Thom Browne Fall 2023 Ad Campaign

Review of Thom Browne Fall 2023 Ad Campaign by Creative Director Thom Browne and Photographer Emma Louise Swanson with models Lulu Wood and Rockwell Harwood

To the lighthouse: Thom Browne heads to the coast with its sunny and surreal Fall 2023 campaign. The campaign features creative direction from Mr. Browne himself with photography and video direction by Emma Louise Swanson.

The campaign’s abstract narrative unfolds at the famous lighthouse of Montauk, where the land meets the sea and the sky overlooks curving coastline and endless waves. The north-of-New-York setting feels like the perfect place for Thom Browne’s signature blend of east coast elite tailoring and surreal charm.

Layered up in gray, the eclectic characters who populate this space play the roles of lighthouse keepers and sea voyagers. Swanson’s photographs draw a tremendous amount of energy out of the sweeping natural beauty of the landscape, while her well-dressed human subjects create an evocative and inscrutable counterpoint. In a fun nod to art history, one image in particular pays obvious homage to Andrew Wyeth’s “Christina’s World,” but replaces the farmhouse with a lighthouse and the emaciated dust bowl waif with a classically Thom Browne prepster.

With bite-sized running times perfect for TikTok or Instagram stories, the accompanying series of videos seems to draw inspiration from the cinematic symmetry and twee spirit of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. The cute vignettes find their characters skinny dipping, reading Moby Dick on the beach, or picnicking in the shadow of the lighthouse.

Responding to real-life escapist desires with a subtly elevated sense of surrealism and artistic references, the campaign is classic Thom Browne.