THOM BROWNE VISUAL AUDIT
TABLE OF
CONTENTS pg. 4 introduction pg. 6 history of thom browne pg. 8 target consumer pg. 10 customer profile pg 12 visual messages in store design pg. 18 thom brown store exteriors pg. 22 visual messages in social media pg. 26 visual messages in lookbooks pg. 28 visual messages in brand website pg. 30 visual messages in collaborations pg. 34 thom browne art installations pg. 40 visual messages in runway set pg. 46 my reccomendations for thom browne pg. 48 who the brand should collaborate with next
Thom Browne is one of the most renowned mens suit makers in the world, consistently shocking the fashion world with his take on suits. Over the last 20 years, Thom Browne has pushed to rethink the way mens work and formal wear should appear. Born in Allentown, PA Thom Browne studied at Notre Dame. After a failed acting career, he began working at Giogio Armani’s NYC showroom. He was scouted by Club Monaco, and eventually was pulled to work under the direction of Ralph Lauren. He created his ready to wear brand in 2001 from NYC, and has continued to work on expanding his offerings. He opened his first store in 2003. Thom Browne is best known for reinventing the mens suit, and was catipulted to be a household name after dressing Michelle Obama for the 2013 inauguration. He is still the chief creative officer to date and has been working on collaborations and expanding product categories.
2001
launched his line of madeto-measure menswear
2006
2011
he won the CFDA menswear designer of the year
2004
launched his first ready-towear menswear collection
HISTORY OF
launched a women’s readyto-wear in spring
2008
he won GQ designer of the year
2018
Ermenegildo Zegna bought a majority stake in the brand at 85%
2013
he became widely recognized after dressing Michelle Obama for the presidential inauguration
THOM BROWNE
WHAT DOES HE SELL?
mens product offerings include suits, shirts, pants, shors, knits, ties, wallets, grooming products, perfume, leather goods, eyewear, and footwear for men and women
WHO DOES HE SELL TO?
age: 25-45 year olds primarily city dwellers they are professionals, college educated, businessmen and women, and they have high paying jobs they make over $100,000 a year customers are very loyal to thom browne because it’s unique aesthetic
WHAT IS THE VISION? uniformity that is effortlessly cool
CUSTOMER PROFILE
name: thomas choe age: 34 lives in: london, england occupation: curator at the victoria and albert museum salary: $200,000 psychographics: thomas has been a fan of the thom browne brand for years. he is one of the brands cult followers. while his whole wardrobe cannot be thom browne, he buys his favorite and most important suits and jackets from the designer. he likes the way you can distinctively tell it is thom browne based on the length. he owns 4 thom browne ties.
VISUAL MESSAGE IN STORE DESIGN mid-century modern furniture desk motif throughout stores emphasis on white blinds reflective floors, walls, and ceilings harsh florescent light fixture color scheme of gray, black and white the store juxtaposes the americana red, white and blue colors of the collections
thom browne milan store
thom browne london store
thom browne new york city store
thom browne miami store thom browne hong kong store
thom browne shanghai store
thom browne tokyo store
thom browne stores thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom thom
browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne browne
-
beijing san li tun beijing shin kong place busan shinsegae centum city chengdu taikoo li dubai gyeonggido hyundai pangyo hong kong sar london macau sar miami milan milan rinascente nagoya mitsukoshi nanjing deji plaza new york osaka hankyu umeda men osaka hankyu umeda women osaka hankyu chocolate osaka shinsaibashi daimaru tokyo aoyama tokyo hankyu yurakucho tokyo shinjuku isetan men tokyo shinjuku isetan women tokyo shibuya parco paris made to measure atelier seoul hyundai coex seoul hyundai main seoul galleria luxury hall seoul shinsegae main seoul shinsegae gangnam shanghai ifc shanghai reel hangzhou tower
ALL IN A DAY’S WORK
dover st market in-store display
THOM BROWNE STORE EXTERIORS
thom browne store exterior
thom browne bergdorf goodman window display thom browne x barneys new york installation dover street market thom browne window display in ginza, tokyo 2017
dover street market thom browne window display in ginza, tokyo 2016
thom browne store exterior
thom browne store exteriors are simplistic and most feature the motif that follows through the store of the blinds. they mimic a traditional office space, the theme of all thom browne stores there are no window displays in mono-brand thom browne stores thom browne window displays have been done in multi-brand stores like bergdorf goodman, barneys and most recently, dover st market. uniformity is a strong theme in the window displays with many repeating elements. animals are often featured in the window displays.
VISUAL MESSAGE IN SOCIAL MEDIA thom browne brand has a number of active and passive social media websites including instagram, facebook, youtube and twitter. active channels: instagram, facebook, and youtube passive channels: twitter the brand uses IGTV and they stream their runway shows live
thom browne youtube
thom browne twitter
thom browne facebook
thom browne instagram
most active channel 1 M followers 3 posts/week
less active posts only around runway show times 150,000+ followers
less popular channel reposts from facebook and instagram
only 2.33k followers posts bts different content than other channels
VISUAL MESSAGE IN LOOKBOOKS
the thom browne lookbooks are uniform and grayscale. the models face forward and with little expression. they are well accessorized and sometimes feature props. lookbooks come out for resort and pre-fall collections.
VISUAL MESSAGE IN THE BRAND WEBSITE the thom browne website is just as thoughtful as every other visual message the brand communicates with. the landing page features the fw 2020 show. everything on the landing page is in b&w until you hover over it, where it pops with the classic thom browne americana accents.
it features tabs for mens, womens, fragrance, collections and world, which features journal entries and their made to measure website. everything is layed out in a grid. it is uniform and repetitive, much like the brand. cover images of some sections of their website are videos. the brands collaborations are very present on the website.
THOM BROWNE X HARRY’S
MONCLER X THOM BROWNE
THOM BROWNE X UNKNWN WYNWOOD THOM BROWNE X SAMSUNG
VISUAL MESSAGE IN COLLABORATIONSS
THOM BROWNE X COLETTE
THOM BROWNE X SUPREME
thom browne has even worked on collaborations with neiman marcus + target in order to put a jacket in target stores at an affordable price point. this again drives the idea that thom browne would like to be a household name.
thom browne collaborations have ranged through so many different industries. he has done collaborations most recently with Harry’s to make a 24k gold razer. There is also the widely anticipated thom browne flip phone with samsung that launched this month. thom browne is looking to be seen as a household name, therefore making household and lifestyle goods.
thom browne palm tree installation at art basel miami 2019
thom browne installation at design miami 2017
THOM BROWNE ART INSTALLATIONS
thom browne’s installations at art basel and design miami help merge the idea that fashion is an art form. he is communicating that not only can he design clothes but he can also design the world in which the clothes exist in.
this is the art piece that thom browne installed at the cooper hewitt museum. it merges fashion and art. it also is a statement on uniformity, a constant and ever looming theme in browne’s work. here is a similar piece of work, with the same underlying theme at le bon marche in paris france.
VISUAL MESSAGE IN RUNWAY SETS
thom brownes runway sets leave viewers in awe. sets are created with details that shock and surprise (and sometimes make you cringe, like when he sent models down the runway gagged and bound) for each set, an intricate story is created, that invites the viewer to, for even just a few minutes, enter the world of thom browne.
SS 2019
FW 2020
MY RECCOMENDATIONS FOR THOM BROWNE 1. delete the twitter account. it is lacking good content and one retweet per tweet is embarrassing. 2. curate the facebook better. each social media form reaches a unique portion of the audience, they are missing their older customers, with the average age of a facebook user being 40.5 years old. 3. make the journal on the website more noticeable. it has good content and is hidden as a subtab. 4. work on creating more visually stimulating lookbooks. while the uniformity and plain grey make sense for the brand, these lookbooks have the opportunity to tell stories about the specific collection and it is being missed in these lookbooks.
WHO SHOULD THOM BROWNE COLLABORATE WITH NEXT?
1. nike- thom browne has already collaborated with lebron james streetwear brand. a collaboration with nike, could further promote the idea of mixing his style with streetwear. 2. audi- it’s not unheard of for fashion designers to collaborate with automobile brands. this would be a great collaboration because thom browne is already inclined to work with technology brands, so venturing into automobile brands is not too different. i could see a slick sedan with the red, white and blue touches on the interior paired with the sleek gray.
https://news.samsung.com/global/when-technology-meets-fashion-in-conversation-with-designer-thom-browne https://www.culturedmag.com/thom-browne/ https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/12/thom-browne-artist-interview https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/entertainment-general/2013/01/allentown_designer_thom_browne.html https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2015/08/thom-browne-style-suits https://www.vogue.com/article/thom-browne-fall-2020-beauty-hair-makeup-couples-beauty
THE END
THE END