Leave it to Thom Browne -- the Brit designer synonymous with making high waders cool -- to keep the fashion industry on its toes, even amid arduous economic times. At the menswear fair in Florence this week, Browne showcased a pared-down collection of just two looks in a presentation that was nothing short of genius. Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune called it "simply perfect."

In a faux office setting, which included a boss and his minions all dressed in identical slimly tailored suits in a setting accented by “the metallic clatter of typewriters and ... modernist Mussolini architecture,” Browne alluded to the globe’s current economic suffering, as well as the fact that men can still look flawless while toiling away at their dead-end jobs. “You knew that there was a Clark Kent Superman under the prim gray cardigans, trimmed with buttons at the side and short pants (with more buttons at the back to strike a faint fetishistic note),” says Menkes. Meaning, despite the office-drone façade, the show presented an idyllic image of the modern man -- one who may spend his days slaving away in a cubicle, but, who, underneath it all, is a superhero. Even in such a sour economic climate, that’s one image that sells.