THE ENDURING NOISIA

Legendary American designer Thom Browne, known for reinventing tailoring and combining it with the wildest imagination, reflects on how he's excelled over his 20-plusyear career by doing what he truly loves

- Cherry Mui

Thanks to the signature shrunken silhouette, fourbar stripe and that specific fgrey, you can spot a Thom Browne fan a hundred metres away. And it is quite the experience to be surrounded by a dozen brand aficionados in outfits they've styled themselves some in mismatched socks adorned with ravens and roses, others in shorts or pleated skirtswhen they converge at Upper House Hong Kong to meet the visionary, who visited the city for the first time in six years.

We ask Browne, who also travelled to Tokyo and Shanghai last year to celebrate his eponymous brand's 20th anniversary, how his signature uniform has been received differently in Asian markets from the west. "You just see the appreciation of it... people see that focused idea, and understand that there's so much more to it," he says.

The brand, which now spans clothing, homeware and more, is available in 40 countries. It's a far cry from its beginnings, when Browne offered five cuts of suit-all with high-waisted trousers and super-tight jackets, just the way the designer loves them himself-in a small, by-appointment-only shop in New York's West Village.

Moving to New York from Los Angeles in the early 2000s, Browne was determined to carve out his own space in the crowded fashion landscape. Rather than simply starting a label, he set out to "reintroduce [tailoring] in a way that made an interesting detail, because the last thing I felt like anybody needed was another designer". This focus on reinventing the classics through proportion became the hallmark of the Thom Browne aesthetic. "I wanted to make sure that I was doing something that really gave the reason to why I was worthy of existing," he explains. "I do like to play with the proportions and take ideas that people think they understand and make them not understand."