Thom Browne closes out New York Fashion Week with nod to Edgar Allan Poe

Designer Thom Browne closed out New York Fashion Week, presenting his latest inventive designs to the words of Edgar Allan Poe’s chilling “The Raven.”

With celebrities like Janet Jackson and Queen Latifah in the front row on Wednesday evening at a theatre space in Manhattan, Browne did what he does best, displaying feats of intricate tailoring and taking his time to weave a tale.

Actress Carrie Coon recited Poe’s bleak story of a lover mourning his lost love, Lenore, when he is visited by the black bird who constantly repeats, “Nevermore! Nevermore!”

Browne, now chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, who over the years has placed his shows in mock cathedrals, magical gardens, even on faraway planets.

As always, Browne’s models did not strut a runway but instead were players in his fantasy, walking deliberately and serenely around a wintry wasteland filled with snow and bare trees.

As the audience filed in, one of those “trees,” a man on stilts in a huge puffer coat, or gown, stood silently.

Once the drama began, four young children emerged from that coat, eventually sitting in the snow as the poem began.

“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,” Poe's words went, “as of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.”

The procession began. Of nearly 50 looks, everything was in black-and-white - typical of Browne's color discipline - with a little gold at the end.

In the first look, an imposing black headpiece made it seem like a raven was perched on the model's head.

In the second, black birds emblazoned a white coat that itself covered a black jacket and skirt.

Some silhouettes were long and sleek, others boxy or cinched tightly at the waist.

Bags included a number of variations of the Hector - a dog-shaped bag in honour of Browne’s pet of the same name.

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