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Tommy Hilfiger: California Sailin'

Tommy Hilfiger ended the eight day spectacle of fashion shows in New York with a highly energetic, if not necessarily highly original, runway show in Bryant Park on Thursday, Sept. 17, with a front row that included Taylor Swift, Naomi Watts, Rosario Dawson and Emily Blunt. And adding to the excitement of the evening, he also toasted to the opening of his new 22,000-square-foot Fifth Avenue flagship store with a massive party just an hour before his show.

For Spring 2010, Hilfiger proposed a “Beachside Romp” of nautical-inspired looks in shades of a West Coast sunset - dusty rose, peach, pale yellow - and of course plenty of navy. He opened the show with slinky silk coats, blouses and tanks offset by crisp, low-slung cotton jodphurs and cuffed shorts. There were also strapless dresses with nautical touches like sailor stripes and geometric color blocks resembling sails.

Hilfiger moved ashore with sandy khaki looks - a dress with multiple metal grommets, like a repurposed sail - was a particular standout, as was a double layered organza silk blouse in carmine with khaki jodphurs, a very wearable way to use transparency, a major theme on the runways in New York for next spring.

The last passage of the show was the most schizophrenic, with everything from non-descript draped Grecian goddess gowns and short draped back disco dresses to an American football-inspired mesh jersey shirt and a martial arts-looking sleeveless white suit with wide shoulders.

For the men, it was the usual Hilfiger fare - preppy cotton pants in colors that popped, like tomato red, double breasted cotton suits, cashmere crew neck sweaters and ill-fitting two-button jackets with high vents.

Hilfiger’s program notes stated that he wanted to evoked the “relaxed glamour of a southern California boardwalk.” Judging by this fairly staid offering, he must have had a yacht marina in San Diego more in mind than the hippie free-for-all of Venice Beach.

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