Vintage Brand Spotlight: Tommy Hilfiger
Reading time: 4 minutes Tommy Hilfiger is an American fashion designer known for his preppy, classic American style. Born on June 14, 1951 in Elmira, New York, his father was a clothing manufacturer and his mother was a nurse. His parents wanted him to get a college education and pursue a traditional career, but after working in a clothing store during the summer of 1969, he decided to use his life savings of $150 to open The People’s Palace clothing store in 1971. To get stock for the store, Hilfiger and a friend would drive to New York City to buy clothing such as bell-bottoms, peasant blouses, and leather jackets. He also began sketching his own designs, and would later write that "designing made me happier than anything I'd ever done. I knew from that early work that designing would be my life."
After The People's Place went bankrupt in 1977, Hilfiger studied the business side of the fashion industry. He then moved to NYC and worked for several different labels, before setting up his own company called Tommy Hill in 1979. After focusing on denim for a few years, he spent time in India, learning more about his trade: "I would sit in the factory with my pile of sketches and watch them being made, tweaking as I went. There's no better design school in the world.”
In 1981 he founded the company 20th Century Survival, and the following year he founded Click Point, which designed women's clothing. "[Wanting to form my own eponymous line] came from a desire to create something that wasn't out there already. I was really in tune with the market—I knew what existed, and I wanted this to be different. Maybe it's the small-town boy in me, but I've always loved the prep school look, traditional Ivy League, and the clothes that sailors and jocks wear. I wanted to take these familiar old things and give them a more laid-back attitude, to make them modern and cool...[with Tommy Hilfiger Corporation in 1985], finally, I felt like I was doing work that felt natural, that felt good. The brand we were building felt so honest, so true to who I am, that it didn't feel like a struggle at all."
— Tommy Hilfiger in 2010
Finally, In 1985, he founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. This new line debuted with an extensive marketing campaign, setting up a large billboard in Times Square. After several successful years, Hilfiger then introduced his signature menswear collection in 1992.
A lifelong fan of rock, Hilfiger's collections are often influenced by the fashion of music subcultures. The clothes were often marketed in connection with music, and in 1993 Hilfiger was an official sponsor for Pete Townshend's Psychoderelict tour.
Hilfiger sponsored several music events, including Sheryl Crow's If It Makes You Happy tour in 1997, Britney Spears 1999 ...Baby One More Time Tour as main sponsor, and Lenny Kravitz's 1999 Freedom tour. By the mid-1990s, Hilfiger's style of clothing was popular with both the "preppy" scene and as hip hop fashion, with Snoop Dogg, Mobb Deep and more high profile hip hop artists wearing Tommy Hilfiger. This all culminated with R&B icon Aaliyah becoming the spokesperson for Tommy Hilfiger Corporation in 1997, and Tommy outfits became part of her iconic look.
In 1995, Hilfiger was also named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. This was followed by a period of expansion for the brand with the distribution of women’s clothing in 1996 and stores in Beverly Hills and London by 1998.
Following this rise in popularity in the 90’s, Tommy has remained one of the most well-known clothing brands today. Their 90’s clothes are some of the most sought after pieces of vintage clothing with spell out sweaters in particular being a centrepiece of a vintage outfit. Here at Messina Hembry, we’ve regularly got plenty of Tommy Hilfiger in stock, both vintage and more contemporary preloved pieces. Shop our range of Tommy here.
