Earlier today, I spotted two oft-photographed young fashion editors wearing the high-heeled duck boots that Tommy Hilfiger showed for Fall. A minor anecdotal incident? Perhaps. But for a man who has the masses sewn up, a glittery little chunk of fashion cred has to be gratifying—especially in the year his business turns 25.
The new life in last season s collection was evidently the result of bringing in designer Peter Som to splash a bucketful of his uptown-eccentric sensibility over Hilfiger s rotating library of classics. The partnership continued on the Spring catwalk, where the new contender for coveted shoe is a leather Top-Sider raised onto a blocky platform heel. The theme, in case you hadn t guessed yet: Twisted Country Club. At this madcap Maidstone, a girl can wear her khakis as a backless halter dress, and no one frowns on a flippy tennis skirt in Pepto pink silk.
Meanwhile, her rocker-wannabe boyfriend isn t afraid to express himself by the color of his socks, which will inevitably be visible between the hem of his rolled-up chinos or skinny pegged trousers and the top of his (possibly leopard) loafers. He can take a bright hue in bigger doses, too. You say powder pink double-breasted blazer, he says canary and magenta madras trousers.
It was a peppy, preppy vision that, at times, neared the far boundaries of Hilfiger s codes. Yet it never spilled into something that felt untrue to his spirit. Before the show, a disembodied voice announced crowd-control directions for Hilfiger s very lavish post-show party in celebration of his 25th anniversary. Then came the promise that this was the first collection of the next 25. Not a bad start at that.
