All aboard!
Tommy Hilfiger certainly has a love affair with New York City. After taking over the famed Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal for his return to the runway last February, he chose another iconic venue for his spring collection: the Staten Island Ferry.
But it wasn’t just any Staten Island ferry, it was the MV John F. Kennedy, which made the crossing to the outer borough from 1965 to 2021 when it was decommissioned and sold at auction to Staten Island natives Pete Davidson, Colin Jost and comedy club owner Paul Italia for $280,000. The trio tapped architect Ron Costellano with plans to convert it into a floating entertainment and hospitality venue complete with a boutique hotel, restaurants, bars and a comedy club — reportedly with a $34 million price tag.
Hilfiger’s show, which was staged on the third level of the 65,000-square-foot, safety orange-hued ship on Sunday night, marked the virgin voyage of New York’s newest attraction. And in keeping with the theme, the invitation included a ferry token inscribed with the designer’s initials and 1985, the year he started his business.
“New York City is the birthplace of the American dream, and the Staten Island Ferry represents the gateway to self-expression for so many across history,” Hilfiger told WWD ahead of NYFW.
The venue was apropos since Hilfiger’s spring collection is nautical inspired. “Therefore, we thought the boat would be interesting,” he said during an exclusive spring collection preview. “We had such success with the Oyster Bar, we thought we needed another special, iconic New York location.”
For Sunday night’s show, Hilfiger had the boat towed from Staten Island, where it’s been temporarily docked, to Manhattan’s Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport. The ferry’s original interiors, still intact, “will become the perfect stage,” to mark farewell to its past role while celebrating its upcoming transformation, “blending nostalgia with contemporary fashion under the new ownership of Davidson and Jost,” Hilfiger said when announcing the venue.
“It’s incredible — so authentic and full of heritage,” Hilfiger added during the preview. Although the ship in its original capacity could carry more than 3,000 passengers, Hilfiger said Sunday night’s show would be, “somewhat intimate,” which meant welcoming around 500 guests to bask in the views of the Brooklyn Bridge and famed New York skyline.
“The front row will be full of influencers, and they will all be wearing fall ‘24,” Hilfiger, whose shows once again align with the traditional fashion calendar, said of his see now, buy now translation across the brand’s megawatt front row. It included brand ambassadors, campaign stars and friends including Jost; Olympic gold medalists Gabby Thomas and Suni Lee; actors Damson Idris, Jackson White, Madelyn Cline and Madison Bailey; musicians Jisoo, and Felix and Lee from Stray Kids; models; influencers, and many more wearing the brand’s fall mix of collegiate prep with quiet luxury.
Actor Patrick Schwarzenegger and model fiancée Abby Champion, the new faces of Hilfiger’s fall campaign, were also present. The actor sat front row and watched Champion walk the runway.
“The collection is men’s and women’s, and it’s split just about equal,” Hilfiger said of the spring line. “Still preppy, but nautical and modern.”
His hues of red, white and blue — “We always do that, it’s part of our heritage and brand code,” he said — came this time in shades of royal sea blue, sail white and buoy red across elevated takes on classic American dress with plenty of checks, plaids and stripes, and codes of prep, collegiate, tenniscore and nautical.
“We’ve gone back to the archive many times, and of course, some of the patterns, like the stripes, are from the archives. Stripes we’ve had forever, but we’re always modernizing it, and we’re modernizing it through the fabrication,” he said of reworked men’s shirts, knit polos and crewneck jumpers. And in keeping with the theme, he offered up peacoats and a military-inspired navy blazer with white lapels and boat totes as part of the 60-piece runway collection.
During the preview, he also highlighted new higher-waisted women’s trousers with fuller legs, styled with shrunken varsity sweaters and cardigans; varsity and tennis dresses; fuller midi skirts, and four-way stretch capri cargos. “We think this will be big time,” he said of the utility pocketed pedal pushers.
The sweaters, always a key part of the collection, were handknit with tape yarn in silk, cotton or cashmere this time around, which resulted in a different feel.
Much of the collection was made in Portugal with other pieces manufactured in Turkey, Belgium and Antwerp, “so the quality is incredible,” Hilfiger boasted. “The fits are amazing. There are some new shapes and fabrics. We have crinkle nylon which we have never used, but it’s really interesting. We really wanted to keep that nautical flavor.”
Mission accomplished.