Inside The Rise Of Thom Browne’s Principal Archivist, Tianni Graham

Imagine holding the key to a luxury designer’s archives, helping to shape and contextualize fashion history as it unfolds, Tianni Graham doesn’t have to. As the principal archivist at Thom Browne, any given day can find Tianni guiding the research for upcoming runway collections, processing loaned items to world-renowned museums and VIP clientele, documenting and contextualizing every detail on a garment down to the stitching, and having a hand in curating the“Louvre Couture” Exhibit and “Get In The Game: Sports, Art, Culture” Exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Tianni has even dressed longstanding brand clients for the Met Gala, such as journalist and fashion historian Amy Fine Collins, and spearheaded archival production for Hulu’s “Hip-Hop and The White House” docu-series. 

The Long Island native has come a long way from collecting magazines during her childhood, and credits her trajectory to her insatiable curiosity, work ethic, and the mentors who guided her along the way. “I’ve always loved fashion, art, and music, specifically hip-hop. I remember my aunts and older cousins getting ready for the club, and also having family in the church, so that set the tone forsrc="https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GettyImages-2213641665-scaled.jpg" alt="Inside The Rise Of Thom Browne’s Principal Archivist, Tianni Graham" width="400" height="600" /> Ike Ude and Amy Fine Collins attend the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 05, 2025 in New York City. (Photo Credit: Mike Coppola/MG25/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

In this practice, terms such as “archive,” “historian,” and “processing” can be used liberally. Graham explains that an archive is composed of primary sources. Take, for example, her digital archive project, Archive Alive, that highlights Black contributions to fashion, music, and pop culture. “All the images posted on Archive Alive have been digitized from materials in my collection,” Graham mentions. This comes from years of collecting, since Tianni’s childhood, and includes rare, sourced materials from international markets like Japan and Germany.

For physical fashion archives, those primary resources are runway pieces or samples, as those are typically the most original iterations of the design. There are also special collections, which consist of custom designs, say for special clients or occasions. “Processing an archive means sorting, organizing, and identifying material,” Graham shares. This often includes developing finding aids or documents that help you understand the scope of the collection, according to Tianni. A fashion historian utilizes primary resources to inform their analysis and record-keeping; however, they are not all archivists, who handle the physical materials and work with the curatorial staff at institutions and museums. The latter focus is what drew Graham to her specialty. “An archive is more curated. It’s based on what the institution deems valuable to collect, so it has to have some type of memory, tell some type of story, [beyond] monetary value,” Tianni expressed.

Graham says that being a curious person is what led her to this form of work. She adds that she’s been going down rabbit holes for decades and that becoming an archivist was a natural progression. “The seeds were already planted. It was in my personality.” As a child, she explains that she was fascinated with memoirs, biographies, and anything that detailed past lives and experiences. “They knew me at the Freeport Public Library,” she remarks lightheartedly. 

In high school, she took a few courses in fashion marketing and illustration, which led her to pursue a degree in Fashion Merchandising at LIM College. Through internships and coursework, she realized that being a corporate buyer, as she once thought she would be, did not ful src="https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/DSC01995-Edit-scaled.jpeg" alt="Inside The Rise Of Thom Browne’s Principal Archivist, Tianni Graham" width="400" height="500" />Courtesy of Tianni Graham

When LIM’s archivist came to her classroom to teach the students how to use the database, gave background on the archive, and, more importantly, on how much work was still to be done, she saw an opportunity for herself. Graham contacted the library director and from there, became LIM’s first Archives Assistant. Her introductory project saw her processing a personal collection of sketches, magazines, and scholarly journals donated by an LIM alumna and fashion forecaster. Through this experience, she conducted site visits to the late professional’s Gramercy Park residence, now a historical landmark, and discovered that you can immerse yourself in history, and it can eventually take you beyond your institution and into the world. 

By her senior year of college, she also added an internship at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute Library to her plate, gaining a wealth of knowledge from some of the brightest and most talented people in the field. She credits the institute’s librarian, Julia Lee, along with project archivist Celia Hartman, for furthering her professional development by teaching her how to handle materials beyond photographs and documents. As a lover of chemistry, determining the age of a document based on the wearing of material through color, texture, and even scent was intriguing, according to Graham. 

After graduation, the Costume Institute invited her to continue her internship through the summer. She explains that archive work, especially something as specific as fashion archiving, can be difficult to find because much of the work is project-based and determined by finite budgets. The next archive role she landed was at Estee Lauder as the archive coordinator for the MAC collection. While there, it was her responsibility to determine what was considered archival and what could be omitted, based on the brand’s goals and interests. “It always comes down to space, time, and money,” Graham shares, and details how many brands do not start off with an archive, because the maintenance costs are so large. Factors, including controlled climates and the chemical compounds of the paper utilized, must all be considered.

In her present role at Thom Browne, Tianni manages, documents, preserves, contextualizes, analyzes, and provides access to the collection. She is responsible for the runway and special collections, collaborations, and custom work, including Met Gala looks. She also works to further develop the archival database, such as keeping records of every museum’s permanent collection they’ve donated pieces, and creating a system that allows for requests across internal research, public relations, VIP dressing, and curatorial interests. When she stepped into the role, in 2021, she had room to shape it with the team as it evolved, once again finding the opportunity and using her expertise to >Syreeta Gates and Camille Lawrence, who have often spoken her name in rooms that she wasn’t in. Her plans to expand Archive Alive include a vision that widens access to both education and professional opportunities for budding Black archivists.

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