Thom Browne’s latest project celebrates the Art, Hope and Love of Running

Thom Browne celebrated the release of a new portfolio of prints and limited edition line with a Champagne reception and a short talk at the Pierre Augustin Rose Gallery in New York on Thursday night.

During the interview, Browne was joined by London-based actor Robbie Lawrence, author Durga Chew-Bose and curator Aaron Stern to discuss their contributions to the creative project, which comes from the designer’s latest collaboration with Asics.

Shot over the course of 10 days, the project, titled “Hour of Action,” captures a series of images on the streets, restaurants, trains, buildings and scenery of Tokyo.

The result is a work of daily life in Japan, with actors wearing the Thom Browne signature paired with the designer’s latest sneakers and Asics. And thanks to Browne’s recent association with Asics, it’s only fitting to have a series of photos and videos focused on running, with some subtle nods to punk youth culture and decades of heritage.

Browne, who has noted that he often thinks of new ideas while running, noted during the interview that this visual project was about “hope,” which allowed him to pass the creative reins to Lawrence to bring the depth of his photography skills to the project “without restriction.”

“I was hoping [Lawrence] and I’ve given 25 years of my career,” Browne said. [Lawrence’s] an explanation of what I do in a good, new and interesting way.”

Lawrence, who noted that he works a lot in long-term settings, added that it was “unusual” to be given the freedom Browne had to reinterpret someone else’s work.

Lawrence said: “The whole idea came from me reaching out to Tom and asking him to let me use my ideas about what he’s been doing in his work and use it in photography without a lot of restrictions. And in the same way, Aaron took my work and reinterpreted it. So, I think it was an interesting way to allow people to trust each other about their work in a spontaneous way.

To combine these images into lines, Chew-Bose lent her creative voice to the text to explain how these ideas could be translated into prose-based stories – suggesting themes found in the rich history of Browne and Lawrence’s work.

For his part, Chew-Bose added at the event that while developing the zine article, he talked to Brown and Lawrence a lot about “doing one thing at a time.”

“There are cycles, there is passion, there are artists who always feel a sense of urgency about reinventing themselves,” Chew-Bose explained. “And there are artists who want to break out of the same thing, or, like, re-plan and re-tour, and I think Thom and Robbie share that.”

“You always have a picture in your mind of what you’ve done with your career,” Browne added. “And I think that’s something that’s always been very important to me, is to create something that validates the reason for doing what I do.”