Sunglasses in ice? A flash mob? Sergio Ramos? HUNGER spent the night in Paris with Tommy Hilfiger Eyewear

The event was in celebration of the brand’s newly revealed Polo Pique eyewear campaign.

April 6, 2023

It’s hard to gauge just how famous footballers are until you see them in the flesh. If you’re not wised up on the ins and outs of the beautiful game, the league tables and which players are moving to which club, then they are just chiselled men with a penchant for running around. But for the football lovers, seeing someone like Sergio Ramos traipse up and down the Palais de Tokyo in Paris is, to put it lightly, a bit of a big deal.

It was Tommy Hilfiger Eyewear that brought him to their latest no-costs-spared event – another instalment on their seemingly media-breaking campaigns across the different arms of Tommy Hilfiger. First came the brand’s evening in London with Shawn Mendes, Pamela Anderson and, of course, Hilfiger himself. And now, the Paris Saint Germain defender joined Australian snowboarder Scotty James and surfer Nick Pescetto to launch the brand’s Polo Piquet collection – a new range of sport-ready eyewear.

The Palais, Paris’ modern and contemporary art museum, wasn’t just a coincidental choice of venue for the launch. Set in a grand room just off of the forecourt, where the likes of Rick Owens and Akris often present their Paris Fashion Week offers, to get into the venue you had to dodge and dive out the way of keen skateboarders. They weren’t part of the spectacle, and in no way a nuisance, the brand chose to be part of the inner-city sporting culture by moving in at one of the city’s hottest guerilla skating areas.

Inside, the crowds parted each time Ramos and his entourage, or a flock of his fans (of the PSG persuasion and otherwise), travelled from one end of the room to the other, simultaneously breaking the stereotype that football players don’t dress well. Around the area, spaced out like stalls which represent their ambassadors’ professions, different open sets gave immersive experiences through the lens of the new eyewear. In one corner, the items were trapped in actual melting ice, surrounded by snow scenes, a snowboard and ice cold Ciroc vodka. Elsewhere, a Tommy Hilfiger speaker blasted out over a screen of breaking waves, sand and a deck chair.

A hip hop dance display, which felt more like a flash mob as you discovered yourself in the middle looking as if you’d forgotten the moves, introduced French music ensemble Bon Entendeur and the collective of four of the country’s most in-demand DJs, C2C. Even Ramos stuck around for the music.