Move over, Grand Central oyster bar. This month, Tommy Hilfiger’s New York Fashion Week show will be held at the decommissioned Staten Island ferry that Pete Davidson and Colin Jost bought for $280,000 a few years ago. As “Page Six” reported, the comedians’ large son was seen being towed to South Street Seaport yesterday to get ready for its first gig. Hilfiger’s firm told Women’s Wear Daily last month that the ferry “will become the perfect stage” for his show. We can kind of see it — boaters in preppy blazers, even if the boat in question was mostly for daily commuters slogging their way to work.
The ferry is currently being renovated by the same architect behind Nine Orchard Hotel to become a hotel, event venue, and whatever else those crazy kids can dream of while still adhering to local building codes and regulations. (Despite the fact that the ferry is a boat, its lack of an engine means it will be regulated by the Department of Buildings, which may or may not cause an identity crisis for the noble MV John F. Kennedy.)
But for one day, it will still be celebrated as a boat, and everything else Hilfiger wants to project onto it. As the designer told Women’s Wear Daily, “New York City is the birthplace of the American Dream, and the Staten Island Ferry represents the gateway to self-expression for so many across history.” Now, that “so many” will include Jost, who might be in attendance, and all the fashion-world people who’ve never sailed to Staten Island before.
