Tommy Hilfiger: My first collection was made in Mumbai

You are returning to India after a decade. What role has India played in the Tommy Hilfiger journey?

My first collection was made in Mumbai, near Juhu Beach, in 1979. I was a young boy then, thinking that I could become a designer or create a collection of clothes. I sketched everything and worked with Indian fabrics and tailors to develop a collection. I stood there while they cut and sewed, and then took it to New York City in a duffel bag and sold it to different shops and stores. This was after People’s Place (his first store), I started a brand called Tommy Hill because I thought people couldn’t pronounce Hilfiger. And then I found out the name was registered, and I couldn’t use it.

So I went into business with an Indian gentleman, Mohan Murjani, and we created Tommy Hilfiger. (Indian fabrics and design) have always been a part of the Tommy Hilfiger aesthetic.

 

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What makes Indian design relevant beyond fashion?

The handicraft industry in India is second to none. The hand embroideries, hand beadings, wood carving, home furnishings like carpeting, curtains, pillows, furniture, jewellery—it’s endless.

Your focus when it comes to design remains on classics...

I’m very conscious of what people like to wear. I’m always looking at people’s clothing all over the world. If I’m at an airport, I’m clocking what people are wearing, and always thinking, “Okay, what do they need next?". Sometimes I see things I haven’t seen in a long time and think, “I should bring that style or shape back. Should I make them tight at the knee and then flare it out? Or maybe we should use a different type of fabric".

People always want classics, but with something new, a twist; maybe have a new shape, a new fabric, a new way to mix colours. So I’m always figuring out how to refresh classics and evolve them.

And the evolution of urbanwear and streetwear today?

I think it’s evolving always. We called it streetwear for a very long time, but it’s a really not streetwear. It’s a combination of sporty clothes and casual clothes of today.

Could you talk about your personal style?

I think it’s important that one finds their own style if they want comfort in how they’re dressing. Otherwise, they’ll always be questioning what they’re wearing. A lot of our customers over the years never settled with what they were wearing. For me, I like to know exactly what is going to be right for me, although my look also evolves. It evolves with fabrication, with fit. Sometimes I like it slimmer, sometimes a little more oversized and relaxed.

Now I like technical stretch fabrics, I would have never thought of wearing a stretch jacket like this 10 years ago (points to the jacket he is wearing). My go-to is always classic with a twist. I never really thought that “this is my look". I just knew that it was, and never questioned whether it was right for me. I just innately knew it. But then there were times when I was younger, I would go out to a club, and my friends and I would dress in all black and wear Punk Rock T-shirts. Or in the 1970s, when I started People’s Place, I wore bell bottoms and I had long hair like hippie. But I always went back to preppy classics.

Essential pieces in your wardrobe today?

I’m in love with the varsity jacket now and I have it in many different versions. I wear hooded sweaters or hoodies. I wear jackets with a hood, but I never put the hood up. But the staples are chinos, chino-jeans, white pants, blue shirts, white shirts, blue and white shirts, sneakers and loafers.

What should people look for to build their wardrobe?

Comfort, fit, quality, colour, and be able to mix it all up, any time. You should be able to walk into your closet blindfolded and pick any shirt with any pant or skirt or jacket, and know that it works together.

When in India, what are the experiences you don’t miss?

I love the food. But I also love Indian markets, and going to the markets. We were in Jaipur over the weekend and were looking at different types of hand-printed Jaipur prints. They were hand printing these on the softest, most beautiful cottons, and then they cut and sew them into garments while you wait—robes, pajamas, so many things. And I was looking at them weaving carpets and the wood carvers; I just love handcrafts. My wife picked up pyjamas and robes for our loved ones, and I’m included in that (laughs). Some scarves and but mainly handwoven or hand-printed garments.

What do you do when you’re not designing?

Well, I’m a yachtsman and I love the sea, I love boating. I like the outdoors, I like hiking, I like skiing, but I love the water. I try to squeeze time in for it, somehow, I don’t know how I do it, but I do.

Dhara Vora Sabhnani is a Mumbai-based writer.

 

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