It’s a wrap for Milan Fashion Week. Final show has Tommy Hilfiger showcasing fast-paced fashion

As the curtains came down at Milan Fashion Week, designer Tommy Hilfiger’s show was all about fast fashion as the clothes being showcased on the ramp were made available at its online shop.

US designer Tommy Hilfiger embraced the so-called “see now, buy now” strategy on Sunday with his TommyNow Drive collection, bringing the curtains down on Milan Fashion Week with a show featuring fast cars and even faster fashion. TommyNow is about the democratisation of fashion and pioneering the see-now-buy-now movement, said a company note.

Models present creations from the Tommy Hilfiger Spring/Summer 2018 collection.(REUTERS)

All items of the collection were available on the brand’s online shop the moment they went down the runway, with some already on the racks of a temporary shop set up at the venue, an exhibition centre dressed up as an Formula 1 circuit. “It’s awesome to be able to shop like this. People have become impatient — I am not going to wait six months to buy clothes that I see on catwalks now,” said Nadia Meier, a customer from Salzburg attending the event.

Designer Tommy Hilfiger (R) acknowledges the applause at the end of his Spring/Summer 2018 collection during Milan Fashion Week. (REUTERS)

With fashion brands under pressure to deliver collections faster to their younger customers, companies are finding themselves juggling constant demand for new clothes and accessories and the long manufacturing process required for their products.

Britain’s Mulberry is the latest label to usher in a “see now, buy now” model — cutting out the usual six-month delay in delivering a runway collection to stores — two years after Burberry started. But the business model is still far from becoming an industry standard. “I find (see now, buy now) a cool initiative. It allows customers to participate more ... you watch the models, you touch the items and then buy them,” said Italian Giulia Battaglia, who had just bought a 130-euro jumper.

Model Bella Hadid (centre) leads other models as they wear creations as part of the Tommy Hilfiger women's Fall/Winter 2018-2019 collection. (AP)

The collection was the fourth and last to be co-designed by celebrity model Gigi Hadid and Hilfiger. Milan was the latest lap of the itinerant fashion show, which has gone through London’s Roadhouse concert venue, New York and Los Angeles. The designs were worn by celebrity models like Hadid, her sister Bella and brother Anwar, Lucky Blue and Canadian Winnie Harlow.

They many biker-inspired looks with leather trousers and jackets, cropped tops as well as striped bathing suits and more “preppy” looks — a style frequently associated with Hilfiger — including boyfriend jeans, blouses and jumpers with crests. As models walked down the ring-shaped catwalks, mechanics worked on Mercedes Formula 1 cars parked at the centre, with men dressed with white pilot suits and helmets standing on the sides of the catwalk.

Hilfiger is one of the best-known names in U.S. fashion and is now owned by clothing giant PVH. The 1,000-guest show, one of the most sought-after tickets of the week, was one of the last headliners in Milan fashion week. The fashion extravaganza included shows from Italy’s Giorgio Armani, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana as well as LVMH- owned Fendi and Kering’s Gucci.

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