Thistle Browns creative journey
Brown is a fashion editor/stylist, photographer, editor, and model. He is known as charming, beautiful, big-hearted, and a hard worker. And his clothes — they are wild. His love for fabric is so romantic. Luckily for us he is in his last year at university, which means shortly we can watch him take the world by storm. Thistle Brown is a bright young thing currently turning heads in with his rich, electric-colored creations. A future that is already looking as bright as his electric-hued garments, there is an undeniable sense of fun in his pieces. In his first collection Brown casts knitwear onto synthetic rubber, a slightly strange, almost humorous contrast of natural and synthetic influence from the 80s. Thistle Brown’s first job in New York was assisting a Greenwich Village optometrist. The New Zealand-born stylist and photographer would sit in the back and cut frames, add prescriptions to lenses, and dye them unusual colors. This is where his creative learning started. He has now gone on to release his own eyewear brand called ‘Thistles’. “A beautiful accident” is how designer/stylist/photographer Thistle Brown describes his expanding career in New York City. He is now talked about in the top renowned magazines worldwide such as Vogue, The Face etc. This gives young students such as myself hope that there is a way for my creative learning to lead me to the big leagues. He is now described as ‘a cross between David Bowie and that girl who walks into a room, and everyone holds their breath at her beauty’ by ‘not just a label’. For someone like me who has a huge interest in photography and may want to start my own brand in the future, Thistle Brown is an idol, someone I can look up to and hope that I become just as successful one day.
It is hard to find any factual information about Brown himself on the internet about his journey and how he got there, but what I have found out is that he has tried everything. He has taken advantage of every opportunity, and it has led him to be a successful creative business owner who lives a beautiful life in New York City doing what he loves. This is what I aspire to be. It is hard to imagine that it all started when he got a job working on glasses in the back of a shop. I have also taken a look at Thistle Browns portfolio and personally I love his work and advise everyone to definitely take a look. It explores aspects of identity, youth culture and performance while remaining raw and orchestrating a seamless connection between allure and ease. His work resonates with me as a young creative myself, and I will be looking back on his work for inspiration in the future. He has worked with some amazing brands that I love such as Birkenstock, Proenza Schoulder, Dazed magazine and The Face magazine. some of my fave images from his portfolio are just one this text!!!
