Tommy Hilfiger Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection

No other than Staten Island’s Wu-Tang Clan were tasked with closing Tommy Hilfiger’s spring show this evening with a surprise performance. “It’s going to be fun, and it’ll definitely be a source of entertainment,” offered the designer earlier this week at a preview. Mission accomplished.

Last season, Hilfiger returned to New York Fashion Week with a lavish runway presentation set at the famous Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station. The idea, he said then, was to jump back into the Fashion Week circuit keeping New York iconography in mind: Iconic city landmarks hosting an iconic New York label. Last night, the Empire State Building was lit up with Hilfiger’s signature colors. But that was just the teaser.

The invitation to tonight’s show was a brass-toned coin. A quick Google search (and subsequent eBay rabbit hole) confirmed the suspicion that Hilfiger was offering his guests a Tommy-fied version of a Staten Island Ferry token, a now long-gone remnant of New York history since the city made riding the ferry free in 1997. And so we rendezvoused at the southernmost tip of Manhattan at the MV John F. Kennedy, a massive ship named after the late US President that operated as a Staten Island Ferry from 1965 until 2021. You may remember when, following her retirement, Staten Island natives and professional funny dudes Colin Jost and Pete Davidson purchased it at auction with the goal of turning it into a comedy and entertainment club. (Jost was at the show, Davidson was not.) The idea, said Hilfiger, was to find somewhere signature to the city that was also not a usual suspect: “That’s what we wanted, something iconic but a little unexpected.”

Hilfiger’s collection straddled the line between both. There was classic Tommy: Navy captain’s blazers and peacoat-style trench coats, cricket sweaters and tennis v-necks, pleated khaki chinos and prim poplin dresses and shirt dresses. “We wanted to live within our brand codes: Stripes, red, white, and blue, nautical, and collegiate preppy,” said Hilfiger.

But his fall show, beautiful and polished as it was, lacked some frisson. And so here there was some new-new: Button downs and slacks in crinkled fabrics, single-pleat trousers cut in lightweight denim, swishy loose-gauge sweaters hand knitted in either silk, cotton, or cashmere, and a run of slim-fitting capris in colorful checks. These had a hint of sexy that added some friction to the collection, albeit still within the Hilfiger vernacular: “It’s our way of being sexy, which is not the same as everyone else’s. Ours is all-American, I think,” said Hilfiger. Because of how classic they are at face value, Hilfiger’s clothes can sometimes carry a certain preciousness. This collection was at its best when it had a lived-in patina, when the styling was playful rather than matchy-matchy: the “unexpected” he referred to. That’s the right instinct moving forward.

The MV JFK ship served for 55 years and completed approximately 200,000 journeys. It would be easy to lean into the parallel here—the MV and Hilfiger, two American classics in the advent of a new era. But here’s the thing about Hilfiger: He’s never stopped. Like the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, or a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich from the corner deli, Tommy Hilfiger is as much part of the city’s iconography as the ship that hosted his show. There’s only one way to become a beloved classic: show up and show out.