Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hilfiger, Zendaya host ’70s Harlem party
NEW YORK — Tommy Hilfiger never shies away from spectacle when it comes to his runway shows, and his return to New York Fashion Week after several years was no exception.
For his latest collaboration with actress-singer Zendaya, Hilfiger brought the fashion world uptown to the Apollo Theater in Harlem — actually, to a street just outside the theater, where the designer set up a stage filled with musicians and dancers to celebrate Harlem-inspired fashions of the late ’70s/early ’80s.
Models sashayed down the runway in pantsuits featuring tailored jackets and high-waisted, widelegged trousers in houndstooth prints or polka dots or animal prints. There were tweed wrap coats with big belts, accompanied by pageboy caps. Accessories included lots of chunky platform shoes, scarves and big, wide-brimmed hats.
Hilfiger said he chose Zendaya as a collaborator for what he sees as her intrinsic sense of style.
“I just thought If I could get a little eyedropper of that sense of style brought into my company, we’d be cool,” Hilfiger said. “And she gave me more than an eyedropper, she turned on the faucet.”
Zendaya said she and her design team were given a lot of leeway.
“He just let me do whatever I wanted to, which was great,” she said. “He told me I could be as creative as I wanted.”
Hilfiger said the collaboration brought his company a new dimension: “This is a reinvention for us, because it took us to another area of fashion that we’ve never been into,” he said.