The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has announced unanimously electing Thom Browne as its next Chairman, effective January 1. He succeeds Tom Ford, and will serve a two-year term heading up the trade organization that counts over 450 designers as members.
Browne’s career trajectory aligns with the CFDA’s values: He launched his eponymous label in 2003, and has since established a recognizable line that reframes and reconceptualizes suiting and tailoring with inventive, subversive details. The brand’s grey dresses, jackets and trousers are distinct, bearing a recognizable red, white and blue-striped insignia.
Browne became a member of the CFDA in 2005. He has been the recipient of CFDA’s prestigious Menswear Designer of the Year award three times: in 2006, 2013, and 2016. He was also a runner-up winner of the 2005 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. In addition to serving on the CFDA Board of Directors, Browne is a past member of the organization’s Admissions Committee and serves on the current Selection Committee for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.
“Thom understands the steps that are required to build an American fashion business that’s both successful and highly respected by the global fashion community,” said CFDA Chief Executive Officer Steven Kolb, in a statement. “He started as an independent menswear collection in New York, and developed his brand into a fast- growing, profitable business with a strong global presence.”
“I am very excited about taking on the chairmanship of the CFDA…,” said Browne. “I feel a huge responsibility in working with Steven and the CFDA team to carry on the positive and important work of Tom, Diane and Stan. I, also, feel that it is important to give back to an industry that has supported me so well over the last 20 years. I am so proud to be an American designer… there is so much happening in American design today that the world needs to really see and recognize and truly appreciate.
My most important message is that everyone should have all the opportunities to thrive as designers, but the core of this success has to start from pure creativity. It is our responsibility as designers to keep the story being told in an uncompromisingly creative way that reaches all in the most positive way. It is the mission of the CFDA to support and encourage new voices and new designers to parlay their creativity in to a unique and singular level of success. As designers, it is our responsibility to provoke…to educate… to entertain…to make laugh and to make cry…and, most importantly, to make beautiful clothes and to succeed in nurturing the next generation of American design.”
—
Photo Credit: Ovidiu Hrubaru / Shutterstock.com