![]() It highlights Tommy Hilfiger’s unwavering commitment to conserving the true essence of his brand. If anyone wanted to sum up the ethos of Tommy Hilfiger, the designer & the brand and run it through a View-Master, the key elements of this hiring story would make it to the final slides. He entered Tommy Hilfiger’s office at the end of 1989 as an intern and left as the VP of Art Direction in 1999. But Hilfiger had figured out all that in just a few minutes of their interaction. So I didn’t realize at the time that I was just, you know, being true to my passion, which was art, and design and fashion,” reminisced Boston.īoston hadn’t realized how precious his unbiased and authentic opinion was, nor had he discovered his true talents. You get a lot ‘yes’ people around you when you are successful. So the feedback he was getting was priceless when you know most of the other kids were happy and excited and would say yes. “I didn’t know at that time but I was his (Hilfiger) key demographic, I was his core audience. The important thing to note is that the TV host had no degree or experience in fashion designing. This is when the designer asked him to come and work for his company in New York as an intern. What he didn’t know was that the designer was also hosting a trunk show, an informal runway show where the models are on the ground level (and not on an elevated runway like a conventional fashion show) and interact with the audience.Īfter the show was over, Boston shared his honest feedback about the designer’s Fall collection that he had just seen. Hilfiger was scheduled to appear at Atlanta’s Lenox mall and Boston, who loved fashion and style, decided to make the trip along with his friends. Commitment and ForesightĪuthor, TV host and style expert Llyod Boston shared a very interesting story about how he scored an internship with Tommy Hilfiger, an incident that marked the beginning of his 10-year stint with the American premium lifestyle and fashion brand.īack in the late 80s, Boston first met Hilfiger when he was a broke 19-year-old graphic design student from New Jersey. ![]() The design aesthetics screamed ‘preppy, cool and hip’, words that best described the designer’s personal style. Hilfiger continues to invest in unique immersive customer experiences even today, which we’ll explore later.Īfter selling his part of shares of the People’s business in the late 70s, Hilfiger set out to build his own brand, a dream which came true in 1984 when he met businessman Mohan Murjani.Ī year later, Tommy Hilfiger, the brand was launched in 1985. It was a hangout zone for all rock-and-roll lovers, a wholesome community where people listened to music, exchanged creative ideas, discussed upcoming concert shows and bought latest music records, besides buying bell bottom jeans and vests. Today, retail pundits talk about the importance of unique immersive retail experiences, but People’s Place enabled consumers to shop at a place, which was more than a clothing store, back in the 70s when the retail term didn’t even exist. So in 1968, when I was 17, I saved $150 from working in a petrol station and with my friend Larry Stemerman bought 20 pairs of bell-bottomed jeans from the back streets of New York City… A year later we opened the first People’s Place, a basement shop selling all sorts of hippie gear such as incense and candles as well as cool rock’n’roll-inspired clothes like the bell-bottoms,” Hilfiger revealed while talking about his first store. “What I really wanted was to look like the rock stars, with long hair and of-the-moment clothes. It was his love for rock & roll, music and rock stars that helped him to write the notes of his great American dream. He was only 18 years old at the time with no training in fashion design! Around the same time, the designer’s fashion journey started with People’s Place, his first store in Elmira, New York. In the late 60s, the music and fashion revolution had just started. And sports were replaced by cars and music. ![]() But he never missed registering and internalizing the details.Īfter a brief stint at a local sporting goods store, he started working at a gas station. The obsession with uniforms changed sports – baseball to football to basketball. From Cleveland Browns’ brown and orange against white uniforms to game jerseys with flocked script lettering in blue and gold, he noticed all the tiny details. He was heavily influenced by the fashion he saw while growing up in Elmira, which the designer describes as ‘preppy’. In his memoir, ‘American Dreamer: My Life in Fashion & Business’, he shared that he wasn’t strong enough to be a great athlete but he loved the uniforms. His first design inspiration came from sports uniforms. ![]() ![]() The second-born of nine children, Hilfiger was born in Elmira, New York in 1951. A Lesson In Taking Risks and Bold Moves. ![]()
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