It’s Hilfiger… however not as we all know it

If the current collaborative efforts from the world’s greatest manufacturers are something to go by, we’ve entered a supernova second in high-fashion partnerships.

First Miuccia Prada took on Raf Simons as her co-creative director at her model (and the sartorial universe shooketh, allow us to inform you), then Gucci teamed up with Kering stablemate Balenciaga in a novel “hacking”, which noticed each manufacturers share their home codes in a mad mash-up assortment (suppose traditional Balenciaga tailor-made hourglass jackets emblazoned with the Gucci monogram and iconic Gucci luggage furnished with the Balenciaga insignia), and, most just lately, Kim Jones, creative director of Dior menswear, introduced that his subsequent assortment would include a partnership with Japanese design deity Chitose Abe of Sacai.

On the different finish of the spectrum, nonetheless, a handful of main labels have been utilizing their industrial heft to help younger, up-and-coming designers within the technique of breaking into the mainstream. Mulberry has simply introduced a partnership with GQ/BFC Designer Menswear Fund winner Priya Ahluwalia, Converse often collaborates with shiny British designer Samuel Ross, and Tommy Hilfiger – the person who took true-blue Americana and made it cool when he based his label in 1985 – is launching a one-of-a-kind partnership with burgeoning stateside inventive Romeo Hunte.

For “Tommy X Romeo”, the all-American duo have collaborated on a capsule assortment of remixed items from the Hilfiger archive. A product of the veteran designer’s Individuals’s Place initiative, which sees him mentor and accomplice with a variety of younger designers and creatives from nonwhite backgrounds, the capsule brings a daring, modern twist to essentially the most iconic clothes from his extraordinary 36-year-long profession.

‘We remixed iconic items in daring new methods for immediately’

“Our Individuals’s Place Programme is about producing alternative for inventive expertise from underrepresented BIPOC communities, each in entrance of and behind the digital camera,” Hilfiger tells GQ. “That was prime of our minds from the second Romeo and I began to collaborate – from the design course of to picking our proficient forged and crew. Loads of the unimaginable work that brings these initiatives to life is hidden behind the scenes, so we needed to take a second to highlight and have fun that too.

“As a younger, upcoming designer, I used to be fortunate to be guided by unimaginable leaders who made a big impact on my profession,” continues Hilfiger. “I’m keen about passing that on by mentoring the following technology of design expertise. Romeo Hunte is a type of actually distinctive newcomers, somebody you understand goes to make an influence as quickly as you see his work. I needed to assist him in his unimaginable journey within the trend trade.”

The ensuing assortment is an ultramodern celebration of Hilfiger’s preppy model, run by means of with a novel streetwear-infused aesthetic all Hunte’s personal. There’s a superb trench coat completed with block color panels in main, sailing-inspired hues. There’s a canary-yellow tackle a cropped puffer jacket full with modular hood and sleeves. There’s a tee and a hoodie printed with Tommy X Romeo’s joint purple, white and blue insignia (a tackle Hilfiger’s traditional flag brand, mixed with Hunte’s six-block model brand) and there’s a superb heritage Ithaca stripe Oxford shirt reimagined within the colors of the New York subway, which is likely one of the undisputed highlights of the gathering.

“The capsule is a celebration of the inventive intersection between Tommy’s established design legacy and my signature deconstruction strategies,” explains Hunte. “Reinvention is a part of my design DNA, so it’s been an thrilling problem to have the ability to take iconic items from the Tommy Hilfiger archives and reconstruct and reimagine them in a method that’s each acquainted however completely new. We acquired actually inventive, deconstructing silhouettes, enjoying with proportions and clashing materials to create types which might be concurrently statement-making and wearable.”

“The collaboration is actually about bringing collectively our two worlds – my signature Manhattan prep and Romeo’s Brooklyn avenue model,” agrees Hilfiger. “We explored the archives collectively to search out iconic items that the model is finest recognized for, remixing and reimagining them in daring new methods for immediately. Romeo and I share a ardour for element, so the gathering additionally showcases elevated craftsmanship, distinctive materials and daring components. I’m actually pleased with our capsule – it’s each edgy and complicated.”

‘The preppy button-down is my favorite piece. I like the surprising, playful proportions and the way our heritage Ithaca stripe is reimagined within the colors of the NYC subway’ – Tommy Hilfiger

‘My favorite piece within the assortment is certainly the traditional bonded trench coat remixed with crusing jacket color blocking. It’s a joyful tackle a traditional’ – Romeo Hunte

The marketing campaign for this inaugural Fall 2021 capsule (out now) was shot in London and options breakthrough fashions Ikram Abdi Omar, Aaliyah Hydes, Hidetatsu Takeuchi and Babacar N’Doye, whereas the gathering itself can be that can be purchased from 12 August on Tommy Hilfiger and Romeo Hunte’s web sites. Selfridges would be the unique stockist for the gathering within the UK. However the massive query is can we count on a Spring 2022 capsule from the pair too. We will if Hunte’s acquired something to do with it.

“The one strategy to go from right here is up!” he tells GQ excitedly. “I’m beginning to witness the expansion and enlargement of my firm on a worldwide scale and I really feel like an official ‘boss’.

“I do know I’m the way forward for trend proper now,” he continues, “and I’m very enthusiastic about all the anticipated releases. I’m wanting ahead to constructing my very own atelier to raised join with my group and supply a extra immersive expertise. I wish to see everybody expressing their private model and dressing in Tommy X Romeo all all over the world!”

tommy.com; romeohunte.com

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