It is impossible to be sad in seersucker. It is impossible to be angry. It’s impossible to walk around with a frown in that light, striped puckered baby soft cotton textile. Thom Browne knows that, and in conjunction with FarFetch, the label hosted a party celebrating the world’s happiest fabric at NeueHouse last night.
Browne himself said a few words about the fabric; “It is something so classic and something in fashion that people don’t think about because there is such a stereotype to it in regards to it being so classic,” he said. “I love taking it and doing different things to it and conceptualizing it.” And people sure did conceptualize it—all the Thom Browne team members sported wonderfully wild iterations of seersucker as they greeted guests. There was former Vogue Market Editor Kelly Connor, now the Director of Brand Relationships, who wore a darling anchor print seersucker suit jacket of Talking Heads-proportions. (She donned it as a dress.) Vice President of Communications Matthew Foley, a dead ringer for younger and taller Jude Law greeted guests in a seersucker skirt set and a Nike baseball cap. But a seersucker skirt set was just the beginning of just how much of the material was present. The guests, which included Stranger Things‘s Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton, Game of Thrones‘s Maisie Williams, and the dashing actor Lee Pace, walked into a room that was laden with seersucker, including a super long picnic-style table that was covered in seersucker with tiny seersucker napkins to match. There were even seersucker flowers!
Most everyone wore Thom Browne, and if they did not, they wore seersucker in their own way. Mister Mort aka Mordechai Rubenstein, everyone’s favorite jovial mensch and street style photographer, wore a monogrammed white polo shirt and a pair of rainbow tinged seersucker pants. “It breathes better than anything and you still look like a gentleman!” he said. “The name seersuckah says it all!” In lieu of a pocket square, he wore packets of Lactaid tablets. Next to Rubenstein was beloved model Ruby Aldridge, who wore a Thom Browne mini skirt, a pert white shirt, and teeny tie. “I’m giving Tatu vibes,” were all the things she said. In lieu of her pocket square was a Juul. (Browne should think about making seersucker Juul covers.) Nightlife master Richie Shazam was fabulous in a sleeveless seersucker dress. And among all of the be-striped adults, an adorable toddler in a seersucker onesie galloped around.
As for the scenery, which included a beach backdrop, Browne displayed several of his runway pieces from the Men’s Spring 2020 and Spring 2019, 2015, and 2012 collections. (Much of these looks included, or at least winked, at the use of seersucker.) It was a transfixing, fantastical sight to see up close. Broadway powerhouse and Tony-award winning producer Jordan Roth was observing the creations, wearing a piece from Men’s Spring 2020 himself, a candy-striped skirt suit with elegant voluminous hips. His pompadour-meets-ponytail was fastened with a Thom Browne signature: a red, white, and blue ribbon. “The idea is that he [Browne] is digging into the exaggerated feminine form and the exaggerated masculine form in conversation with each other is so smart,” said Roth. “Not to mention I appreciate a waist!”
After cocktails, guests were seated and enjoyed a family-style dinner. There were plates of butter-poached lobster, chorizo and corn, and white wine steamed clams, all of which was served with a seemingly bottomless fountain of Krug Champagne. Dessert was a Boston cream pie in the shape of a bite-size Twinkie on a wooden stick. The Stranger Things couple, Dyer and Heaton, seemed right at home at this out-of-this-world picnic. When asked about seersucker, Dyer responded with the following: “It’s very nostalgic. It makes you think of summer. As soon as you see it and wear it, it harkens back to a specific part of life,” said Dyer. “It’s impossible to be mad in seersucker.” That is to say, she was very happy while saying this.
