See Everything You Missed at GQ Bowl

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We're here at GQ Bowl in San Francisco.

It's the second edition of GQ Bowl.

I'm Sam Hine.

And I'm Will Welch.

Will, tell me about this fantastic suit you're wearing

and this fantastic suit that I'm wearing.

What do we, what do we, what do we got going on tonight?

Well, tonight at the GQ Bowl,

we are presenting the Fall 2026 Thom Browne collection.

There's gonna be a full-on runway show.

And where are we right now?

This view is fantastic.

The Golden Gate Bridge is right over there.

The Bay Bridge is right over there,

and we've got this sort of palace behind us.

What's going on?

This is the Legion of Honor,

a museum at the top of Lincoln Park.

I hear there's a bunch of Rodins in there, is that true?

There are, there's also gonna be a gray carpet.

A cocktail party?

A cocktail party.

We're doing some interviews with some key people

that we conducted back at the Thom Browne Atelier.

I hear there's some special names hitting the,

hitting the catwalk tonight, so stay tuned for that.

And plus, we're gonna give you a mini doc on Thom Browne

and the history of his Brook brand.

Sounds like a great night to me.

All right, let's go in there and have some fun.

I think we've done our job here.

Let's do it. All right, cool.

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[Sam] You never know quite what is gonna happen

at a Thom Browne runway show.

Over the course of his career,

the American designer has established himself

as the king of the big top men's fashion spectacle,

presenting his shrunken sewing on ice rinks

and tennis courts, in Renaissance palaces

and make-believe haunted forests.

Browne's shows are windows into his wild imagination,

which is probably why they often invoke outer space.

Sometimes, Browne breaks the catwalk format entirely,

presenting his work through novel performance art pieces

that make waves far beyond the fashion week crowd.

Here are five of Browne's most significant fashion shows

from the past 25 years.

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Fall 2006.

You could call this one Thom Browne on Ice.

In one of his first ever runway shows,

Browne unleashed a bunch of models

on the New York City ice rink.

And his reputation as a rule breaker began to catch on.

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Fall 2009.

One of Browne's most influential statements

came at Pitti Uomo in Florence.

Rather than unveil a new collection,

Browne dressed 40 models in identical gray suits

for a performance that reintroduced

the Thom Browne uniform to the world.

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Fall of 2012.

Thom Browne's famously twisted vision came to life

with an unforgettable runway showdown

between punks and jocks.

A touchstone of Browne's exaggerated tailoring

and rich sense of humor.

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Spring 2018.

In one of his most transgressive collections,

Thom Browne put men in heels, skirts, and dresses.

Most provocatively, it looked great,

ushering in a reconsideration of the men's wear,

women's wear binary.

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Fall 2023 Couture.

Thom Browne's Paris Haute Couture debut

in the Garnier Opera House was a triumph

of American tailoring and craft on the biggest stage yet,

courtesy of a designer and showman

at the height of his craft.

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What will Thom Browne do next?

Stay tuned for your front row seat to GQ Bowl,

live from San Francisco.

The show will be starting shortly.

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[Speaker] Lauren, I'm on ice,

so I'm out here if you need me.

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Just tell me.

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[people talking indistinctly]

[Speaker 2] A tiny bit to your right.

Oh, sorry, to my right, sorry.

Thank you. That's why.

And are you wearing a watch from, here we go.

I'm wearing, oh no, I'm not wearing watch.

[Speaker 2] Okay. Okay, thank you.

I forgot.

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Justin Jefferson, welcome to GQ Bowl.

Appreciate you having me.

Thanks for being here. Looking sharp.

Of course, of course. Thank you, so are you.

Okay, I gotta ask about the non Thom Browne

thing you're wearing, the ice, the jewelry.

Oh, of course, of course.

Which you wear

on the field when Playing. Yeah.

you're playing every game.

And every time I see you on TV, I wonder,

are you nervous that someone's gonna rip it off?

No, not at all.

I feel like I'm known for having the ice,

known for having the jewelry out there.

You know, of course, the teeth.

You know, wearing the chains.

It's all part of the look,

especially being here with Thom Browne,

walking in the show.

I had to, you know, add on my own little,

you know, swagger to it.

So you've walked in one runway show before.

Yeah, right. Vogue World.

What was your preparation like for that

and what did you learn that you're gonna bring

to the Thom Browne GQ Bowl show tomorrow?

Yeah, first of all, the Vogue World was crazy.

You know, obviously, so many different people.

It was hectic, everybody running around with chaos.

But it was honestly interesting.

It was very cool to be in that world for,

you know, once in my life.

And now, I'm kind of understand how it goes

and, you know, how everything looks.

So it's just more calm, cool, and collected nowadays.

And I definitely love what I'm wearing.

So it's just all about walking with confidence,

and just, you know, being the spotlight in the room.

Oh, yeah. [palms clapping]

Appreciate you man. You too.

Of course. Doing great.

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[Photographer] And can I get one where you're holding

that in front? Yeah.

[Photographer] Perfect.

[Speaker 3] Let me right here, please.

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Thank you Armando.

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We got Vinnie Hacker in San Francisco at GQ Bowl.

How you doing? I'm fantastic.

How are you doing?

I'm good. Good.

So you have a very special role in GQ Bowl this year.

Without giving too much away,

can you tease what you're gonna be doing?

You know, we did some walking around the city

kind of to just show how beautiful this whole area is,

and went to great spots, you know,

by the Golden Gate Bridge

and the beach and all that stuff.

The Twin Peaks, I don't want to get too much away,

but it kind of leads into what we're doing at the GQ Bowl,

so it'll be really exciting.

So this will also be your first runway show appearance.

How are you feeling about that?

Are you feeling nervous?

Have you been practicing?

I'm feeling good about it.

Obviously, you know, there's a little bit of nerves there,

but try not to make eye contact with anybody sitting down.

I think that's what I gotta focus on, you know?

Try to stay in the moment.

Right, you gotta, you gotta keep your sort of

the blue steel face on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

It's also a big weekend for you

because you're from Seattle.

[Vinnie] Yep.

How are you feeling about, about the big game?

It's, it's kind of crazy having like,

a bunch of people come up to me and being like,

supporting the Seahawks.

It's kind of scary because it's like,

puts a lot of pressure.

I mean, obviously I, I feel the pressure.

I'm not even on the team,

so I can't even imagine what those guys feel.

[Sam] And you, you actually played football

in high school? Yeah.

Do you think you could cover Justin Jefferson

one-on-ones in your prime and if he had a broken leg?

Oh, if he had a broken leg, maybe.

Maybe? I think I,

it's like a 50 50 shot then, yeah.

So, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna stay back on this one.

Yeah. Fair enough.

Thanks man. [palms clapping]

That was good. That was pretty good.

That was good.

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I'm here with the great DeAndre Hopkins.

DeAndre, good to see you.

Man. Blessings.

You were really a pioneer of this NFL fashion thing.

In the pages of GQ you declared yourself

the most stylish player in football.

[DeAndre] I did.

True then, true now? Where are we at?

I would say true then and true now.

You know, I feel like I'm an artist in all aspects.

Building worlds.

Come on man, just like yourself, and so I feel like the,

the cloths is, you know, what people see publicly, so.

Yeah. For me, you know,

I've never had anyone help me with my fashion.

I've always studied fashion.

I feel like I could, you know,

help others in that aspect as well.

DIY, we love it.

I mean, I'm the only one was wearing a tunnel in 2018

with people. It's true.

A skirt. In what state?

I also wore 2018 in Texas.

That's the great state of Texas.

The skirt that like takes a different level-

Yeah. of chutzpah, let's say.

Yeah, it was tough, man. It was tough. It was tough.

I still get crap about that to this day.

Speaking of the skirt,

Thom Browne known for his pleaded skirts on men.

We were talking about this earlier.

You've never been scared of pushing that

very specific boundary, tell me a little bit about that.

I have a, a sense of style that not every guy has.

Yeah. And you know, just

the way I look at things and so I wanted that to be

portrayed through my fashion.

I mean, I just never, you know,

cared what anyone had to say, man.

We can tell, and that it works for you.

And stay tuned for the show when it comes to all this.

Hey. Hop, you're the best.

Blessings. Thank you. Great to see you.

Thank you sir.

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[Speaker 3] Thank you.

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Marcus Allen. Welcome to GQ Ball.

Appreciate you, brother.

We used to watch you on the grid iron.

Now we see you on the catwalk.

Yes. I gotta ask,

what's the more demanding career,

football player or fashion model?

Honestly, football. I can't, can't, you can't put

that number one in like,

the physicality that comes with football,

preparing for it, like lifting.

It definitely comes with a lot more.

The shorts, I just wanna talk about your outfit for a sec.

The shorts were tailored perfectly

to show off your good vibes tattoo.

Yes. What's the story behind

that? Good vibes, good energy.

That's all I've been pushing my whole life.

'cause whatever you put into this world,

you're going to receive tenfold.

So why did you want to make that pivot

from football to fashion?

It's not like the most obvious sort of career move in,

in retirement, you know, not many guys do that.

What, why did you want to, you know,

start becoming a runway model?

I mean, to be honest, I had a passion

for fashion my whole life.

Right? As growing up,

I wanted to get into modeling because my sister

was doing catwalks at high school,

and I was in middle school.

So going to wise high school and seeing her

actually runway and do have the full look

and everybody eyes on you.

I knew what my lane was going to be after football.

The intensity with which you sort of approached

being a football player really helped you

kind of make that transition to being a model because you-

Yeah. Had to sort of similarly

embrace this like- Yeah.

Hardcore lifestyle.

Overly, I feel as though

if you wanna be elite in something,

you gotta be around the elites

and see how they played a part in it.

I just kind of like try to use

what I've gotten from football,

and just bring it into the fashion lane.

All right. Yeah.

You heard it here first?

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[Speaker 4] Yeah. Thank you so much.

[Speaker 5] Okay.

Beautiful.

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So we are in the Thom Browne GQ Bowl Atelier

with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

What's up, man? Yahya.

You have a special role in this show

and without giving too much away,

can you just like tease it a little bit?

I do a little bit of voice work,

little bit of physical acting, whole lot of storytelling.

How old were you when you first got told

that you have a sexy voice?

Ah! [laughs]

It's just a, it's a question.

I don't know. I might have been-

You said, I do a little bit of voice work.

A little bit of voice work.

[Will] We were sleuthing for a football connection.

Okay? And we found that you

ran track in high school against Marshawn Lynch.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Is that true?

Yeah, that's good work. Basketball too.

[Will] Do you have any good beast mode stories?

He is one of the reasons why I decided to pursue acting.

I saw him on a billboard and then I saw him on TV.

It just broke up the idea that the people in the box-

Yeah? were different.

Mm. You know what I mean?

I was like, Oh shoot, if he could, you know,

get in the box, I could be one of the people in the box.

You know what I mean? Maybe I could too.

[Yahya] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now I'm on the screen, so.

Yeah. Yeah. You've been in the pages of GQ before.

And you also went to the Met Gala with Thom Browne.

Oh yeah. In 2022.

Yeah. What do you remember about

that fitting or that night?

I think that's the best I ever looked.

You star as Wonder Man and I was myself wondering,

does Wonder Man inspire wonder in others?

Or is Wonder Man himself full of wonder?

No, Wonder Man himself is not full of wonder.

But I think through Simon's journey, other viewers,

the audience find the wonder in themselves.

And then Simon gets to feel that a little bit later.

Good sir. Appreciate.

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[Speaker 2] Are you wearing a watch?

I am. Is it possible to see that?

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[person sighing]

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[Yahya] Midway upon the journey of our life

I found myself within a forest

dark.

For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

Ah me!

How hard a thing it is to say

What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,

which in the very thought renews the fear.

So bitter it is,

death is little more.

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But of the good to treat, which there I found,

speak will I of the other things I saw there.

I cannot well repeat how there I entered.

So full was I of slumber

at the moment In which I had abandoned the true way.

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But after I had reached a mountain's foot,

at that point where the valley terminated,

which had with consternation pierced my heart.

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Upward I looked,

and I beheld its shoulders,

vested already with that planet's rays

which leadeth others right by every road.

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And then was the fear

a little quieted

that in my heart's lake had endured throughout the night,

which I had passed so piteously.

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And even as he,

who, with distressful breath,

forth issued from the sea upon the shore,

turns to the water perilous and gazes.

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So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward,

turn itself back to re-behold the pass

which never yet a living person left.

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Day was departing,

and the embrowned air

released the animals that are on earth from their fatigues.

And I the only one [snickers]

made myself ready to sustain the war,

both of the way and likewise of the woe,

which memory that errs not shall retrace.

O Muses,

high genius, now assist me.

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O memory, that didst write down what I saw,

Here thy nobility shall be manifest!

And I began, Poet, who guidest me,

regard my manhood, if it be sufficient,

Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me.

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[Yahya] Through me the way is to the city dolent.

Through me the way is to eternal dole.

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[Yahya] Through me the way among the people lost.

Justice incited my sublime Creator.

Created me divine Omnipotence,

the highest wisdom and the primal Love.

Before me there were no created things,

only eterne, and I eternal last.

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Abandon all hope

ye who enter in!

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