If you hung with
the glammed-slammed crowd of Max's Kansas City in the 1970s,
then designed clothes for post-Jordache disco debutantes,
what do you do for a fashionistic encore? If you're Tommy
Hilfiger, you go straight. The preppy prognosticator launched
his own line of red-white-and-blue sportswear and ironable
jeans in 1985. He's since introduced her and his scents and
Tommy
Hilfiger Home. Here's your 10 minutes with the man whose
name has brushed more bums
than Huggies.
Willamette Week: If you could dress any Hollywood
star from any era, who would you pick?
Tommy Hilfiger: James Dean, Sammy Davis Jr., Will Smith,
John Wayne.
Classic. American.
I like classic American, but I also like the quirkiness
of Sammy Davis Jr.
Do you ever look to the big screen for influences on
your clothes?
I was watching Easy Rider the other night; Dennis
Hopper and Peter Fonda were just so cool, with their clothes
and their attitude. That inspired me. I'm very inspired
by music. Years ago, my whole thought was to dress like
the English rock stars. This was the early '70s, and I started
making clothes for the J. Geils group, Buddy Miles, old,
old rock groups. When I started this business, I started
with preppy classics because they're very salable, wearable
and logical in putting them into the stores. People weren't
going to buy rock costumes in the stores. So I waited until
I built my business up and then went into making more rock
gear. So I made clothes for the Stones and Aerosmith.
Are you ever tempted to take designs that you make for
rock stars and incorporate them into your everyday line?
I'm doing that now. I'm just filtering a bit of it in.
But the real inspiration--a lot of designers are inspired
by music or TV--but I'm more inspired by music. For me,
to see certain groups on the stage or look at what they
brought to the public besides music--I mean, Hendrix was
such a fashion star, but in a cool, irreverent way.
Were you ever in a band?
No.
Ever play any instruments?
No. My brothers were in a band called Blue Oyster Cult.
One of my brothers now is a record producer; he's partners
with Quincy Jones. So we've always been involved in the
music business. But I like it from a style point of view,
but I'm not a musician myself.
The other day I entered the name Tommy Hilfiger on eBay
and close to 13,000 items came up for sale. At this stage,
can you ever still be alarmed by your popularity?
Well, you know, it's more a fear of not being popular than
reveling in the success. I want to make sure I continue
to be popular, so I'm always evolving my product and making
it better and more interesting.
These days, you're working more on things like home
furnishings. Is that an effort to stay current and stay
in the public's imagination?
I like being sort of pop culture. I like thinking out of
the box, so I'm not just happy doing clothes. The home collection
is an extension of the apparel business, but I want to get
into other things as well.
Banana Republic and the Gap are owned by the same company,
so that company probably dresses about half the people in
Manhattan. What I'm wondering is this: If fashion isn't
dead, is it at least limping?
Well, I think there are different ways to describe fashion.
Fashion is alive and well, especially in the women's world.
Style, I think in the men's world, is alive and well. Men
aren't going out looking for the latest fashion trend. Younger
men are, but men in general aren't looking for the latest
fashion trend, they're looking for great style. Because
they want to buy something they can wear on and on and on,
whereas women want...they're fashion-forward now.
That's the distinction between fashion and style?
In my opinion. Style is what we make of it and [how we]
put it together, but fashion is like the latest thing. And
it's very strong. We're living in a fashion cycle. The Gap
is even fashion. I believe that's all they are: a look,
a style in fashion.
What's one thing you can't get enough of?
Time. I need much more time.
Are there elements of pop culture you try to resist
having creep into your work?
The sex thing belongs to another designer, not me. I'm
not into promoting that whole sexual thing. Pop culture's
always changing--it's like an amoeba, always moving around--and
the advertising of today, everything from Coca-Cola to Microsoft,
is full of pop culture. Pop culture's coming at us in many
different ways. It's how we individually interpret it.
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Willamette Week | originally
published January 5,
1999
|
