“I am so proud to be an American designer and so proud and humbled in taking this position,” Thom Browne said, at a welcome toast hosted by Anna Wintour and Steven Kolb for the new CFDA Chairman.
He was speaking to a high-fashion crowd that included Vera Wang, Michael Kors, Donna Karan, Christopher John Rogers, Nicole Miller, Jeffrey Banks, Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia, Francisco Costa, Reed Krakoff, Joseph Altuzarra, Mimi So, Emily Adams Bode Aujla, Elena Velez, Bach Mai, and Yeohlee Teng – “a family reunion,” as Diane von Furstenberg put it.
Browne’s remarks, in the Swan Room at Nine Orchard, couldn’t have been more heartfelt. He thanked his CFDA board officers – Aurora James, Prabal Gurung, Maria Cornejo, and Stacey Bendet Eisner – and paid tribute to previous CFDA Chairpersons Stan Herman, von Furstenberg, and Tom Ford.
“I am humbled to be standing in their shoes,” he said. “I want to thank Andrew [Bolton, Browne’s partner] for being here with me. Ralph Lauren gave me my first job and he is the reason why I am a designer, but Andrew is the reason why I am a better designer every day.”
The crowd, which also included Adam and Ryan Goldston, Beckett Fogg, Phillip Lim, Hillary Taymour, Batsheva Hay, Gigi Burris, Willy Chavarria, Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta, Bach Mai, Georgina Chapman, Cynthia Rowley, Kim Shui and Lee Pace, erupted into cheers on several occasions.
Delivering the perfect anecdote, Wintour recalled how, taking an overnight flight from New York to Milan, she and Browne were seated next to each other. “As those of you who take that flight know, you change into those rather unglamourous pajamas and try to sleep,” she said. “Thom was right next to me, and he sat, bolt upright, perfectly dressed, working the entire time. Every time I woke up, I would look, and there he was. There was something about him that made me think he was a sentinel, watching out for all of us, ready to leap into action. I think that’s exactly what we have in our new leader at the CFDA.”
Kolb, meanwhile, referenced Browne’s “determination and grit.”
“He has the experience. He built an independent small brand into global one with a corporate partner, and one of the things Thom believes in is everything begins with creativity.”
Referencing the famous John F. Kennedy quote – “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” – the CFDA CEO described Browne’s ethos as “what the CFDA can do for designers, and what designers and the industry can do for the CFDA, and that is very refreshing.”
Addressing the room, Browne added, “Each and every one of you inspires me to challenge myself every day in pursuit of pure creativity. My mission is to put creativity at the forefront. My commitment to you in this position is to promote all of the truly unique and diverse stories which make American fashion so unique around the world…in the most pure way…because true success, I believe, should not come at the expense of creativity.”
Amen.
