Tommy's back

“Fresh preppy” is how Tommy Hilfiger likes to describe his clothes, which, he told an interviewer, is a way of looking “not poor”.

His latest autumn/winter collection in collaboration with Peter Som, a designer known for his refined sexiness, is luxurious and dapper, with new takes on trouser suits, fishermen’s knits and shearling jackets, with an emphasis more on separates than on dresses.

The flagship Grafton Street store has just had a makeover too, with patchwork blanket stitch carpets and all sorts of sporting gear backdrops to a well-tailored mix of key runway pieces alongside familiar staples, such as trench coats, jeans, boyfriend shirts and polo shirts, all cheekily updated and in fresh colours and quality fabrics.

You may pay more, but these styles last longer and remain, as he says himself, “classic, traditional and easy to wear”.