Ah, Los Angeles. Alluring and always sunny (much to Chloë Sevigny’s chagrin), the destination beloved for film has more recently attracted some of fashion’s heaviest hitters. Thom Browne, the king of East Coast prep and chairman of the CFDA is the latest to get in on the fun. The brand is expanding its footprint with an extensive in-store installation at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, which reopened this year at the southern foot of Rodeo Drive in the former Barneys flagship building.
Browne’s womenswear will be the priority here, and the designer seeks to bring the dramatic, opulent glamour of his runway shows and off-kilter, office-ready silhouettes to the laid-back L.A. customer. A specific Saks capsule will be revealed this weekend, consisting of tried-and-true Thom Browne silhouettes like pleated skirt suits with cheeky brogue heels, plus three different types of tweed that were formulated just for the occasion.
Tweed with a side of tweed, anyone?
The palm tree, a Golden Coast emblem to end all emblems, gets the signature Thom Browne treatment in seersucker and tweed, along with specially made mannequins and a desk plastered in fabric. Perhaps most notably, the first-ever made-to-order animal bag program will be available to shop, allowing customers to reimagine their pet as their very own handbag—a dream for dog moms everywhere. (For the uninitiated, Browne’s own dachshund, Hector, was the inspiration for the original Hector bag.)
Browne views his return to L.A. as a homecoming of sorts. After a short-lived stint as an actor there, he relocated to New York City in the ’90s to start his career in fashion. “It feels so good to be returning to celebrate everything that Los Angeles has to offer,” he tells ELLE.com. “The capsule collection and installations I created are truly perfect for the new Saks Fifth Avenue store…they represent pieces of my world—some new, some old—mixed with the aspiration of old-school Hollywood.”