On a perfectly manicured green with grass on the walls and sports trophies adorning the whimsical set, out marched strapping visions of manhood to the soundtrack of a tennis match going on. Yes, it is the Thom Browne show, “the craziest show on earth!” as proclaimed by one of his models at his last showing. With previous setpieces including an icerink and a recreation of a circus, it’s clear a sense of theatre is integral to this former actor’s presentations. A sense of perversity prevailed the proceedings. Backstage, Browne said, “Tennis wasn’t the starting point or the inspiration for the season. It was just that I wanted to embroider fabrics with tennis rackets.”

His show was witty, thought provoking, entertaining and above all still showed some impeccable tailoring in very beautiful fabrics, elevated to an almost couture level – “I hope that people see that it’s very seriously made. It’s not just frivolous fashion.” Thrown into the mix however was the daring use of feminine elements in a masculine context such as the use of tulle to suggest tutus, and shorts that resembled skirts from the front. “It’s just promoting different ideas, showing people different things, having fun.” And as for the finale of the model in fencing mask in wedding dress? “It was just fantasy. Sheer fantasy.”

 Browne is undoubtedly a revolutionary. People may have sniggered at his shrunken, Pee Wee Herman silhouette when it first debuted but Browne had the last laugh, as his army of dapper men wearing ankle skimming trousers grows. “I had no clue that that would happen. I just wanted to do it for myself. Of course I wanted other people to want it but past that I didn’t know it would become so widely spread.”