Taylor Thompson took over the lush greenery at the New York Marble Cemetery at noon on the most beautiful day of New York Fashion Week. The sun was shining so bright that his models were holding umbrellas—a welcome contradiction to the literal undergroundness of his original inspiration.
“It’s about this old punk bar in San Francisco called Mabuhay Gardens, which was a Filipino restaurant during the day and a bar at night,” said Thompson, walking around the lawn decked in head-to-toe black. “It was our version of CBGB at the time.” Thompson explained that ‘”The Mab,” as it was known, was a place where artists like The Dead Kennedys or Black Flag could get their starts and find their voices. “The parallel felt fitting with everything going on,” he said.
The goings on in question: Thompson and his 5000 label are finalists to the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund this year. The designer is based in San Francisco, but is showing his collection at NYFW this season as Fund finalists often do in September. Thompson is also celebrating his tenth year working in fashion since starting his career with Hood by Air during what feels like a long-gone era. “It’s a little emotional,” he said of staging his debut presentation and being back in New York, “maybe a little nostalgic, but otherwise it’s been… good.”
His collection, said Thompson, featured a myriad of underworld inspirations, starting with the make-up, which enhanced the punkish club kid vibe of his collection. “I feel like basically all I do is structured tailoring,” he said with a laugh, “but having a lot of fun.”
Fun were a pair of silver foil shorts with flared leg panels, or the way Thompson styled a thinner than paper thin athletic zip-up under a suit and placed a pleated skirt over shorts and then pinned it up. There’s a grittiness to the way Thompson Frankensteins more particular and out of the box fabrics—iridescent organzas, crinkly taffetas, camo jacquards—with his exact tailoring, particularly his jackets which are cut in that slim-fit yet slightly boxy 2000s style. Thompson has a solid opportunity of making this cut, and his many ingenious interpretations, a 5000 signature.
Asked about whether he’d start showing in New York consistently, Thompson quipped: “The city is like a toxic ex-girlfriend, it always draws you back,” before adding more reflectively, “it’s been good to come here and have everyone look at the clothes and also seeing it all together, but I like being based in San Francisco; it’s important to think of American fashion like not just New York.” That much is true, but Thompson should keep his options open—nothing bad about visiting an old paramour every now and then.