Tommy Hilfiger and Gigi Hadid storm London Fashion Week with their rock ‘n’ roll-inspired collection
If London Fashion Week were a music festival, Tommy Hilfiger would be its headliner. On Tuesday night, Hilfiger brought the British leg of fashion month to a close with a star-studded — both on and off the catwalk — rock ’n’ roll-inspired extravaganza titled “TommyNow: Rock Circus,” featuring acrobats, a DJ set from the Chainsmokers and, perhaps most important for fans gathered outside and online, a guest appearance from Hilfiger’s muse/collaborator, Gigi Hadid.
London was the third stop on Hilfiger and Hadid’s TommyNow tour, a multi-sensory, multimedia experience that has so far landed in New York and Los Angeles’ Venice Beach. Tuesday’s fall and winter ’17 show took place at the Roundhouse, an iconic rock venue in Camden that has seen acts including David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and the Clash grace its stage.
Some of those acts were on the pre-show soundtrack, which played while waiters emerged from beneath an enormous TommyNow marquee to offer guests a mixture of American and British fare such as hamburgers and fish and chips. The guest list included rock offspring Anaïs Gallagher and Amber Le Bon, daughters of Oasis’ Noel Gallagher and Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon. Elsewhere Rolling Stone frontman Mick Jagger was represented via his daughters Elizabeth and Georgia May, who joined Hadid on the catwalk.
Between the bright lights and the bright young things, it was almost possible to forget the reason we were all gathered — the clothes, which included studded leather detail and tartan overlaid with floral prints.
“There were different eras of rock. There’s punk. There was glam. There was very hippie,” Hilfiger said before the show. “We blended it all together with military and sport and workwear. So we put it into a blender with ‘Gigi-ism,’ and it came out with what you’re going to see tonight.”
“Gigi-ism,” for the uninitiated, is the 22-year-old Los Angeles native’s “California style,” according to Hilfiger, a “casual, chic, cool, mix-up, mash-up of high-low and sort of a chic nonchalant look that is really all her own.”
On the catwalk, this translated as “rock lite”: denim cutoffs paired with thigh-high socks and suede boots, cropped band tees with Hadid’s name printed in Iron Maiden-style font (likely to be one of the most popular items from the collection), and plenty of tartan — accompanied by a soundtrack that was more hip-hop than heavy metal.
The ensembles were topped off with Joan Jett-inspired black velvet nails, provided by Revlon-owned, San Diego-based Creative Nail Design, and lashings of eyeliner.
“The look today can be summed up by just ‘cool girl,’” said Dominic Skinner, global senior artist for MAC Cosmetics, backstage. “Almost like a cross between a smoky eye and Amy Winehouse.”
As the show closed and Tommy and Hadid came out for a final bow, acrobats descended from the ceiling, and a DJ booth was set up for the Chainsmokers.
Outside the Roundhouse, it was more media circus than rock circus, with paparazzi circling and fans gathering behind barriers hoping for a glimpse of their fashion idols, while online the social impressions stacked up using the hashtag #TOMMYXGIGI. (Whether that translates into all-important sales remains to be seen.) But in an era when bands make more money from merchandise than records, the spectacle was something a bona fide rock star might appreciate.
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