“It was a perfect storm. I Dressed Tupac': Tommy Hilfiger on Fashion, Race and Aspiration
In the early 1980s, Andy Warhol invited Tommy Hilfiger for a factory tour. At the time, Hilfiger was a relatively unknown fashion. He had just started designing clothes and launched a few fashion lines called Century Survival and Click Point. When he arrived at the Factory to meet his hero, Warhol was working on a Marilyn.
"But he was also making films, he was photographing celebrities, he was screen printing celebrities. Then , he would be at Studio 54 distributing his own magazine. I said to him, 'Why are you doing all this?' and he said, 'Because I like it.'
71-year-old Hilfiger tells me about the giant Tommy Hilfiger Archive in Queens, New York, a Warholian temple to his own work and creations - entire rooms covered from photos of Hilfiger alongside music and sports heroes, from baby clothes to disposable cameras slapped with his familiar crest, to clothes rails and rods bearing his name.
Hilfiger says Warhol transformed his approach to fashion. He showed him the power of symbolism, how a striking design can speak to something bigger.
"It was so powerful, like an infusion or some kind of drip. I was deeply inspired by Warhol. I started looking at things like the Rolling Stones tongue, the Nike swoosh, the Mercedes-Benz star, the Chanel Cs and the Gucci Gs. I knew I needed my own logo. »
Hilfiger closed its other fashion lines and created a single company that bore its name. Over the next 30 years, he created a pattern that became street fashion orthodoxy: create a logo that lasts - the Mondrian-style red white and blue flag - apply it to everything and inspire cool people to wear your clothes. He became the most successful American designer of the 1990s, creating a brand loved by everyone from Tupac to David Bowie. The company grew at the speed we would now associate with Silicon Valley - it floated on the New York Stock Exchange before being bought for $1.6 billion (Hilfiger remains the company's lead designer, which was later sold to PVH, owner of Calvin Klein, for $3 billion). spacefinder-type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-5h0uf4">
In the early 1980s, Andy Warhol invited Tommy Hilfiger for a factory tour. At the time, Hilfiger was a relatively unknown fashion. He had just started designing clothes and launched a few fashion lines called Century Survival and Click Point. When he arrived at the Factory to meet his hero, Warhol was working on a Marilyn.
"But he was also making films, he was photographing celebrities, he was screen printing celebrities. Then , he would be at Studio 54 distributing his own magazine. I said to him, 'Why are you doing all this?' and he said, 'Because I like it.'
71-year-old Hilfiger tells me about the giant Tommy Hilfiger Archive in Queens, New York, a Warholian temple to his own work and creations - entire rooms covered from photos of Hilfiger alongside music and sports heroes, from baby clothes to disposable cameras slapped with his familiar crest, to clothes rails and rods bearing his name.
Hilfiger says Warhol transformed his approach to fashion. He showed him the power of symbolism, how a striking design can speak to something bigger.
"It was so powerful, like an infusion or some kind of drip. I was deeply inspired by Warhol. I started looking at things like the Rolling Stones tongue, the Nike swoosh, the Mercedes-Benz star, the Chanel Cs and the Gucci Gs. I knew I needed my own logo. »
Hilfiger closed its other fashion lines and created a single company that bore its name. Over the next 30 years, he created a pattern that became street fashion orthodoxy: create a logo that lasts - the Mondrian-style red white and blue flag - apply it to everything and inspire cool people to wear your clothes. He became the most successful American designer of the 1990s, creating a brand loved by everyone from Tupac to David Bowie. The company grew at the speed we would now associate with Silicon Valley - it floated on the New York Stock Exchange before being bought for $1.6 billion (Hilfiger remains the company's lead designer, which was later sold to PVH, owner of Calvin Klein, for $3 billion). spacefinder-type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-5h0uf4">
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