Within the oddly humorless world of the preppy men’s fashion blogger, authenticity is king. Poseurs within their ranks are quickly sniffed out and sorted appropriately. Your education, specifically the “privacy” status of your primary and secondary credentials, is thoroughly vetted in the hunt for truth. They sing the gospel of J.Press, Brooks Brothers and L.L Bean (vintage, natch). They breathe oxford and think in pink and blue. Their school song proudly rests in their iPod. These are the gatekeepers of American Men’s Sportswear.

So, it should be no surprise that this past weekend, something very much aimed towards those very bloggers, got their collegiate crested panties in a bunch. Tommy Hilfiger, adopter of preppie-lifestyle-as-marketing-tool, decided to jump back into the preppie pool and cash in on the trend that’s having its moment. Hilfiger created a portable Montauk beach house full of his summery/preppie rags and the whole thing reeked of trend overload. Plopped in NYC Meatpacking district, the mini house-cum-experiential shop was a bit of a tourist attraction, but maybe just that and not much more. The blogs lit up like NYC on NYE. The ire lashed at Hilfiger over claims of being inauthentic and gauche ran rampant. Though only in existence, (at that NYC location), for 48 hours, "The Hilfigers" House managed to rub all of the right people, the wrong way.

But the question begs: Why? What was it about Hifigers gross display of aspirational wealth that set the interwebs ablaze?

Answer: A lack of authenticity.

Though Hilfiger is synonymous with “prep”, his brand has always been a bit of an outsider. In the very same way that Ralph Lauren was a brand that perpetuated the preppie American fantasy, Hilfiger wasn't brought up in those silverspoon fed environments. But where they differ majorly, is that Lauren has the cred as his vision of American sportswear has barely shifted since the inception of his brand. Hilfiger on the other hand got his start selling bell-bottom womens jeans in Elmira, NY. Far from the gilded shores of Nantucket and Cape Cod (epicenters of the American preppie lifestyle). Hilfiger has always been "American", but not exactly the preppie American that made him famous to begin with. The brand identity was lost when he started making the flash and excess of the early 2000's the core of his marketing and design strategy. He's started to fuss around with rock n roll leather jackets and pant, to no avail. The brand was lost. To any blogger worth his weight in words was going to sniff out when someone sheepishly is returning to what worked before, simply because the trend pendulum has swung back around.

Links to consider: http://usa.tommy.com/tommy/