Tommy Hilfiger’s homecoming show sets stage for an all-American new chapter
zannews
CNN - Tommy Hilfiger has set the stage for a new chapter at his eponymous megabrand — and he did so by coming home.
On Friday evening, the fashion designer and mogul held his first runway presentation in New York in more than a year; the occasion marked only his second show since the COVID-19 pandemic broke nearly 4 years ago. Hilfiger hosted his ritzy Fall-Winter 2024 fashion show at Manhattan’s Grand Central Oyster Bar, which, as its name suggests, is tucked away amid the hallowed halls of Grand Central Station. (The famed venue is a haunt of tourists, commuters, regulars and local luminaries, well known for its seafood and its martinis — Hilfiger’s favorite cocktail.)
“We thought it was time,” he told CNN in an interview at his Madison Avenue office ahead of the show. “Time to come back and celebrate New York. It’s iconic, and it’s where I started.”
It was also time to lay the groundwork for a number of new Hilfiger brand initiatives. Since 2017, the company has largely presented its clothes in a “see now, buy now” format, with merchandise hitting store shelves and e-commerce platforms immediately after a show’s conclusion. Traditional fashion industry scheduling, meanwhile, sees most designers’ collections revealed some six months in advance of their for-sale dates, allowing retailers to order (and brands to produce) the pieces in sync with the seasons they’re meant for.
For Fall-Winter 2024, Hilfiger has largely returned to this format — a move seemingly designed to reposition his collections in the fashion world. That said, though, he maintained there will always be some element of instantaneousness in the brand’s business models — at Friday’s show, for example, the brand noted that its front row guests were dressed in “shoppable collections” — because, at its core, Tommy Hilfiger is not a luxury label. Rather, it’s more a heavily-branded, broad lifestyle universe, ranging from affordable tees and underwear to higher-end offerings, à la the runway pieces.
From streetwear to sailing gear to sporty and preppy, often with a frisson of celebrity, it’s this lifestyle-driven approach, which is perhaps less about the fashion than it is the feeling, that is the key to Hilfiger’s modern — and continued — success.
Hilfiger’s newest muse and ambassador, Sofia Richie Grainge, was in attendance Friday night. She joining an eclectic lineup of young talent and members of the “Tommy family” that included — take a breath — the actors Damson Idris and Sonam Kampoor, the K-Pop sensation Junho, TikTok stars Noah Beck and Jacob Rott, hair stylist Chris Appleton and models including Halima Aden, Jasmine Tookes and Elsa Hosk, among others.
As models wound through the restaurant, Richie Grainge sat at a banquette with her husband, Elliot Grainge, wearing a khaki trench coat styled with a cream-hued knit sweater. The look embodied the “quiet luxury” trend that took over the fashion conversation last year, thanks in part to the popular HBO series “Succession,” which depicted hyper-wealthy New Yorkers wearing understated yet extremely expensive wardrobes. (HBO is also owned by CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.) Richie Grainge herself has evolved her stylistic approach from an ostentatious Los Angeleno verve into a look that’s more low-key highbrow.
“We plan to collaborate with Sofia,” Hilfiger had said earlier, when speaking with CNN. “She’ll help curate, and she’ll co-design with us along with being the face of our brand.” He noted that Richie Grainge is assuming the throne previously held by Gigi Hadid as company spokesperson-slash-central creator. “Sofia is a style icon, and she’s also just an incredible person.”
