Tommy Hilfiger is reclining in a deep sofa in a private room at Claridges Hotel in London trying to weigh up which is his preferred Hilfiger pin-up: Is it Paris Hilton, the poster girl of Hollywood’s brat pack, or Lauren Bush, the archetypal all-American girl?

“You can never control who wears our clothes,” says the immaculately dressed fashion entrepreneur. “But we feel that with our European-influenced approach, the sophisticated and higher level of quality and fashion somehow reaches the type of people who represent the brand very well.”