show, <\/a>staged in an airy theatre on Manhattan\u2019s far west side, began with two huge doors opening on an imaginary shop. A few shoppers entered in tweeds and tall, stovepipe-like hats, a vaguely 19th-century look. One group together carried an extra-long \u201cHector\u201d bag, with three sets of handles.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cNew York, where you come to find yourself,\u201d announced the soundtrack. \u201cA lifelong search, a lifetime of questions \u2026 finally and completely answered.\u201d The \u201cTeddy Talk\u201d was beginning.<\/span><\/p>\nThe speaker or \u201chead bear\u201d was dressed in a signature Browne grey flannel short suit, but with a teddy-themed hat and bear-like shearling gloves and platform boots. Via the soundtrack, he told his bear-filled audience about his favourite New Yorkers who had been lost, until they came to this store, \u201cto find their true selves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n A procession followed of 25 smartly dressed adults, both women and men in various tweeds and flannels but with the classic looks brightened with bright colours \u2014 red, white and blue trim, or sometimes gold and green. Their hair was styled in dramatic topiary-like creations amounting to head-topping modern sculptures. But the fantasy element was yet to come: a second procession of 25 more models, each a \u201ctoy version\u201d of one of the previous 25.<\/span><\/p>\nThese human toys had splotchy makeup and exaggerated features. The toys they represented were old-school, like Slinkys, those classic coloured alphabet blocks, or jack-in-the-boxes. Each \u201cadult\u201d element was exaggerated \u2014 sometimes literally blown up to fantastical proportions. Accessories were particularly fanciful, especially those alphabet-block shoes \u2014 literally piles of blocks which, it must be said, were better navigated by the female models than the men.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nIn the front row was recent Grammy winner Jon Batiste, in a checked Browne suit, and actor-musician Leslie Odom Jr. in a cream-coloured shorts ensemble, among others. Vogue\u2019s Anna Wintour, three days away from the Met Gala she runs, was next to Andrew Bolton, head of the Met\u2019s Costume Institute and curator of the exhibit to be launched by the gala, \u201cIn America: An Anthology of Fashion.\u201d Bolton is also Browne\u2019s life partner.<\/span><\/p>\nThe culmination of the sartorial storytelling was a \u201cmeeting\u201d of the two groups, when both the adults and their toy versions came back out, then turned to face and actually speak to each other, laughing and smiling. Models laughing and talking on the runway? That may have been the most unique element of all. \u201cFinding your true self,\u201d the speaker intoned at the end. \u201cUnique. Authentic. Confident. Always be true to yourselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 500 audience members were sitting in neat rows, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12371,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,876,475],"tags":[348],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
TEDDY TALK AT THOM BROWNE - Front Row Edit by Cameron Tewson<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n