New York Fashion Week spring-summer 2013: Tommy Hilfiger
NEW YORK -- The Collection: The Tommy Hilfiger spring-summer 2013 menswear runway show took place around the outdoor cabanas at the nautical-themed Maritime Hotel in New York City on Friday, an appropriate backdrop for a regatta’s worth of crisp, preppy stripes.
The inspiration: Hilfiger’s “Prep Club” collection was inspired by “the codes and camaraderie of collegiate sporting clubs.”
The look: That theme meant channeling the brand’s signature red, white and blue color combinations into nautical rope-print stripes using details like varsity crest patches and pins, gold insignia buttons and riffing on collegiate staples in unusual ways, such as rendering a blazer in a soft jersey fabric or adding knit button plackets to dress shirts to create a necktie effect.
VIDEO: Watch the complete Tommy Hilfiger runway show
The runway collection started with a sea surge of seersucker -- striped seersucker blazers and trousers in navy and white, red and white, even tan and white, and, as the show went on, the fabrics got heavier and the stripes got bolder and more ubiquitous. There were Breton-striped T-shirts, racing-striped khaki suede motorcycle pants and regimental stripes silkscreened onto white denim jeans, cashmere cable-knit V-neck sweaters were edged in gold and navy stripes, and the aforementioned nautical rope print on twill jackets and pants, and button-down shirts.
Not even the footwear went unstriped, since the collection included striped leather espadrilles and lace-up dress shoes with red and white striped outsoles. By the time the models returned to the runway for the finale, images of the zany zebra mascot from those old Fruit Stripe Gum commercials were dancing in my head -- “Yipes! Stripes!” indeed.
The scene: Trays of gin and tonics circulating through the outdoor cabana crowd helped keep the sweltering heat of late-afternoon Manhattan at bay, and celebrity attendees in the mix included Miami Heat power forward Chris Bosh (with wife Adrienne Bosh), Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Nathan Adrian and actor Josh Bowman (“Revenge”).
The verdict: Although the stripe-averse should steer clear, next spring’s man looking for a bold twist on today’s prep wardrobe would do well to point his prow toward Tommy and paddle like mad.
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