CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

For 30 years, Tommy Hilfiger has been selling the American dream, classic, cool, crisp apparel to consumers around the world. His designs give time-honored classics a fresh look. With Hilfiger’s guidance, vision and leadership as principal designer, the Tommy Hilfiger Group has become one of very few globally-recognised designer brands.

Born the second of nine children in Elmira, New York, Hilfiger’s career in fashion began as a high school student in 1969, when he opened a small chain of stores called People’s Place with just $150. His goal was to bring “cool big city styles” from New York to his friends in their small town in upstate New York. Hilfiger soon began designing for the boutiques he had always admired, and in 1979 he moved to New York City to pursue a career as a full-time fashion designer. There, he caught the eye of Mohan Murjani, a businessman who was looking to launch a line of men’s clothing and believed that Hilfiger’s entrepreneurial background gave him the unique ability to approach men’s fashion in a new way. With Murjani’s support, Hilfiger introduced his first signature collection in 1985 by modernising button-down shirts, chinos, and other time-honored classics with updated fits and details. The relaxed, youthful attitude of his first designs has remained a distinctive hallmark throughout all of Hilfiger’s subsequent collections.

Soon after saw the introduction of Tommy Hilfiger Collection, men’s tailored, Hilfiger Denim, men’s and women’s sportswear, childrenswear, bodywear, footwear, accessories and licensed products such as watches, jewelry, eyewear and fragrance.

Through his creative efforts as a designer and in working on a series of bold marketing campaigns, Hilfiger has shaped and developed lasting relationships with a wide range of cultural influencers and trendsetters. In 1985, Hilfiger hired legendary ad man George Lois to develop a billboard for the center of New York’s Times Square. The now famous “hangman ad” ignited the designer’s career and launched a dynamic and productive relationship between Hilfiger and Lois. In 2007, they collaborated on the book Iconic America: A Roller-Coaster Ride through the Eye-Popping Panorama of American Pop Culture, which presents a mosaic of over 400 iconic and iconoclastic images from the melting pot of America. In the 1990s, Hilfiger became a pioneer in the industry by featuring emerging musical talent in his advertising campaigns, and his tradition of fusing music and fashion continues today.

Hilfiger’s diverse achievements in business, retail and fashion have earned him a variety of distinguished awards. In 1998, Parsons School of Design in New York City honored him with their Designer of the Year award, as have GQ magazine, countless times all over the world, for their annual “Men of the Year” issue. In 1995 he was named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).

However, it’s not all about fashion, style and trends with Hilfiger, in 2009, he went on to receive the respected UNESCO Support Award for his philanthropic efforts throughout the years and launched The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation in 1995 to enrich the physical and intellectual well-being of youth, with a major emphasis on education and cultural programs. Which In 2013, all Foundation activities around the world aligned under the global banner of Tommy Cares, which supports Save the Children, the World Wildlife Fund, War Child, Breast Health International (BHI), and Millennium Promise globally.

To celebrate his brand’s 30th anniversary, he presented his Autumn 15 fashion show in Beijing. The exclusive recreation of the runway show, including looks from the men’s and women’s collections.

“I am thrilled to be in China for this next stop on our 30^th anniversary tour, following our events in New York and Paris earlier this year,” said Hilfiger. “Recreating the show in an international setting for the first time has been a terrific way to celebrate the opening of our largest store in China and the 30^th anniversary of our global brand. Our fashion shows create an immersive guest experience that really brings the collections to life, and it has been an honor to be able to share this experience with a wider audience in China.”

Debuted at New York Fashion Week in February, the Fall 2015 collection fuses American football, stadium spirit and varsity motifs with Hilfiger’s classic designs. Reflecting on the 30-year heritage of his brand, the collection plays with the established codes of American fashion, luxuriously reimagined with a modern athletic twist.

Picture the scene, the year is 2006, the place Southern California, creative residents and innovators of the Sunshine state Scott Bailey and Angel Cabada are brainstorming and busy creating a lifestyle brand inspired by their passion, a brand that fuses fashion, music, skateboarding, art, and street style to bring classic silhouettes to those who demand unique designs. In a moment when the planets allined in pure serendipity SUPRA was born.

Today, SUPRA, operates flagship stores in Santa Monica, New York City, Brooklyn, Paris, and Tokyo and distributes to over 60 countries through a network of select skate shops and high-end boutiques bringing their unique, relaxed and fresh take on their seed of an idea for a lifestyle brand that reflected both their individual style and taste.

This season, the brand has update some of their best selling running inspired shapes, introducing new premium fabrications and seasonal colour ways, in this case with lightweight fabric and their fresh white on white colour, these are perfect for the hot summer days approaching, hopefully.

The Belmont, the Hammer top and both the original Skytop and Skytop IV have been given a seasonal fresh, white hot update.

Continuing its on going celebration of art and fashion, Gap is launching the Remix Project for Summer 2015. The Remix Project brings together 11 cutting-edge artists from around the globe, well the USA, UK, France, China, Taiwan, Beijing, and Japan to create an exclusive collection of limited-edition graphic tees. Artwork in the collection remixes the iconic Gap logo tee into bold art treatments that showcase the distinctive style of each artist and celebrate the brand’s creative heritage. The REMIX PROJECT will comprise of a limited edition collection of unisex t-shirts and also feature the artists signature heat-stamped in to the inside collar. The collectible t-shirts will be available from today in Gap Oxford Street and Boxpark stores, as well as online at gap.co.uk. A special book and tote bag have also been created to coincide with the collection.

The artists involved include, Choco Moo, a street fashion illustrator and artist. Influenced by rock music, hip-hop, and traditional Japanese calligraphy, her work is always done in a signature black and white line art style. Choco Moo’s design for the REMIX Project reimagines the brand logo type among iconic Americana imagery and the things that make her smile: music, fashion, partying, and the sharing of positive vibes with one another. Also,  Kyle Pierce an illustrator and photographer who enjoys building layered narratives from photographs, illustrations, and bits of simple hand-drawn type. Kyle’s design is inspired by San Francisco, the city he lives in and where Gap was founded in 1969. His design presents the Golden Gate Bridge within a contour of the city borders, while letterforms and the brand logotype recreate the fog that so frequently graces “The Gate.”

However, ours favourites from the range has to be by POSE who’s use of  bright colors and tight graphic stylings to create images that jump off walls. Inspired largely by the traditions of pop art, his work integrates illustration, lettering, screen print aesthetics, humor, and even violence. POSE’s design reimagines the brand logotype within a contemporary portrait. The composition conveys modern expression and human experience as they are: constantly in flux, complex, and affected by environment and everyday experience.

But how could you not love the work of the graphic genuis himself Mr Neville Brody, a pioneer in the fields of graphic design, art direction, and digital typography. With a career spanning four decades, he is widely acclaimed for his iconic typeface designs on such iconic publications as THE FACE and of course, Arena magazine. Neville’s design  reinterprets the Gap logotype letterforms using fluid lines and spaces that create an infinite gridded loop where cultural life pools take place and grow.