Groovy, Baby! Tommy Hilfiger's Wild Miami Mansion
Fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger may look like the definition of a wealthy buttoned-up fashion designer, but when he wants to party, he heads down to his house near Miami in Golden Beach, Florida. Or at least he used to.
The clothing magnate is selling his topsy-turvy, 14,000-square-foot party mansion in the Sunshine State for $24.5 million. Featuring insane custom touches like chainmail curtains and scratch-and-sniff wallpaper, this beachside house is half art installation, half acid trip, and fully worth a look.
See for yourself.
Fun House or Funhouse?
Tommy and his wife, Dee, bought this property for $17.25 million in 2013. They enlisted the help of celebrity designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard and decided to create the house into something completely different.
"We were looking for a home on the beach," Tommy told Architectural Digest. "More groovy, mod, contemporary. This is a fun house."
He meant fun, as in going to the party is fun. But it's also a bit of a carnival funhouse.
The Details
The mansion measures 14,075 square feet, with seven bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and four half baths.
The couple made sure to find a house that was enormous so they could display their vast and pricey collection of art.
Mickey Clad in Chrome
The house is all about pop art. There's a picture of Hilfiger with a neon "icon" sign and a life-sized chrome Mickey Mouse sculpture.
We're not sure which artist or studio made this. Possibly Leblon Delienne or Duroque?
'Sell the Art Buy a Yacht'
The central staircase area has an elevator if you don't want to take the winding staircase.
The floors are made of travertine.
The Staircase
The staircase is made of black marble (an addition by Bullard).
Instead of a sweeping crystal chandelier — a sensical but common dressing for an area like this — looping chainmail drips from the central light fixture.
Something 'Completely Different'
Dee said she and Tommy wanted something "completely different" from their traditional, super-luxe-but-predictable homes they own in New York City and the Gold Coast.
"We wanted to come here and feel like we're sort of on vacation. It's just an escape fantasy beach house."
The Dining Room
The dining room features eight Cityscape chairs by designer Paul Evans. Their price? Somewhere around $5,000 each.
However, these are custom and have been reupholstered with cherry red leather.
'Like an Acid Trip'
Look closely and you'll see that the curtains aren't made of fabric. They're made of metal. Specifically, chainmail.
If you think the zig-zagging black-and-white carpet is dizzying, you're not alone.
"It's like an acid trip that takes you to Miami via Paris and New York in the '70s," Bullard told AD in a 2016 cover story.
Yeah, Baby!
The living room looks like something out of an Austin Powers scene, and that was done on purpose.
"I told Martyn, 'If it's not shagadelic or groovy, it's not coming into the house,'" Dee told AD.
Get Groovy
The ceiling is only somewhat mirrored, so you don't have to get a full view of the weird stuff going on at the impromptu, LSD-fueled sex party that just has to be thrown to do this room justice.
Just don't ruin the sofas. Those are from Vladimir Kagan.
Disco Drinking
Off the living room, there's a circular bar with more chainmail curtains and a big old disco ball.
"I have fond memories of the Studio 54 days," Tommy told AD. "When Dee and Martyn showed up with a huge disco ball from a club in Capri, I said, 'Bring it on!'"
The Kitchen
The travertine floor in the kitchen has been painted with black stripes and features a sleek kitchen island with flush-mounted drawers.
The refrigerator is massive. Appliances in here are from Miele, Gaggenau and Subzero.
Style Over Comfort
A row of bucket designer chairs are nice looking, but their plastic backing doesn't look too comfortable to sit in for longer than it takes to sip a cup of coffee.
The Theater
The movie theater's walls match the groovy colors and swirls of the living room's carpet.
But the best touch here? Lipstick-red shag carpeting.
You can't pretend to be in the 1960s without it.
Queen Elizabeth and an Elevator
On the top floor, above the stairs, a pop portrait of a blinking (or sleeping) Queen Elizabeth II greets guests who make their way up the winding staircase or take the elevator.
Never Sleep Again
Who needs sleep when you're on mushrooms? This red-and-white-striped room is unapologetically loud.
The Mickey Mouse painting is by Andy Warhol. We're not sure how much it's worth, but a quadrant Mickey Mouse piece sold for $4.5 million in 2015.
Scatch-and-Sniff Wallpaper?!
If you're wondering why there are bananas on the wall, it's not just a fun design choice.
Dee told Architectural Digest that some of the wallpapers in the house are scratch-and-sniff, just like Willy Wonka. Except you don't want to lick a bathroom wall. And there are no snozzberries.
This wallpaper is from Flavor Paper and goes for $400 per roll.
The Master Bedroom
The master bedroom looks out into the ocean, but that's hardly the most interesting thing about this room.
The four-poster bed is designed by Paul Evans, while the furry throw is made of Mongolian lamb's wool an d spills over to the bed's platform, which is draped with more of the same material.
'If I'd Observed All the Rules, I'd Never Have Got Anywhere'
The wall features 10 photos of beauty icon Marilyn Monroe and other chrome-polished furniture accents give the room retro flavor.
"It's not everyone's tastes," Tommy said of the house as a whole. "Some people may love it, some people may hate it."
Tommy Hilfiger's Net Worth
Tommy made his net worth of around $450 million with his very famous fashion brand, which he founded in 1985.
He sold the Tommy Hilfiger brand to Apax Partners for $1.6 billion in 2006. That company then sold the label to Phillips-Van Heusen for $3 billion in 2010.
Hilfiger is still the company's principal designer, and the Tommy Hilfiger brand made $8.5 billion in global retail sales in 2018.
Master Bathroom
The master bathroom has more wool carpeting, post-modern shelving and a vanity-bulb chandelier.
"It's quite exasperating in a sense," Tommy said of his mansion. "You look at it and it's like [sharp gasp]."
The Shower
Matching the kitchen, the spacious, walk-in shower is black-and-white striped.
"It's not everyone's tastes," Tommy said. "Some people may love it, some people may hate it."
Did we already say that?
Bathroom Stalls
Across from the walk-in shower are these doorless stalls, one with a toilet and one with a urinal.
Black-and-white chevron wallpaper and a profile piece of Tommy adorn the upper walls.
Blue Bedroom
The color blue is the star of this room, which is a bit simpler and quieter than the red guest bedroom.
"It's very unexpected, even for me," Bullard told AD. "I haven't done these kind of color combinations."
The Office
The office has the classic deep-blue and bright-red colors of the Tommy Hilfiger brand.
As Bullard describes the colorful room: "Suede walls in a Mondrian inspired design are punctuated with a Jean Dubuffet artwork and custom-designed white lacquer desk completes the look."
The Gym
Even the gym manages to cram some art between its functionality.
This features a funky, custom-made pool table crafted to look like a Ford GT 350. That's no surprise. Tommy loves cars and apparently has the most expensive car collection in Greenwich, Connecticut.
No easy feat, given that billionaires like Vince McMahon and Ralph Lauren live in the dripping-rich town.
Guest Apartments
The mansion has two guest apartments, too, and each of them is just as funky as the main house.
This one comes with a huge fridge and colorful steel-blue wallpaper from the walls to the ceiling.
A Loud Lounge
Another part of the mansion — probably the other guest apartment — has been crafted to resemble a 1960s disco lounge.
Wavy, built-in sofas and psychedelic wallpaper make this a righteous pad for all the cool cats.
Surf's Up
There's a small detached pool house right on the beach. The house sits on a 0.63-acre lot with 100 feet of beachfront.
Hoping to Inspire
"I hope it inspires people to do fun crazy things in their house," Dee said of the house.
It's certainly unique, and it will probably take some time to sell. The mansion is being offered at $7.25 million more than the Hilfigers bought it for in 2013 and is the most expensive home for sale in the neighborhood.
Where to Next?
Hilfiger has been unloading his real estate for a year, having sold his Manhattan penthouse at a deep price cut in 2019. He sold it to a car dealership tycoon for $31.25 million, a huge drop from its initial offering of $50 million.
Let's hope that whatever he buys next is just as exciting as this groovy slice of real estate on the beach.