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This is an edition of the newsletter Show Notes, in which Samuel Hine reports from the front row of the fashion world. Sign up here to get it free.
We’re in the thick of awards season, which means that brands are at their most desperate to get their clothes on VIPs in the hopes of creating viral marketing moments. With unprecedented levels of attention trained on celebrities and what they wear, the styling landscape is increasingly competitive—when Kendrick Lamar wore flare jeans at the Super Bowl, more than one brand claimed credit in my inbox. (As you probably know, the jeans were Celine.) In our new reality, where an A-lister wearing something can dominate days of conversation on social media, no occasion is off limits for a fashion credit. Case in point: Saint Laurent has been sending out regular PR blasts highlighting A$AP Rocky’s outfits as he attends court in Los Angeles to face two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
Sitting astride this wacky system (in thigh-baring tailored gray shorts) is Thom Browne, the grand poobah of American fashion design—he is the reigning chairman of the CFDA—and the unexpected king of celebrity dressing in 2025. On Tuesday afternoon, Browne was backstage at The Shed about an hour before his Fall 2025 runway show would officially drop the curtains on New York Fashion Week. Male models with shiny hair licked to their heads were slipping into bright gingham shirts and heavy tweed coats. But the performance everyone was talking about was from a couple weeks before, when Doechii brought the house down at the Grammys with a spectacular performance that served as an ode to Browne’s twisted vision of American menswear.
On a night stacked with talent, the Tampa rapper dominated the stage. Her outfit was key: in a shrunken Thom Browne shorts-suit, she was the boss. Her 30 backup dancers, also kitted out in identical versions of Thom Browne’s iconic wool flannel tailored uniform, elevated the performance to an indelible spectacle. In an unforgettable denouement that could only work in Browne’s aesthetic universe, the dancers ripped off Doechii’s suit to reveal her stark white Thom Browne undergarments.
Doechii took home the Grammy for best rap album (wearing a different Thom Browne suit, with gray bell-shaped pannier trousers), but this was her true superstar turn, an artist in total command of her craft who also understands the radical creative possibility of high fashion.
Backstage in New York, the ever-understated Browne raised his eyebrows as he recalled the Grammys performance. “It was amazing,” he remarked.
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Browne is no stranger to high profile stages. Michelle Obama wore one of his dresses to her husband’s second inauguration, and in 2018 LeBron James led his Cleveland Cavaliers squad to playoff games wearing matching Thom Browne suits. Unlike many big fashion houses, Browne doesn’t pay celebrities to wear his clothing—James actually bought the playoff outfits himself.
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