The Mediterranean in summer is a veritable home away from home for fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and wife Dee - or should we say yacht away from yacht? “We bump into friends from America literally every day,” Hilfiger tells me. “Right now we’re anchored next to neighbours of ours from Palm Beach and we’ve just had lunch with friends from Manhattan. It’s great, we’re not complaining!”
His 62-metre Feadship Flag is moored in Monaco and Hilfiger is speaking to me via video link from his office on board. Baseball cap on and sleeves rolled up, he’s in holiday mode - up to a point. Between catwalk shows and new collections, summer is traditionally downtime for designers and he is using this time to coast hop - “Portofino! Capri! Porto Cervo!” he says, reeling off his favourite places although his diary is never completely clear. “Much to Dee’s dismay,” he laughs. “And the kids are like ‘Dad, are you on the phone again?’ But I love working, I love my brand. I’m very involved.”
Hilfiger’s story is the stuff of American dreams: a suburban kid from Elmira, New York, who opened a small clothing store in 1969 selling bell-bottom jeans, and who went on to create a multibillion-dollar fashion empire. The idea for his label came to him in a dream in 1972, he tells me. “I could actually picture
