Normal Guy Tries to Wear a Thom Browne Suit

David Katz at Esquire tries on a signature Thom Browne skinny, high-water suit. Are the results laughable?

Thom Browne is a tiny guy -- maybe five six and very thin -- and he is sometimes criticized for making clothes that look good only on him. As Browne instructed his assistant on which samples to pull, I wondered aloud if his suits were really going to work on a guy my size: six feet, 185 pounds. In the course of his answer, he walked me through the history of his designs.
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Browne assured me his suits could be tailored to any size (within reason), as long as the proportions were maintained. And I was somewhat encouraged by the fact that there was another guy of average size in the store trying on a seersucker number, though I was less encouraged by the fact that he kind of looked like an ass. I sucked in my gut and tried on jackets, and I somehow managed to squeeze into the second one. Still, I felt like Chris Farley in David Spade's blazer, and it seemed as if the thing was one quick exhale from becoming a $4,000 rag. I emerged from behind the dressing panel expecting a chuckle and a new, roomier blazer. Instead I got, "Oh, that one's perfect. Now let's do the pants."
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Browne carefully outlined the proper way to wear his suit: tie tucked in and clipped, button-down collar left unbuttoned, no belt, and no socks. The rules of nonconformity, it seemed, were more fascistic than I had imagined. "Of course, the most important thing is that you're comfortable," he said, unbuttoning my jacket and allowing me to exhale for the first time in fifteen minutes.

The answer is yes, although Katz does manage to have a bit of an adventure showing off his "expensive affectation" (and mostly suffering for it.)




I have to admit that I do like a good deal of what Browne is all about, and by that I mean his effort to keep the suit relevant. The crisp, close-fitting 1950s-1960s suit styles I've also long felt were a high point of men's suiting in the modern age, and in general, I admire tastefully anachronistic looks that feel fresh.

Still, there is going too far, and there is really going too far. I've always viewed Browne's signature style as costume-like, and his laundry list of details necessary to properly wear his (evidently uncomfortably tight) suit does little to challenge the idea that his look is anything less than a complete affectation.

Worse, it's an affectation of the most buffoonish kind: one that makes the wearer actually look less attractive.

Men's fashion should still retain at least some vague semblance of practicality, and of not being so vapidly affected -- lest one look like a clown. Additionally, a look so entirely contrived rarely stands the test of time, and is hardly usable for the vast majority out there.

Combine the old with the new, yes, yes, but don't do so if it looks cartoonish. That's the real thing we should be learning from Thom Browne.

That said, his Brooks Brothers Black Fleece lineup is, for the most part, killer. But, you know, that's another thing entirely.

[Link to Esquire article]