Thomas Jacob"Tommy" Hilfiger (born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer best known for founding the lifestyle brand Tommy Hilfiger Corporation in 1985.[1] After starting his career by co-founding a chain of record stores in upstate New York in the 1970s, he began designing preppy for his own eponymous menswear line in the 1980s.[2] The company later expanded into women's clothing and various luxury items such as perfumes, and went public in 1992.[2] In 1997,[2] Hilfiger published his first book, titled All American: A Style Book, and he has written several since, including Tommy Hilfiger through Assouline in 2010.[2] Hilfiger's memoir, American Dreamer: My Life in Fashion & Business, co-written with Peter Knobler,[3] was published November 1, 2016.[3][4] Hilfiger's collections are often influenced by the fashion of music subcultures and marketed in connection with the music industry,[5][6] with celebrities such as American R&B artist Aaliyah in the 1990s.[7] In 2005, contestants in the CBS reality show The Cut competed for a design job with Hilfiger in a similar fashion to The Apprentice.[8] In 2006, Hilfiger sold his company for $1.6 billion to Apax Partners,[9] and it was sold again in 2010 to Phillips-Van Heusen for $3 billion.[10] He remains the company’s principal designer, leading the design teams and overseeing the entire creative process.[11] In 2012 Hilfiger was awarded the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.[12]