Tommy Hilfiger described his surreal meeting with Michael Jackson and his young kids, who were bizarrely dressed as the Von Trapp family from “The Sound of Music” in full makeup and bleached blond hair.
The fashion icon describes in his new book, “American Dreamer: My Life in Fashion & Business,” how he met with Jackson at Neverland in the early ’90s after the singer asked to collaborate on a clothing line.
Hilfiger writes in his memoir, due soon from Ballantine Books, that when he, his brother Andy and daughter Ally landed by helicopter, “A choo-choo train, with a conductor and everything, picked us up. We were driving through Neverland, and no one was there. As we passed the Ferris wheel, it started up. Every seat was empty. We saw teacup rides and a racetrack and an amphitheater, all deserted. We pulled up in front of the house, and a butler came out wearing white gloves. ‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Michael will be coming; he is expecting you.’ We were standing in front of this massive gingerbread-style house when a giraffe walked by, followed by a string of baby elephants. Ally and Andy were looking at each other, like ‘This is crazy!’”
Hilfiger said he met with Jackson in his dark mahogany office where the star wore sunglasses and “was sitting in an enormous gold-and-burgundy throne . . . His face was heavily made up and he had a Band-Aid across his nose. He was fidgety. He said, ‘We really have to do this clothing line together. I have millions of fans all over the world who are waiting for it.’ He spoke in the same wispy voice we had all grown accustomed to.”
Hilfiger continued of Jacko’s kids, “Prince and Paris came barreling down the stairs dressed as characters from a Broadway show or ‘The Sound of Music’ — velveteen knickers, dirndl jumper, ruffled blouses, patent leather shoes, each in full makeup, their hair bleached blond with dark roots. Blanket was an infant in nanny’s arms.”
Hilfiger said his partners passed on the deal with the pop icon, saying they had “bigger deals in mind” and at the time were negotiating to buy Calvin Klein. “Michael continued to call and ask us to reconsider, but our decision was firm, and he never did the clothing line,” Hilfiger wrote.