For the Thom Browne Spring 2020 RTW runway show, the designer conjured weird and wonderful landscapes where flowers were a surrealist twist fashioned from classic cotton.

He was drawn towards the unabashed decadence of France before the Revolution. Panniers are easily the most unexpected trend to have surfaced this season, showing up on runways first in London with Matty Bovan, then again in Paris at Loewe, Balenciaga, and in markedly iconoclastic form at Rick Owens. With models in towering wigs and powdered pink faces, Browne’s vision of the 18th-century silhouette aligned most closely with the original.

There was often a layer cake of prettiness underneath the rigorous feminine architecture: petticoats and ruffled bloomers in the softest pastel shades, for example. Browne hardly plays by conventional gender rules from head to toe, however. His signature gray flannel suits were stripped back to their red, white, and blue lining in places, revealing traditional men’s boxer shorts that were buoyed by suspenders.

Go backstage as Thom Browne prepares for a very decadent Marie-Antoineette-esque Spring 2020 collection.