Staged on the decommissioned Staten Island Ferry, Tommy Hilfiger's spring/summer '25 show presented a new take on nautical. Vogue Scandinavia's editor in chief Martina Bonnier sat down with Hilfiger himself ahead of the show to discover more about the direction which the brand is setting its masts this season – and some pivotal Swedish leadership hires
“I love the water. I love the lifestyle on a boat. I’m a yacht man,” 73-year-old Tommy Hilfiger responds emphatically when I ask if he is a sailor or a yachtsman. It’s a pertinent question as, in just a matter of hours, the designer is planning to revive his namesake brand’s signature nautical codes for spring/summer ‘25. “Going to different ports, being out on the sea with family and friends, I just love the essence of being on the water,” Hilfiger continues.
We’re seated in the brand’s Madison Avenue headquarters, but we won’t remain on solid ground for long. Just before sunset, the heritage brand will send a boat-load of editors, models and celebrities out on the decommissioned Staten Island Ferry for a showcase of modern maritime codes. After last season’s runway at Grand Central’s Oyster Bar, Hilfiger continues to hand-pick iconic New York landmarks, and the storied vessel did not disappoint. With the interiors still intact and the ferry’s hard bench seats finding new purpose as the front row for the fashion and culture elite, classic Hilfiger hospitality took to the waters with stunning views of Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.
Photo: Tommy Hilfiger
Photo: Tommy Hilfiger
Photo: Tommy Hilfiger
Hours before the show as we chat at the headquarters, Hilfiger’s excitement is palpable. “A fashion show has never been done like this before,” he says, “on a ferry or on a boat of this size, so we decided we were going to do it. And we have worked very hard to make it all happen.”
Since Tommy Hilfiger was founded in 1985, there has been that timeless maritime feeling to its preppy all-American DNA. “For 40 years, I’ve done nautical,” the designer says. “My first collection for Tommy Hilfiger was nautical, and I’ve always had a nautical theme coming in and out of the spring/summer seasons. But this time round, Hilfiger insists, it’s particularly modern. “Today, it’s updated and remixed for 2025: the look has the ease of effortless summer style, but with a confidence that feels ready to step off the ferry and back into the city.”
The look has the ease of effortless summer style, but with a confidence that feels ready to step off the ferry and back into the city.
Tommy Hilfiger
It resonates in the collection through Breton and Ithaca shirting stripes inspired by sailing heritage, with archival regatta jackets and utility pants crafted from fluid sail-cloth nylons and light crinkled cottons. For a sense of ‘coastal functionality’, capri pants get a cargo twist, while chinos get deck-inspired turn-up treatment. Elsewhere, soft tailoring and double-pleated yacht shirts add a sophisticated note, while club blazers, hand-knitted polos and deconstructed trenches deliver a sportier edge. The TH monogram is carried on, this time in a chunky rope design on raffia caps.
Led by Danish supermodel Mona Tougaard, the models trailed around the decks and through the doors and stairways of the nostalgia-tinged ferry. With her enduring All-American appeal, Brooke Shields was a fitting front row guest, while the attendance of more obscure icons (Wu-Tang Clan, South Korean boy band Stray Kids, T-Wave stars, and Japanese rock band Mrs Green Apple) reflected Hilfiger’s fascination with ever-evolving pop culture.
As the brand approaches its 40th anniversary, Hilfiger has mastering the balance of honouring heritage while delivering on modernity for new generations. And he’s not afraid of the change this may involve. One change that Hilfiger alludes to is a greater steer into lifestyle territory with, in his words, the incorporation of “everything that can make us into a lifestyle brand”, be that beauty, bedding or beyond.
To effect this kind of change, while modernising and improving speed to market, the designer also name-checks the Swedish talent brought into the Tommy Hilfiger leadership fold. These include Samuel Fernstrom, newly appointed brand director, Stefan Larsson, CEO of PVH (company owner of Tommy Hilfiger), Lea Rytz Goldman, global brand president, and Natalie Altewai, vice president creative director of womenswear (formerly design director at Toteme) – amongst others. “Tommy Hilfiger is affordable luxury, but we behave like a luxury brand,” he says. “Big fashion shows, greatest advertising, a lot of celebrities.”
With this approach, the brand’s new era is not so many nautical miles away. “We feel that we can become a global lifestyle brand with this Swedish machine driving us.”
See the full Tommy Hilfiger SS25 collection below.
