Thom Browne’s Spring/Summer 2008 collection opened the season with color, plaids and his unique tailoring while visiting the shoreline. It’s silly attire for the beach visits and more importantly don’t forget your swedish goggles. the opening section was a parade of male models wearing multicolor one piece swimsuits followed by a series of dressed up day looks. The key feature to look at is the tailoring the amount of flesh Browne exposes this season. One of the standout suit looks in the opening section is a charcoal grey suit. The jacket sleeves have been cropped above the elbow which is the new compliment to Browne’s classic cropped hem of his pant. Another great suit combination in the opening section is Browne’s long suit jacket worn with a pair of pleat front shorts. The jacket and short are tailored at the same length on the leg creating a dress-like look on the model. To top the look Browne showed a khaki cotton sleeveless cape in a trench style collar and opening.

Now I must put my foot down and just say that the silk flower covered suit is wrong! For the second section Browne starts to experiment and go a little silly but splashes with a series of great plaid looks. The only miss in this section was the cape and skirts made up of straps. One of the most shocking looks is Browne pairing of two plaid prints in one look. Like the short shorts paired with dress shirt both in different plaid prints. I loved the short sleeve knit cardigan with navy blue stripes on one arm. For the third section Browne focused on a black and white palette. It was a lot of the same looks but just in the black and white color scheme. I thought the use of seersucker fabric was just a little overboard this season. I did love the white and black short-sleeve collegiate cable knit sweater with the black stripes on one arm, a theme he used through out the collection.

There were two other great looks from the collection, first is Browne’s black tuxedo with his signature cropped pant hem and his new short sleeve jacket. Another great look is Browne’s black and white raincoat. A basic white collared raincoat trimmed in black. Everything from the pockets to the cuffs and collars. The look is completed with a pair of black cotton twill capri length pants.

The must have looks from the collection are one suit look and one outerwear look. First is Browne’s green and cream plaid print trench-coat paired with a cream and red plain pant, a great example of Browne’s use of two plain prints in one look. The second must have look is one of Browne’s seersucker looks. I know I said I though his used of seersucker was overboard but I really loved this look. It’s the Browne’s suit with cropped pant legs and jacket sleeves worn with a gray and white wide stripe dress shirt. The wide stripe shirt compliments the small stripes in the seersucker fabric. Thom Browne is riding high on the new trend of short pant cuffs and now he gives us short sleeve sweaters and flawless matching short sleeve suits. Of coarse this high will come down , even Slimane know that but Browne’s strict love for tailoring and thinking outside of the box. This philosophy is really allowing Browne to open doors and develop a strong brand in the American and European market. If only other designers in NYC could follow this lead. Bravo Monsieur Browne!

View complete collection at Wireimage

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