We Guess They Didn't Catch On The FIrst Time Either

Monday, 21 July 2008 13:07

Well, it's been a few years now since Thom Browne introduced his short suits, and despite the hoohah from the press, we still don't see them on anyone.  True, publishing The Cad keeps us behind the typewriter for a fair number of hours these days, and we're not in the office environment as much as we used to be, but we should think that our travels about Manhattan Island would produce more than one or two sightings of this supposed fashion phenomenon.   Yes, we've been drinking and dining in Soho and West Village, areas that are said to be hubs of Thom Browne activity, but the only TB suit we've seen around in the last two months is the one in the window of  Tokio, a second hand clothing store in the East Village.  At a price of $2,500, there are no takers. The accompanying article is from The Los Angeles Times, January 13, 1958.  The 'matador pants' referenced in the highlighted paragraph immediately caught our attention and set us off on a hunt for some archival photographs or illustrations.  Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, and so we have to presume that whatever design house that offered this first genesis of the Thom Browne look never brought them to market.  Thus, it can now be said that the matador look has achieved that difficult rank of timeless style; they've been dismissed by men generations apart.