne_s Haute Couture Design Studio _ Vogue
Transcript
00:00Hello there, my name is Jose Criales-Unsueta and I'm a fashion writer at Vogue Runway.
00:07I'm here this week in Paris to go to the Haute Couture collections and today I'm going to
00:10take you with me to an exclusive Vogue preview of Tom Brown's second Couture collection in
00:14Paris.
00:17We've asked Tom why is it that he likes to create Haute Couture and why it has become
00:21important for an American designer to show a Couture collection in Paris.
00:32We're here at Tom Brown, this is his Paris office, so let's see what he has in store
00:35for us this season.
00:36Hello.
00:37Hi Tom.
00:38How are you?
00:39Good to see you.
00:40Good to see you.
00:41Thank you for having us.
00:42Thanks for coming.
00:43Everything is coming together.
00:44Hello.
00:45I wanted this show to be like a good play on the beauty of just making really well-made
01:05clothes.
01:06I remember the first time we spoke, like ahead of your first show, you told me how
01:10excited you were about bringing this idea of American craftsmanship and Couture into
01:14Paris, but also merging those worlds.
01:16What made you come back to Couture this year?
01:17The initial concept was really to work with the craftsmanship of tailoring and work with
01:23the actual muslins as the final garment.
01:25And I thought, compared to the last Couture show, last July, where everything was beautifully
01:30finished and embroidered, I wanted to do the polar opposite and really use the muslins
01:34and the craft of making clothes as the Couture element.
01:39And this is where it all starts.
01:41Everything that you see in any one of our shows starts with a muslin, and then it goes
01:45into what the fabrication will be or what the embroidery will be.
01:48But there's so much that goes into each piece, and you'll see the idea of muslin being carried
01:53through throughout the collection.
01:55And then there is the overall theme of we're in Paris and the Olympics coming.
02:00Here are the gold, silver, and bronze medals at the end of the show.
02:05It's beading, it's bullion, so it's an entirely metal jacket.
02:09Couture is like fashion's ultimate sport.
02:11It is.
02:12It is.
02:17So I guess we can focus on this one since we're going to look at this book.
02:21Yeah.
02:22It's one of the more finished pieces, and it really just encapsulates the real essence
02:27of the entire show, the strength in the tailoring you'll see in the shoulder and the sleeve.
02:31But then also, too, the idea of it being partially finished.
02:35It's basically the work-in-progress version of what the finished piece would be.
02:39I think it's really one of those timeless, beautiful pieces with the jacket and the skirt.
02:45The artwork is a conceptualized Grecian-Olympian figure mixed with filigree and laurel leaves.
02:52It took close to 11,000 hours and 42 craftsmen sitting around a table, and the dimension
02:59of the embroidery is something I think is really special, too.
03:06And, of course, Dore looks so good in it.
03:10Yeah, I mean, this is...
03:13It's just so good-looking.
03:15It's just remarkable.
03:16And kind of like what I was saying, the shape is so simple, but I always just reference
03:21the tailoring of the shoulder and the sleeve is so sharp, and then Hector with his gold
03:26medal.
03:27With his little gold medal.
03:28So cute.
03:29You know, you could finish the whole thing.
03:30Yeah, they could.
03:31It's kind of perfect, unfinished.
03:44You know, then next to you, too, is almost like the idea of half of it being finished
03:50and the other half just in the Muslim version of what the embroidery would be.
03:55So this really encapsulates the idea of the show, too.
03:58But even seeing the basting stitches here, it's all hand-done.
04:02This is really wild.
04:03Yeah.
04:04I mean, even down to the nipples.
04:05That attention to detail.
04:06You touched it.
04:07You just touched it.
04:08I know.
04:09Sorry.
04:13I always say the quality of what I do, I think, is the most fashionable thing.
04:17I'd like to showcase, especially being an American designer, that this quality is done
04:22in New York, and it's beautiful to be here in something that is so cultural here in Paris
04:27and to represent American fashion that way.
04:32I'd love the experience to be all immersive, and I'd like everybody to feel like they're
04:36part of the experience.
04:38So everyone coming to the shows will get this, and this is the invitation.
04:42Oh my god, I love this.
04:44Oh, this is sick.
04:45It actually looks really good.
04:46It looks so good.
04:47It does.
04:48I can't wait to see the whole room with everybody in there.
04:50This is good.
04:51Yeah, the whole room is going to be crazy, especially with your shows.
04:54People are always looking for the way in, in a way, to just sort of participate in the
04:58world you've built.
04:59And I think handing them the opportunity is really exciting.
05:05Thank you so much for your time.
05:06Thank you.
05:25I've just left the Thom Browne show.
05:27As you can tell, I am wearing my show invite.
05:29I had a great time, as always with Thom.
05:32It was quite a spectacle.
05:33It was lovely to see some New York-made American haute couture in Paris.
05:38I am Jose Carreras-Unsueta.
05:39I am signing off for Vogue, and I'll see you next time.
05:57Bye.