After three years away from his home territory, Tommy Hilfiger has returned to New York Fashion Week’s Fall 2022 Ready To Wear with an immersive, interactive show that serves as a reminder that this isn’t the Tommy Hilfiger of old. This is the Tommy that designs for tomorrow.

Tommy Hilfiger. Image: YouTube

Not even pelting New York summer rain that forced A-List front row, which included Shawn Mendes, Kourtney Kardashian and husband Travis Barker, Kate Moss and Kodak Black, to seek shelter under umbrellas could dampen the buzz that had built up around the proverbial prodigal son’s show.

Dubbed Tommy Factory, a tribute to the great New York artist Andy Warhol and its collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to art, fashion and culture, the phygital show became an experiment of intersections: the future and now, digital and physical, the runway and the real world. Guest-generated AR balloons lit up the runway’s skyline as “metaverse creations interacted with IRL guests”.

But this was all just backdrop for a collection of clothing that marks a new era for the brand.

Ivy league prep and urban Americana – Hilfiger has been able to adapt his brand to straddle the plurality of America’s fashion divide like no other. For Fall 2022 it becomes an axis upon which the 71-year-old designer spins a story about the way we wear clothing – where leisure and luxury aren’t separated from formalities.

There’s a joke that fashion is ephemeral and style is timeless, but Hilfiger manages to fit both into the one seam. Just as he does bridge the divide between the youth audience that has made his clothing a streetwear staple and the elevated version that was presented today.

Tailoring has made its way back into the collection, easily teamed with the casual codes that have marked the brand’s most recent decade. While it may be some time before we see trackpants with a tie in the office, I for one and keen to make it happen.

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: A model walks the runway wearing Tommy Factory New York Fall 2022 at Skyline Drive-In on September 11, 2022 in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Thomas Concordia/Getty Images)

The classics are tweaked – rugby shirts are elongated, puffer jackets even bigger while cardigans are oversized to accentuate a slouched effect. Colours remain bold, taking their cue from collegiate life – heritage greens, burgundy, yellow and bright cobalt blue.

Throughout all of this, woven on everything from knitwear to activewear, was the new Tommy Hilfiger TH Monogram, created in partnership with illustrator and graphic designer Fergus Purcell.

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: A model walks the runway wearing Tommy Factory New York Fall 2022 at Skyline Drive-In on September 11, 2022 in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Thomas Concordia/Getty Images)

This is the second release in as many weeks for Hilfiger. The designer only days prior had revealed a new collection in collaboration with Richard Quinn. The graphic collection also featured the new monogram, interwoven with an English rose and check motif. The collaboration, an upbeat collection that looked like if Carnaby Street back in the ’60s was given a TikTok makeover, made a guest appearance at the end of the show.

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: A model walks the runway wearing Tommy Factory New York Fall 2022 at Skyline Drive-In on September 11, 2022 in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Thomas Concordia/Getty Images)
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: A model walks the runway wearing Tommy Factory New York Fall 2022 at Skyline Drive-In on September 11, 2022 in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Thomas Concordia/Getty Images)
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: A model walks the runway wearing Tommy Factory New York Fall 2022 at Skyline Drive-In on September 11, 2022 in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Thomas Concordia/Getty Images)