Engines were literally revving inside Milan’s MiCo convention center Sunday night, as guests filed into Tommy Hilfiger‘s #TommyNow see-now, buy-now spring ’18 runway show.
There were five Merecedes-AMG Petronas race cars in the center of the arena, a racetrack-like runway circling both the cars and a #TommyNow shop, where cropped sweatshirts, white fingerless driving gloves and checkerboard backpacks were quickly being plucked off the shelves by show-goers.
A huge video screen projected videos of Gigi Hadid, who has collaborated with the designer for the past three seasons with Tommy x Gigi capsule collections, each of which were folded into Hilfiger’s shows.
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When the show finally started, none of the race cars made their way onto the runway-racetrack (as many had speculated before the show), but it was action packed nonetheless, with plenty of high-profile names walking the runway.
After more revving of engines, Hadid walked out to show the first look. She sported a cropped white tee, blue-and-red bandeau top and blue leather pants with racing stripes and black booties, followed by sister Bella in a visor, bandeau and black sneakers. Keeping it in the family, Bella was trailed by their brother Anwar in a blue leather varsity jacket and white leather low-top sneakers.
But it wasn’t just a family affair: Hadid had plenty of famous model friends join her. There was Winnie Harlow, who walked twice, first in a cropped leather jacket, gray sweatpants and nineties-esque flatform slides with racing motifs on the band; for her second turn, she wore a checkerboard monokini, visor and white anorak.
Meanwhile, Hailey Baldwin wore a matching black-and-white striped bikini top and pajama shorts under an oversized red, white and blue cardigan (with T-strap sandals). Joan Smalls wore a checkerboard bikini and sheer t-shirt dress, along with a patched varsity jacket and visor.
There were other guest stars still: Snoop Dogg’s son, Cordell Broadus, and Diddy’s son, Christian Combs, both appeared alongside male models Lucky Blue Smith and Jeremy Meeks.
With Hilfiger’s clear success in generating traffic and sales through these high-profile, social-media-friendly extravaganzas, this latest iteration begged two questions: Why aren’t more brands following suit — and which big, young name will Hilfiger choose to work with next?
