Throughout the course of Tommy Hilfiger’s illustrious career, the designer has always been committed to merging the worlds of music and fashion, blending his talent in one field with his passion for the other. The result?
A slew of strategic partnerships with some of the biggest artists in the business, including the members of Destiny’s Child, Britney Spears, Lenny Kravitz, and Aalyiah. Hilfiger’s approach to his Fall 2017 menswear collection was no different, as the designer enlisted Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, or more commonly known as The Chainsmokers, to front the campaign. With a Grammy, AMAs, and Billboard Music Awards now under their belts, we couldn’t think of a better pairing.
Along with the party-rock-inspired campaign, the global brand ambassadors will be outfitted in various Tommy Hilfiger collections throughout their 2017 “Memories” tour, including Hilfiger Edition, Tommy Hilfiger Tailored and Tommy Hilfiger sportswear. Hilfiger also designed a limited-edition, army green bomber jacket inspired by The Chainsmokers, which will retail for $229.
To celebrate the partnership, Tommy invited us to his sprawling NYC showroom for an intimate conversation with his latest menswear muses, in which it was clear that the novelty of landing such a major fashion gig still hasn’t worn off for the pop duo. “Honestly, I can’t make this up, it was a staple of my childhood, something that I saw every single day,” says Taggart, who grew up with a Tommy Hilfiger store on the corner his quaint street in Maine. “I’d see it every day, going to and coming home from school. ”
Pall recalls how the brand personified cool during his high school years (raise your hand if you can relate): “The carpenter jeans had the Tommy logo on the strip, and it was like, if you had those jeans, you were the cool kid. And it the Tommy Hilfiger store was at the Westchester mall I would go to. You would go to the mall to hang out if you had nothing else to do in my town, and it was where all the cute girls would be when you were, like, 15, so it was the spot. That was the hang out – we’d hang out at the Tommy Hilfiger store. ”
While the award-winning duo has come a long way from their high school days, it doesn’t mean their personal sense of style was always as polished as it on stage today. “Facebook memories bring these back on a daily basis,” Pall admits when asked to recall some of his cringeworthy fashion moments.
“I looked like, do you remember Doug Funny? I looked like Doug Funny. ”
“I went to NYU, and, you know, you gotta take advantage of being in New York – and I did that, for sure. I would go out and I would want these door guys in bars and clubs to recognize and remember me, so I would wear, like, suspenders. It was a terrible idea. They remembered me, for sure,” he reveals, laughing. “I always bust my friends balls and say, ‘How could you, like why didn’t you stop me? ’ But I’m here now, so I guess it worked out. ”
For Taggart, it was his choice of styling that makes him shudder. “I went through this really weird phase of wearing, like, argyle sweaters. I don’t wanna knock on argyle just as a pattern in general, but the way I wore it was just awful,” he says. “I would wear these big thick Oakley Gascans, they’re like tube sunglasses, and then the argyle sweater and the same colored pant. I looked like, do you remember Doug Funny? I looked like Doug Funny. ”
Now that Taggart and Pall are dominating the airwaves and award shows with their catchy songs and compelling style, it’s hard to imagine a time when they didn’t look red-carpet-ready. “See, they didn’t tell me all of this,” Hilfiger adds, seemingly amused by Pall and Taggart’s former fashion choices. But with the iconic designer’s stamp of approval, it’s safe to say this duo won’t ever fall victim to a fashion faux pas again.
