Hilfiger is marking 25 years of his namesake brand this fall, celebrating with a splashy show during Fashion Week, tailgate parties and anniversary products, but his career is, in fact, longer than that: He's had a fashion gig since high school when he decided Elmira, N.Y., needed a denim store to keep up with the 1960s rock-star trends.
He opened People's Place catering to the local college crowd and everyone headed to Woodstock, and took out ads in the local newspaper boasting the best bell-bottoms and red fox jackets for "foxy" ladies. He'd promote sales as "savings for swingers."
"I wanted to build a business around all this pop culture," says Hilfiger, who ticks off music, movies, celebrity and art as the long-term common threads in his signature look that has evolved through phases of hippie, preppy, Americana and glitzy influences. Moving with the times doesn't make him or his brand inconsistent, says Hilfiger. On the contrary, he explains, it gives his collection and its customers an interesting, vibrant lifestyle that adopts more than just one aesthetic.
The style icons he admires — for their personal looks as well as their ability to tap the zeitgeist — range from Norman Rockwell to the Beatles, from Marilyn Monroe to Beyonce. He shows off just what a fan he is of the big picture around him in a new ultra-luxe $550 book published by Assouline that is, essentially, Hilfiger's scrapbook.
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