Thom Browne Presents Whimsical Spring 2013 Collection

Thom Browne, known for his usually somber palette, delighted onlookers at New York Public Library's Edna Barnes Salomon room earlier this week with a colorful array of variegated ensembles and diverse prints — some conservative like plaid, and others more imaginative, revealing sea animals like whales and seahorses applied with jewels or springing to life from their pink and orange backdrops. But Browne's carnivalesque Spring 2013 collection was most notable for its hyperbolic shapes, which added volume and dimension to the doll-like mannequins. Browne's inspiration? 20th-century German Bauhaus artist Oskar Schlemmer, whose work emphasized the form and movement of the human body. “And I’m continuing to expand on that whole preppy thing I started with in the men’s [spring-summer 2013] collection,” Browne told Los Angeles Times.

The eternal entertainer, Browne delivered a memorable spectacle. A line of ballerinas in silvery pointe shoes and Gone With The Wind-esque hoop dresses paved the way for bun-wearing models, who proceeded to parade a range of, first, gray, then green and pink and orange ensembles — all culminating in the fittingly bizarre 1978 hit "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush. Somewhere between dream and nightmare, in the fantastical style of Alice in Wonderland, Browne brought a much-needed touch of whimsy to New York Fashion Week.

Check out Thom Browne's Spring 2013 Menswear collection:

Get Uinterview's FREE iPhone App For Daily News Updates here.