Each season Thom Browne has to defeat his previous theatrical presentation, as entertainment has become his fashion raison d’être. This season the designer invited his guests to the infamous Art Nouveau and cabaret Maxims in Paris, to witness his latest performance.

Browne’s signature suiting was reinterpreted with fringing and longer silhouettes. Boxy shaped jackets, sleeveless blazers, belted coats, and baseball jackets were placed with wide trousers and skirts. Variations on pinstripe suiting contrasted with classic shirting as the extravagant, somewhat over-the-top production muddled the message.

Browne's approach to menswear seems to be getting more extreme and while his ambition is clearly to entertain, it may be more beneficial to concentrate more on the fundamental – the clothes. Although many of these pieces will not make it into store, the cabaret of clothes choked some genuinely well-conceived garments that were suffocated by the theatrics.