We step onto the playing field with Tommy Hilfiger, except it’s nothing like the bruised knees, pleated skirts and hockey sticks of school.

American mythmaker

Tommy Hilfiger manages yet again to tap into the power of American mythology. For him, the American Dream is made up of a thousand shared cultural obsessions, with every season an opportunity to filter a single one through the lens of his (highly profitable) red, white, and navy blue vision.

Recent collections took the Hilfiger girl on a ski holiday and to a Sgt. Pepper rock-n-roll concert; this time he tackled possibly the only other spectacle to rival fashion in the cult-like fanaticism of its followers: American football.

The playing field

The football-meets-fashion mashup made for a scene of epic proportions. Housed at the Park Avenue Armory, the runway spanned an entire football field, complete with goalposts, a Team Hilfiger scoreboard (Home 20 – Away 15), and dream team cheerleaders like Gigi Hadid, Malaika Firth, Jourdan Dunn, and Lexi Boling in luxe 70s-inspired sportswear riffs.

Home team advantage

Credit goes to Hilfiger for exploring every possibility of a given theme. There were all the more obvious incarnations of vintage sportswear – cheerleader skirts and varsity sweaters, bombers jackets and numbered jerseys, interpreted throughout in velvet and wool and fur – yet in the mix also could be found some more nuanced numbers, like a tan cableknit sweater with a brown leather hood, a tie-up closure up the front resembling the lace on a football.

Striped collars on trenches and capes resembled the ribbed cuff of a varsity jacket, while leather handbags bore iron-on Go Team!-style patches. Shoes were another winner – lace-up high-heeled cleats shared the turf with mod Mary Jane heels – but the biggest winner: Hilfiger himself, celebrating 30 iconic years in the business.