This Tommy Girl is all grown up – as is the new collection...
ASK ANY GIRL IN HER 20S what scent signified her youth and Tommy Girl will recount endless memories. As a teenager, I carried it everywhere. If on a rare occasion it ever ran out, my best friend was always a spray away and if all else failed, I plucked up the nerve to ‘borrow’ some from my sister’s bedroom.
It’s one of those iconic smells that reminds me of first dates and discos and package holidays. I think of Tenerife and Tommy Girl together because I wore it religiously on my first parentless escape when I was 18. One whiff still takes me back. That’s when singer Aaliyah fronted Hilfiger campaigns wearing baggy overalls that subsequently sold out in a week and Kate Moss walked the runway to the sound of Naughty By Nature in trainers, shorts and a tube top.
Fashion, of course, has evolved since oversized dungarees and colour-block puffa jackets and there have been many more Tommy Girls in the intervening years. The most recent – and hotly anticipated – is Gigi Hadid, who is the first face to have a new perfume, My Girl, launched as part of her collection. Tommy x Gigi will be available from next month and we haven’t seen fashion waiting lists as long since Alexa Chung shook up the rails at Marks & Spencer earlier this year.
The question on everyone’s lips is what can we expect? A teaser of Gigi’s work with the iconic American brand was released this week and it’s not a million miles from what we know and love from Hilfiger. All the classic staples are there – the cosy branded knits and the fitted flared jeans – but there are some hero buys that Gigi fans will scream for too. A faux fur bomber, an oversized cape with a twist of embroidery and military trims, and a mix of dark denim and faux leather dungarees pulled together with a breton polo neck.
The mood feels nautical, much like Hilfiger’s main A/W 16 collection, but it’s mixed with a nuance of naughtiness. Think frogged blazers alongside a striped crop top and buckled boots, or silky bombers with thigh-hugging high-waist jeans. Even the accessories have an allAmerican feel but with a sassy spin as shoulder bags come embellished with fluffy bobbles, and sailor hats are worn angled to one side.
The trophy pieces and the staples we’ll all be still be wearing into next year and beyond come as double-breasted coats, branded with white lines embroidered on the sleeve and cosy shearling collars.
Now for my favourite – a navy nautical-inspired maxi dress that reminds me of the sea-faring dresses my mother used to wear when I was a little girl. Tinged with nostalgia, like the many Hilfiger heirlooms I have at home, it comes snug at the waist wrapped with a rope-inspired tie. I’m already planning 100 ways to wear it!
The mood feels nautical, but mixed with a nuance of naughtiness