A homey cottage with gray cedar shingles and blue-and-white-striped awnings stands juxtaposed to the concrete jungle of the Meatpacking District in New York City. Appearing to have been stolen from the shores of the Hamptons in an elaborate hoax is no hoax at all. The incongruent house is now home to American icon Tommy Hilfiger. No joke. Well the man himself will not be resting his busy head here, but his collections will.
The pre-fabricated structure was built in a warehouse in Yonkers, transported in pieces to Manhattan, and re-assembled in less than three days on the fresh sod of Gansevoort Plaza. The classic white mailbox, bearing the name “The Hilfigers,” was a kitschy touch to the prepsters home. Hilfiger decided on the plaza because he wanted to draw younger shoppers who frequent the area’s upscale shops.
According to the New York Times, Tommy Hilfiger, the 60-year-old fashion designer, spoke from inside the white wood-clad room stocked with Hilfiger accouterments from his new line. Beside an imitation fireplace laden with vintage croquet mallets and brightly painted decoy ducks on the mantle, Hilfiger stated, “We thought, rather than open a regular pop-up shop, we decided to build a beach cottage and really fill it with anything and everything you need for a great summer in the world of prep,” Mr. Hilfiger said, hours before the opening-night party.
When asked, Hilfiger claimed his favorite item as the red, white and blue throw anchor pillows, but also delighted in the refrigerator magnets and dog collars. Creative aspects of the home’s interior design included a chandelier of wooden tennis rackets hung above a table of backgammon sets to be played on beach towels alongside a display of author, Lisa Birnbach’s 1980 “Official Preppy Handbook” and “True Prep: It’s a Whole New Old World.”
Giving a whole new meaning to “packing up and moving on”, the pop-up retail store, featuring 60 pieces from his Prep World clothing line, will be open for viewing four days in New York, the first stop on its tour, disassembled in two days and then travel to Los Angeles. A separate house will be assembled for locations in Europe, near famous sites like Covent Garden in London and outside the Duomo in Milan.
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