Thom Browne's latest collection looked to French royalty for inspiration and the result was a lush collection of wild proportions, excess and frivolity. That's not to say it wasn't intriguing in its attempt to explore modern menswear and contrasting it with 17th Century French court dressing.

Masculinity and tailoring were explored at Thom Browne's FW19 show today. As the lines blur between menswear and womenswear, more and more designers are trying to figure out how fashion plays into that. Since fashion and most art, tends to reflect or even predict the nearby cultural future, it is no surprise that dangerous designers such as Browne tackles it. There were dress forms that lined the runway, to bring home the idea that these were clothes in flux and still being worked out. What followed was a barrage of tailored garments with all manner of flux: stitched, sewed and glued together to create, oftentimes, confusing clothing - shirts on jackets, pants on shirts, half-coats and the like! For the tamer aspects of the collection, there were form fitting, dress-like layers, fur trimmed gaments and a good amount of accessories to whet the appetite of the bagoholics.

Suburbia gets the Thom Browne treatment for the American designer's SS19 collection. Browne also took the oversized trend that's overtaken the fashion industry and supersized the proportions of his tailored clothing - take that Demna! For those don't want to look like they're wearing a suit made for Lurch or Hermann Munster, there were more palatable proportions, mostly with sea-themed patterns such as crabs or whales.

In recent years, Thom Browne's work load has ebbed somewhat. He no longer collaborates with Moncler or Brooks Brothers for Gamme Bleu or Black Fleece, respectively, so his attention is fully focused on his namesake label. For FW18, he went back to his childhood in Allentown, PA, focusing on childhood memories of playing in the snow. These literal snowmen that walked the snow-filled space wore luxurious fabrics, harnessing the goose down, cashmere and wool, to create a fun and lighthearted collection that offered some great outerwear, accessories - like gloves and oversized scarves - and some weather-inappropriate shorts.

Thom Browne's runway shows are spectacles. Often times the theatricality of his runway shows overshadow the collections themselves, as if the clothes are not why people fly to Paris twice a year for. Because of this, Browne's shows can be a huge hit or a huge misfire. His Spring/Summer 2018 runway show and collection were the former. There has been a lot of focus in fashion and in the media about androgyny and gender identity, all of which is great. Here, Browne dissects that identity question and posits it in terms of clothing. Women can generally wear anything a man can and barely anyone considers them less of a woman. It is even fetishized and made sexy, think of boyfriend jeans or oversized men's shirts worn as dresses. However, it is not the same for men. If a man wears a skirt, he must be Scottish otherwise he's demeaned and called names, as if his masculinity and the essence of what makes him a man is tied to the fact that he has pants on.

Browne's SS18 collection offers a rainbow of dressing options for men from skirt suits to a length shift dress to his signature shrunken suits, which women have been buying from the start of Browne's label. The sad part of this collection is the realization that many of beautiful garments won't be worn by men because of social stigma.

Buying a bespoke suit is akin to purchasing a couture gown. There was numerous fittings and measurements to be taken. For FW17, Thom Browne offers a cynical view of the bespoke suit experience by showing a series of ill-fitting suits with bad proportions and fit. Though for the man who has to laboriously get fitted at multiple intervals and get fitted (and re-fitted) for their suit, the majority of the world likely will play the world's tiniest violin for his struggle. That's what Browne, in essence, did here and the myriad iterations of his classic gray suits was the foundation of this collection.

Thom Browne's runway shows are sometimes more memorable than the clothes he offers. They are spectacles that can range from political to silly to ridiculous to just plain fun. His Spring/Summer 2017 show was the latter. Like the drunk shark during Katy Perry's Super Bowl Half Time Show a few years ago, this runway show was equally as camp and fun, with a shark parading throughout the show, looking for its next victim. One outfit even had a cut out in the trousers in the shape of a shark bite, though rest assured the model's legs were just fine.

What of the clothes? Well, they too were a spectacle in workmanship from the more costume-y feathered bird outfits to the much more wearable sportswear like short suits in ice cream colors. Meanwhile the bathing suits with the outline resembling Browne's iconic austere grey suits are sure to be editorial favorites.

Thirteen main outfits was what Thom Browne created. Though the collection showcased over 30, they were variations of the thirteen. The different versions came in pristine elegance and devolved, or evolved, into tattered iterations. This season, Browne's timing is touch and go, after an ill-timed collection of masked marauders for Moncler, Browne's take on pre- and post-Depression Era dressing is completely in tune with the corroding financial stability of the world economy. Billions of dollars have dissipated in mere days and this collection's narrative on the rich and wealthy lavishing in their fur trimmed wears and then wearing threadbare clothes is quite poignant.

Thom Browne unveiled a new collection during NYFW:M, one that focuses on more approachable designs, entitled The Officeman. As the name implies, these designs are for white collar workers who wear suits on the daily and appreciate the off-kilter and often subversive designs of Browne without all the accouterments of the main runway line.

Thom Browne has a large following in Japan, he also recently opened a new store there so the American-born designer has been to that tiny but powerful country a lot lately. It's no surprise that he came away with lots of inspiration. His partner is also the curator of the new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC entitled "China: Through the Looking Glass" so Browne's mind has admittedly been on Asia.

For his SS16 collection, it was all about Japan, from ghostly faced models in kimonos to traditional wooden shoes. There were elements of geishas, samurai warriors, setting suns, cherry blossoms and beautiful landscapes sewn into lightweight and boxy suits.

Being inspired by a culture and appropriating it is a very thin line, one that various designers sometimes cross without realizing which may be the case here. The complexity and craftsmanship is then overshadowed by gross insensitivity.

See the full collection here.

Thom Browne's penchant for theatrics can get out of hand but when he's able to pull himself back from the brink of ostentatiousness, his shows can be quite good. Take his FW15 runway show, a procession of mourners in all black. There was nary a fabric in existence that didn't make it into the collection, in the hopes of adding dimensions and depth to the morbid and morose collection. Indeed they did. Fur, tulle and taffeta softened the looks and played on this season's theme of masculine/feminine clothing. Top hats with veils, morning (or in this case, mourning) coats, and exquisite tailoring were some of the highlights while the "play" Browne orchestrated - the reason for the funeral - was probably unnecessary and likely took away from the excellent clothing. The clothes spoke for themselves, so much so that anything extra was just that.

See the full collection here.

Thom Browne's core business does perfectly well so when he shows his eponymous collection during Paris Fashion Week, it is all about experimentation and how distorted he make his famous grey suits look. For SS15, padded suits in seersucker and madras looked great and resembled the nerves and muscles that make up the body. Plastic face masks and sailor masks anchored almost every look and helped create a very futuristic feel while floral appliqué signaled that this was indeed a Spring/Summer collection, should anyone ask. In all, it was an interesting exercise in volume, if not all that practical in daily life but then again, if you want practical, Browne offers a plethora of shrunken grey suits to buy every season.