First Down, First Look! Thom Browne & GQ Launch a Football Capsule With a Chic Scrimmage

This season, New York Fashion Week got its very own Super Bowl Sunday—albeit in far more intimate surrounds than any stadium. At the behest of designer and the fashion set’s would-be NFL commissioner Thom Browne—he is the CFDA chairman, after all—the brand’s nearest and dearest gathered on Manhattan’s Upper East Side for a friendly touch-football game in collaboration with GQ. Just a stone’s throw from Browne’s new Madison Avenue boutique and the Sutton Place home he shares with Andrew Bolton—recently restored and originally built for Anne Vanderbilt—the school’s rooftop field house proved an idyllic stage to launch a capsule of football-inspired ready-to-wear and accessories in shades of grey and white.

“I feel like the kind of annoying old science teacher who was reassigned to do gym class,” the global editorial director of GQ quipped. “I’m happy to be here, though, because this is a longtime Thom Browne event that I always thought was the coolest thing. GQ’s Sam Hine has a long history of participating in the event, and he’s back here today, and we have some exciting partnerships around sports and Thom Browne, so we thought, ‘What better way to kick off fall—which is everyone’s favorite season to get dressed for—than by partnering up on this pigskin classic?’”

Presiding over the 6-on-6 game—grey team vs. white team, a nod to the collectsion’s core colors—was fitness aficionado Joe Holder, who happily served as master of ceremonies, DJ, referee, and general head of merriment, rallying the likes of Danny Ramirez, Julez Smith, Delaney Rowe, and Wisdom Kaye to give it their all. Most needed no convincing: the competition heated up quickly, with the more athletic-minded players dodging and diving with abandon. Ayan Broomfield earned her stripes early. “I feel like when you’ve been an athlete for so long, it’s hard to turn it off,” she told Vogue, alongside equally acrobatic teammates Tyriq Withers and Jack Innanen. “I was diving and jumping for the ball, and honestly, it’s been incredible. I heard Thom used to play with his dad when he was younger, and I think it’s cool that he’s created this brand and he’s instilling little things from his childhood along the way.”

Cheer breaks punctuated the action thanks to a troupe including Morgan Riddle, Jenna Lyons, and Reign Judge, waving pompoms in the brand’s signature red, white, and blue. Led by Ian Bradley—analog megaphone in hand—the spirit squad kept energy high. The stylist has been a mainstay at the game since 2015. “The first year was in Central Park, and it was just a funny thing to do and get some free sweatpants,” Bradley reminisced about the tradition. “It was a close-knit group of us, and we didn’t think much of it, but then Kelly [Connor], who is a Vogue alum, got the Vogue team to run the photos, and it became kind of a thing! It’s been so funny to watch it grow, but I think it has the same spirit.” Today, the sweatpants had been swapped for shorts and kilts in non-stretch wool—shockingly, no split seams—but the sentiment remained: good, clean fun with a side of photo shoot, as GQ’s resident photographer Bowen Fernie sprinted the sidelines to catch every moment.

After a triumphant white-team victory, the players, cheerleaders, coaches, and referees headed downtown to The Standard, High Line’s Biergarten, for a proper tailgate and game debrief. Higher-stakes football—Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs—played on the screens as new partygoers and GQ friends joined the festivities, including Machine Gun Kelly. “I honestly thought it was just going to be a photo shoot,” Noah Beck, still in his game-day jersey, told us. “I didn’t know we would actually be playing, but I was so stoked to be getting out there. It was so much fun and brought me back to high school, so I can say it totally exceeded my expectations.”