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The CFDA Names Thom Browne its New Chairman

    Last week, Thom Browne was named Chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA)—a rightful appointment. 

 

    If the work of his predecessor, Tom Ford, helped the industry regain its footing from COVID through relief aid, Browne’s leadership can help it keep its stride. 

    A not-for-profit organization like the CFDA exists to usher in new industry talent and ensure their survival amid such a volatile landscape (especially when a pandemic is tossed in the mix). Browne can steer initiatives and financing as expertly as he has for his own label. 

    Since he founded his business in 2003, Browne has shown a knack at elevating subversion, keeping your attention rapt on the runway, and selling garments in the process. Or dog muzzles. Or jockstraps, even, as his Paris SS23 show recently proved. Browne can make what’s a little hard to swallow look sophisticated, whether that be kink or dissent.

Be it playing with proportion or booting the gender binary through his tailoring, his clothes are proof that one can make a statement and still make a sale. Not to mention, expanding to 50 stores around the globe and going public on the New York Stock Exchange. In fashion, the American dream has always been to stay creative and still turn profit. Few designers have actualized that dream as consistently and effectively as him. 

 

Of course, if anyone still questions the man’s importance as an American designer, they merely need to behold his signature: the US colors that appear everywhere from his label’s shirt plackets to the soles of its flip-flops.

Be it playing with proportion or booting the gender binary through his tailoring, his clothes are proof that one can make a statement and still make a sale. Not to mention, expanding to 50 stores around the globe and going public on the New York Stock Exchange. In fashion, the American dream has always been to stay creative and still turn profit. Few designers have actualized that dream as consistently and effectively as him. 

 

Of course, if anyone still questions the man’s importance as an American designer, they merely need to behold his signature: the US colors that appear everywhere from his label’s shirt plackets to the soles of its flip-flops.

“My most important message is that everyone should have all the opportunities to thrive as designers, but the core of this success has to start from pure creativity,” he told WWD following his appointment. “It is our responsibility as designers to keep the story being told in an uncompromisingly creative way that reaches all in the most positive way.” 

Fashion can be a fairy tale, as Browne’s SS23 show “Cinderella” imagined. With the CFDA under his helm, he could make that fairy tale a reality for many. 

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