Thom Browne Closes Out New York Fashion Week in a Bug’s Life Garden
For spring 2027, the designer stayed true to his proclivity for fashion theater, spinning the tale of a butterfly exiting the chrysalis.
The Shed at Hudson Yards was transformed into a surreal, over-the-top, delightfully dark garden replete with giant leaves, huge daffodils, and a glamorous cocoon at the center of it all for Thom Browne’s spring 2027 show. It was the final runway presentation of the NYFW spring 2027 season, and per usual, the designer had made it dramatic as ever. Browne was thinking of the camp-y children’s film A Bug’s Life, and turned his usual remixed tailored suits into wearable gardenscapes blooming with layers of floral motifs, ant embroidery, and butterfly-wing gowns. “For me, it was a very naive childhood story, and I thought it would bring smiles to everybody’s face,” he said backstage right after the show. “I was using the story and working with all the techniques I’ve been working with for the last couple seasons.”
Even if designers are swaying more minimal, moving further away from over-the-top showings, Browne is comfortable staying in his lane of fashion theater. The show opened with a performance by a troupe of dancers who wore sheer white tulle skirts and vintage-inspired leotards, twirling around the bright-green faux grass. (They returned again in time for the show’s final moments.) The collection’s initial gray-tone, heavily layered suits stood as the “moths”; by the end of the runway procession, explosions of color were everywhere as the women turned into butterflies. Kai Schreiber closed the show, emerging from the delicate cocoon in a gray-and-pastel butterfly ensemble while her parents, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, sat front row.
Beyond all the theatrics, it simply wouldn’t be a Thom Browne show without a little bit of a devotion to the extremes. Here, we saw it through the joyful, egg-shaped skirts on dresses—decked out in geometric, insect-like patterns and one particular dress that resembled a monumental ladybug. “Those were my more conceptual ideas,” he said. “I wanted to have fun with this. The clothes are so serious; I just wanted to make sure that I kind of played so it didn’t become too serious.”
Speaking of the satisfyingly unserious, the accessories were definite highlights of the collection. Think: maximal butterfly handbags, and pop art-worthy shoes with adorable cartoon-like bug faces, some with antennas. Things got really interesting when it came down to the construction and craft of combined prints. No one else in this industry can mix and meld plaids, checks, madras, and stripes like Browne, with seamless embellishment and expert tailoring. Some details are almost unbelievable—as magical as talking bugs—like the subtle, textural wonderland effect of the Swiss dots on the opening wool suit.
