Thom Browne’s February 2024 runway show at New York’s Fashion Week was an unusual one. Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s poem The Raven, models dressed in predominantly black and white wearing deconstructed tuxedos, bird prints, feather-like ribbons and millinery that resembled birds nests.

Thom Browne 2024 Womenswear Show at NYFW

Thom Browne’s runway shows are infamous for their irreverence and this one was no different. Infused with goth-like elements, a black barren tree and snow scene set the stage for a model on stilts donning a giant 30′ tall puffer coat while an oversized spooky paned window with one broken panel served as the entry for the models to the runway.

“This is dark, but it’s romantically dark. It feels true to the story, so not so happy but romantically beautiful and lovely,” Browne explained, adding, “I’m an American designer; I like people to see that I’m American and the sensibilities that I play with and a lot the iconography [I reference]. Edgar Allen Poe is such an important American author. I thought it important to use a poem from his that felt like the mood I wanted to set.”

The designer went on to say “I’ve been playing with deconstruction for a while, and I love playing with the idea of all the elements of jacket, trouser, skirt, and coat and mixing it in a way that makes tailoring more interesting to people. Thus, a traditional black suit jacket and white shirt combo was rejiggered to lay like a shawl on the shoulder and cinched and exaggerated in the midsection to resemble Victorian waistcoats. A particularly striking style used different iterations of black and white plaids. In some cases, a hump gave volume to the upper back. In others, the shoulders were sharply padded and extremely wide to mimic the blackbird.”

For the finale, four children joined The Raven and sprinkled ‘bird seed’ confetti around the set to a reading of the poem by actress Carrie Coon. Browne’s lead character, The Raven, wore a gold cocoon emblazoned with birds transformed into a skirt and embroidered sweater.

Thom Browne

See the entire runway show here.