Tommy Hilfiger’s Plaza Penthouse!

Tommy Hilfiger’s Plaza Penthouse!

Tommy Hilfiger's Plaza Penthouse!

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Tommy Hilfiger’s life story is yet another rags-to-riches fairytale played out due to strong determination, unflinchable drive and the tunnel vision that seems to make for success. From buying jeans in New York City, redesigning them and selling them from his basement when still in highschool, to opening his own shop in his upstate small town and bankruptcy when he was just 25, Hilfiger never took his eye off his target of becoming a rock star in the fashion industry. He headed straight for New York City and though he had no formal training, was offered jobs with top designers. These he turned down and with the acquisition of investment money from an East Indian fabric mogul, Tommy hit his entrepreneurial stride.

Tommy’s celebrity star began to take off in 1985 when, in a bold and clever move, he put his little-known Hilfiger name on a Broadway billboard trying to convince New York fashionistas that he was equal to the big designer names of the 1980s, Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis and Calvin Klein. The move might have caused considerable gossip and consternation in the fashion industry, but no one ever forgot his name. By 1995, he was named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Through many ups and downs, Tommy’s signature style was to reinvent the classics year after year, but more avant garde designers took the lead and his sales slowed in the early 2000s. Another gamble, Hilfiger then opened his first store in London and was able to sell his company for $3 billion to the clothing conglomerate Phillips-Van Heusen in 2010.

Over the years, Hilfiger has had a rather large collection of homes, such as one in Greenwich, Connecticut, which he sold for $20 million, an apartment in Manhattan, which he is currently selling, a ski house in Vermont, a home in Mustique next door to long time friend Mick Jagger, and more homes in Nantucket, Massachusetts and East Hampton, New York. Now that his older children are out on their own and only the youngest child remains at home, the couple’s Manhattan penthouse in the storied Plaza Hotel is on the market.

In 2008, the Hilfigers bought two units at The Plaza for $25 million. From there, he and his wife spent three years and $17 million in major renovation and connecting the apartments. Totaling 6,000 square feet including the dome atop the hotel and terraces overlooking Central Park and Fifth Avenue, the apartment has four bedrooms, five baths and a grand staircase. The elegant decorating style was intended to represent the best of The Plaza’s grand history and where he built the Eloise room, named for the well known children’s book character who lived on the top floor at The Plaza in Kay Thompson’s book series.

The decor is just as fascinating as the apartment itself with Hilfiger’s collection of Andy Warhol portraits. The eclectic collection of antique furnishings and accessories includes furniture pieces once owned by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. There are also photographs from Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball held at The Plaza, which was the talk of the town forty years ago. Hilfiger says that most of the furnishings could be included in the sale under the right terms. For more information.

Tommy and Dee Hilfiger’s Manhattan "castle in the sky" in the iconic Plaza is for sale and listed at $80 million.

Source: streeteasy.com