On June 4 at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, Tommy Hilfiger was honoured with the CFDA’s prestigious Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. Created in 1984, the award celebrates designers’ outstanding careers and impact on the fashion world. Hilfiger received the award from Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour after a performance by collegiate men’s a cappella group, the Princeton Footnotes.
   Guests at the after-party at the Hôtel Élysée’s restaurant, Monkey Bar, included Zoë Saldana, Jessica Paré, Busy Phillips, Seth Meyers, Tommy Girl ambassador Britt Robertson, Karolína Kurková, Jessica Stam, Tommy Hilfiger campaign model Jacquelyn Jablonski, and the New York Giants’ Victor Cruz.
   Hilfiger has come a long way since his first shop, People’s Place, and his entrepreneurial skill led him to build a chain of 10 stores in upstate New York by the time he turned 26. The Tommy Hilfiger label was founded in 1985.
   His first ad campaign was particularly brash, calling him one of the ‘Four Great American Designers for Men’, an accolade that has arguably come to pass.
   Going public in the 1990s brought Hilfiger’s name to millions, and there has been no stop to the designer’s rise.
   Keeping his pulse on culture, Hilfiger noted that his clothing was adopted by young African-Americans, and designed baggier streetwear to meet the demand. He received the Menswear Designer of the Year award from the CFDA in 1995.