Daily Front Row

2011 February 1

Tommy Hilfiger Launches True Prep Capsule Collection

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Tommy Hilfiger and Lisa Birnbach
Courtesy of Tommy Hilfiger View Gallery

(NEW YORK) As if Tommy Hilfiger wasn't preppy enough: he's taking the show on the road this spring with Prep World, a unique capsule collection of 60 pieces for both genders. Hilfiger is playing house - literally - with Lisa Birnbach as the collection's consultant. Birnbach worked on the Official Preppy Handbook in 1980, and last fall she co-authored a refresh on the cheeky formula with True Prep: It's a Whole New Old World. 

Prep World will make its Nantucket-red rounds with a 12-city "drop-in shop" tour beginning in Manhattan in April. An airy beach cottage will be plopped for a week in cities including Paris, Stockholm, and Tokyo. Prep World will also be sold in Tommy Hilfiger stores and on tommy.com, and will prices will range from $45 to $178 for women's pieces and $35 to $298 for men's items.

"The preppy look with a twist we pioneered over the years has gone global; every corner of the world interprets it in different ways," Hilfiger said. The project is an expansion of Hilfiger's years doing "clothes with a wink" and honing the "quirky aesthetic" of the prep, according to Birnbach.

Their limited edition collection offers modern-day Muffys and Cuthberts prep attire that melds European silhouettes with Americana sensibilities, along with necessary lifestyle adornments like cocktail shakers and croquet sets. The collection channels "Nantucket, in the summer... it's traditionally preppy but it has a bit of grime to it," Hilfiger said in a conversation with Birnbach this week. "You know, like a salty dog."

The preppy pair will make appearances throughout global tour, as will the fictitious Hilfiger clan featured in the brand's recent ad campaigns. Birnbach will edit "The Prep World Global Guide" on Hilfiger's site, which will include local lifestyle recommendations and will interact with site visitors through sartorial street (or perhaps beach) shots from local bloggers. "Think of the prep world as a grosgrain ribbon encircling the globe," said Birnbach.
ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV