With a new logo and a foot in the virtual world, designer Tommy Hilfiger returned Sunday night to New York Fashion Week, where he presented a collection in search of reinventing his brand.
Known for his spectacular fashion shows, the American hadn’t appeared on the New York runways for three years, an absence that weighed, like those of Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren, on the attractiveness of the Fashion weekend.
His false leaps, Tommy Hilfiger attributes them first to his decision to rotate his collections around the world, then to Covid. But if he gives Paris the title of “fashion capital of the world”, “New York is the epicenter, for culture, pop culture, fashion, music, entertainment, celebrities”, he added in a ‘ interview with AFP.
And “the king of pop art”, he continues, is “Andy Warhol”, the late New York artist who inspired the sets for Sunday’s show for this fall collection. While most brands show their Spring-Summer 2023 collection, Tommy Hilfiger prefers to sell with a firm pace.
– Back to basics –
Outdoors, on the banks of the East River, Brooklyn side, the show could have been ruined by the continuous rain that fell and the fog that hid the skyscrapers of Manhattan in the distance. But between DJs, drag queens and Travis Barker on drums, viewers quickly forgot they were soaked under their plastic capes.
In Beyonce’s latest hit, “Break my Soul”, remixed with Madonna’s “Vogue”, they were able to appreciate a form of return to the essential at the creator, with sweatshirts and polo shirts with horizontal stripes, or large checked coats that make the “preppy” style, both sporty and preppy of the popular brand of the hip-hop universe in the 90s and 2000s.
Around these classics, the designer plays with accessories, ties, gloves with sleeves, large scarves or heavy necklaces, on male and female models, of all origins, thin or burly, and of all ages.
“I went back to my archives with my design team. We took everything that was great 25, 30 years ago and adapted it to our times,” says Tommy Hilfiger, whose brand and sales (9.3 billion in 2021) belong to the Dutch group PVH, which also owns Calvin Klein.
– Avatar –
Among the novelties, a new logo, even if the historic symbol of the brand, the H lying in the colors of America, has not yet been forgotten.
In the shape of a monogram (a T over an H), it was declined in all its forms on Sunday evening, clearly visible in place of the heart or omnipresent on red, black and white checked jumpsuits or parkas designed as part of a collaboration with the British designer Richard Quinn.
And to add a final touch of modernity, the show took place simultaneously in the parallel and virtual world of the metaverse, on the Roblox videogame platform populated by avatars, as many players who could afford Hilfiger outfits.
“If you look at the millions of players around the world, many of them in Asia, by the way, you are reaching an audience that you would not initially reach through physical fashion,” explained the designer.
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