Saturday, January 26, 2019

Thom Browne, a Man of the Hour, Deconstructs Masculinity

Well, this isn't about fiction, but it is very topical.

Traditional masculinity, often characterized as "toxic masculinity," is under assault as never before, in large part as a result of the Me Too Movement. One reads piece after piece these days about how men, and society as a whole, needs to re-examine and re-work just what it means to be a male.

Enter American fashion designer Thom Browne with his latest menswear runway show in Paris. (Click on that link to get a look).

Basically what Browne did this time around was quite literally deconstruct tradition menswear and sew various pieces back together to create new looks.  While some commentators described these as "dresses" or "gowns," they look to me more like "un-bifurcated garments."  But the point seems obvious: men need to take themselves apart and put themselves back together in a different form in order to successfully adapt to social change.

But what about Browne himself? He seems stuck in the mold of wearing mostly very traditional, precisely tailored men's suits and related garments.

So the message remains at best a mixed one.


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