embers of the US hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan lit up New York Fashion Week on Sunday, closing the Tommy Hilfiger show with an electrifying performance aboard a ferry. As the show drew to a close, Ghostface Killah, Method Man and Raekwon leapt up from the audience benches to perform one of the group’s best-known songs, C.R.E.A.M. The show was held aboard one of New York’s bright orange ferries that usually shuttle passengers between Manhattan and Staten Island, where the Wu-Tang Clan formed in the early 1990s.

The American designer chose the setting to revisit "the nautical and maritime inspirations that have defined our signature look since 1985”, it said in its Spring 2025 collection note. Models paraded down the catwalk in a show of casual, sporty outfits featuring sailor stripes and regatta jackets, with Olympic champions 200m sprinter Gabby Thomas and gymnast Sunisa Lee among the audience. The Tommy Hilfiger brand, soon to celebrate its 40th anniversary, has long been associated with a preppy style, but was frequently worn by hip-hop artists in the 1990s and 2000s.

Tommy Hilfiger walks the runway for the Tommy Hilfiger fashion show during the September 2024 New York Fashion Week in New York City. --AFP photos
(From left) Naravit "Pond" Lertratkosum, Phuwin Tangsakyuen, Nattawat "Fourth" Jirochtikul and Norawit "Gemini" Titicharoenrak attend the Tommy Hilfiger fashion show.
Ryoka Fujisawa, Motoki Ohmori and Hiloto Wakai of the band Mrs. Green attend the Tommy Hilfiger fashion show.
Models walk the runway for the Tommy Hilfiger fashion show during the September 2024 New York Fashion Week in New York City.

Questlove, drummer of hip-hop group the Roots, also performed on Sunday, DJing for the Tommy Hilfiger show. The "John F. Kennedy” ship which hosted the show was moored in Manhattan on Sunday. After 60 years in service, it was bought from the city by two comedians from the cult American TV show "Saturday Night Live”, Colin Jost and Pete Davidson, also from Staten Island, who turned it into an entertainment space. — AFP