Thom Browne Elevates Us Above the Mundane 
“If Browne has always been determinedly, even defiantly, sui generis in his work, the outside world was tapping at his window today.” This statement from Tim Blanks’ enjoyable writeup on Thom Browne’s Fall 2013 show got me thinking about authors of their own reality. In fashion, this means folks like Diana Vreeland, Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. They are storytellers (were, in the case of Vreeland and McQueen, but I get sloppy with tenses when someone’s legacy is still so vivid. The internet keeps everything alive.) and aspire to archetypes. Their stories elevate us above the mundane, and they are often controversial figures. In the case of Vreeland’s authorship, she never let facts get in the way because that would be boring. “There’s only one very good life and that’s the life you know you want and you make it yourself.”
