Marcy Carmack

Thom Browne

I met Thom Browne years ago through mutual friends. At the time, he was making beautiful bespoke suits and had just started to do ready-to-wear, mainly at Bergdorf Goodman. As Cecil Beaton stated, "people of style know that abstract good taste counts for nothing, the real task is always to express their own personalities. Their personal tastes are more important than common chic, and they have always gone against the current in order to arrive at something intensely individual." Thom's essence is such.

Every time I went to New York over the years, I would visit him in his "shop" in the meatpacking district. Not many people in San Francisco knew him back then, even though he was already selling in Japan and Europe including the hippest boutique in Paris ... Colette.

Thom's influence is vast. After the folly of 'casual Fridays', he brought the suit back to a younger generation of 30 and 40 year olds. Thom has been a driving force for a whole new interest in menswear. He won the the CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year in 2006, his work has been included in The Cooper-Hewitt's 2006 National Design Triennial and he has received many other accolades. Thom also designs the exciting Moncler Gamme Bleu line along with his namesake collection.

This week in San Francisco, Black Fleece, a joint venture between Thom and Brooks Brothers, opens its doors on Fillmore Street. San Francisco is lucky to have the first Black Fleece store outside of Manhattan.

Black Fleece 2223 Fillmore Street 415.931-2203