Tommy Hilfiger is back on the NYFW calendar this season with a collection showing at New York’s famed Plaza Hotel for the first time. The legendary designer tells THE DAILY what’s in store, why he has such a strong connection to this venue, and how he spent his summer. Take it way, Tommy!
We’re presenting at The Plaza, and we also shot the Fall ad campaign there. It’s my former home.
I lived there for a number of years with my family in the middle of Manhattan. It was quite an experience.
It’s an iconic building. Everyone visits at one point during their time in New York, whether they’re a tourist or live in the city.
It’s the ultimate backdrop to present our collection and shoot our ad campaign.
It’s a rebirth of our classics. We’re reworking the brand icons and making everything with fresh new energy and elevating it with shape, fabrication, detail, and the way we put it together. We’re always evolving and always modernizing. This is a moment where we’re celebrating our classics in a new way.
The shapes are all changing, and the fabric is becoming more sophisticated and sometimes more technical, more interesting. The way in which it’s styled is relevant for today and speaking to Gen Z and a more youthful audience. I love that we continue to pay attention to detail. The detail inside of the garment is as important as the exterior.
We have brand codes that we continually twist and utilize. We like to think there could be a surprise and not something you’d expect.
We’re reimagining the heritage pieces. There’s a sharper attitude to the collection.
It bodes well for the consumer today. The consumer wants to wear it in a certain way.
Unlike the classics of the past, these are somewhat more oversized. The trousers are wide legged and low slung.
You’ll see a new proportion. Proportion is important because it shows that there’s modernization and a newness to it.
I like to think of it as what it is, a show! I like to put an unexpected twist into every show we have. I also like to celebrate the show in an iconic venue, such as the Staten Island Ferry or the Grand Central Oyster Bar. I like to work with the music and the lighting. That to me is as exciting and creative as developing the whole collection.
I loved that! I was thinking about the shows we’ve done in the past.
In Milan we did a racetrack, in Shanghai we were showing in an iconic spot at The Bund. Then we went to Venice Beach in California, and that was a lot of fun.
We did a music inspired Rock Circus show in London at the Roundhouse, which was also one of my favorites. In Paris with Zendaya, we did it at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
We like to break it up and do something surprising and unique, but keep it close to the brand.
Models walk the runway at the TOMMYNOW by Tommy Hilfiger Fall Winter 2017 fashion show during London Fashion Week. (Catwalking/Getty Images)
I love the architecture and the location. It’s one of my favorite locations overlooking Central Park. I love the old-world charm and the building itself. The Palm Court is iconic—the marble floors and the woodwork. The detail in the building and the architecture is very special.
I was looking for a new apartment in New York and I knew the general area that I wanted to land in. At the time some developers decided to convert it from just a hotel to a residence and a hotel.
I went to the sales office and they showed me a model of the building. I said it would be great if that part of the building could become available.
They said it belonged to the current owner of the building. They didn’t think he would sell it but I said, “Just ask!” He sold it, and I bought two floors and combined them.
I had the dome overlooking 59th and Fifth Avenue, and that was an iconic moment in my life. We loved being there, but we decided to move out of the city and during COVID, we moved to Palm Beach, Florida.
You saw the detail and the hand-carved wood. I just wish it would open again!
The Eloise story is always in the back of my mind. The Palm Court is chic and beautiful with the palm trees. The Art Deco detail is authentic and should never go away. It’s a great backdrop for us.
I kept thinking of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones staying there, and the black limousines pulling up front and the fans outside. I also thought of Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Sammy Davis Jr., the Rat Pack, all the Hollywood and fashion and music icons frequenting The Plaza when the Oak Room was buzzing.
It was a destination for anyone who would come to New York and anyone who would be fortunate enough to stay there.
Amazing. I saw clips of it recently and it was bone-chilling to see them and know that iconic building still stands and it’s still as important as it was back then.
I’m a perfectionist, so I walk the runway and walk the room before anyone arrives. I want to see the lighting and listen to the music and get an idea of what the pacing is going to be like.
I’m backstage to see what the hair and makeup people are doing, what the stylists are doing in terms of putting the outfits on the models, and then I’m thinking about the audience and who’s sitting where and thinking about bringing together fashion, art, music, entertainment, sports, and pop culture, and how we’re going to speak to the audience through the show. It happens on many different levels.
It happens with the clothes, the casting, the music, the lighting, the audience.
Backstage in front of a screen, and I look at the entire runway. I look at each model before they go out. Our stylists and teams adjust and fine-tune before the models hit the stage.
There are usually a couple of hours of interviews and catching up with editors who may have come from overseas and then I have dinner with family or the team. It depends on what city we’re in. Certainly being at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue, there’s a lot of fun places we can go afterward.
I have a lot of great relationships with so many people for more than 40 years now. I view a lot of them as being loyalists, and that’s meaningful to me to see the familiar faces in the audience.
I’m appreciative and grateful of that. It’s hard to express that to everyone on the day of the show or after the show because there’s so many people in the audience, but it’s meaningful to me that that loyalty exists.
It’s created between Travis and our team . We brought him to our archive and showed him styles that he grew up wearing and he was very familiar with them.
He also wanted to try different things. We put together a collection of Kelce and Hilfiger that’s a part of both of us.
A lot of his fans will be happy with it and a lot of our fans will be over the moon. It was well thought out, and he was involved in every step of the way.
Travis Kelce (Lachlan Bailey for Tommy Hilfiger)
He has an incredible personality, a great sense of humor, down to earth, humble, fun, funny, and full of life.
I’m a Knicks fan. The Knicks somehow became the world stars.
I love the fact that the team is so harmonious, and I think that’s meaningful. It shows that if you have a team working in harmony with like-minded thinking you can win.
I think that goes not only for sports but anything else, including in this business for sure. Josh is very humble, down to earth, kind, chill, and calm.
With so much success, some people allow it to go to their head and I don’t see it with these guys. I think that’s their grounding and their fierce competitiveness.
They don’t let all that the noise get in the way of their performance.
I was in Europe for the Grand Prix. We sponsor The Cadillac Formula 1 Team.
I was then in Capri and Portofino. I go every year.
They are fashion cities but the food, the ambiance, the Mediterranean in the summer is fantastic. I love it.
Then we went to the Hamptons for a few days, then Malibu and then we went to the Hamptons again! Then we went to Sardinia.
Now we’re back grounded and going to Mystic. Packing everything in before my son goes back to school and before we really dive in.
Though we are working every day!
I see more of it in Europe than I do in the States, but I’m always looking at the item they’re wearing, thinking if we were to redo that, how would we redo it? Or I’m not sure if I like a color and I may have done it like this.
I’m always critiquing it. I don’t miss [seeing] the flag.
Even if ’s a small flag on a T-shirt 20 feet away, I see it! I don’t take it for granted!
I love the fall, and I love it when the weather starts to change. When we start delivering our Fall collections, it’s my favorite part of the entire year.
My Fall collections are always my favorites and then we roll into holiday, which is always a lot of fun. We hope the consumer is as active and excited about fashion as they’ve been in the past and surprisingly in recent months.
Part of the fun of this business is the change. We like to change without losing the DNA of the brand.
How do we keep the DNA? How do we keep the codes of the brand alive while still evolving the brand?
Travis Kelce, three-time Super Bowl champion and husband to Taylor Swift, was named Global Brand Ambassador and creative collaborator for Tommy Hilfiger earlier this year. Kelce appears in its Fall campaign and the partnership with continue into the Spring 2027 campaign.
Eddie Roche is the Chief Content Officer of The Daily Front Row/Daily Summer/Daily Hollywood @eddie2275 on Instagram
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