“It’s not like we have to be doing these projects as collaborations,” says Browne of his rapidly growing homewares mini-empire, which already includes partnerships with Baccarat, Christofle, and Haviland. “But it’s a great learning process.” Indeed, for Browne—a long-time customer of Frette—part of the fun was simply discovering the remarkable savoir-faire involved in creating the 160-year-old house’s fabrics, which represent the very finest in Italian craftsmanship.
“I knew exactly how I wanted it to look—I wanted it to feel very classic,” he says of the designs, which include white sateen sheet sets, grey wool-cashmere blankets, and plush terry cotton towels. (Naturally, all come with a Thom Browne twist: the sheets are decorated with four lines of gray embroidery—a nod to his signature stripe motif—while his tricolor grosgrain tabs could be spotted on the cuffs and back collars of bathrobes.)
Photo: Stefania M. D’Alessandro / Getty Images
The items themselves may have been classic, but the mode they were presented in was anything but. As the lights in the room dimmed, and a twinkling Chopin nocturne piped softly from the speakers, a model in one of Browne’s short suits began slowly walking laps around the room, occasionally pausing to check his watch. Next came a procession of models in underwear tanks and shorts to strains of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty waltz, gathering behind the cots as two suited attendants looked on. After dressing in three-piece suits, they tucked themselves into bed and slipped on their Browne-branded sleep masks. “Those were a last-minute addition,” Browne notes of the latter items, which have all the potential to become a traveler status symbol.
