Ralph Lauren (Q987)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
American fashion company
- Polo Ralph Lauren
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Ralph Lauren |
American fashion company |
|
Statements
head designer
Ralph Lauren
employee
Ralph Lauren
1995
Head of Menswear Design
Assistant Designer
1995
If a double-breasted jacket worn as a dress over a crisp button-down and necktie in Ralph Lauren’s new pre-fall collection looks familiar, that’s because Zendaya sported a similar piece by the designer from 1992 earlier this year on herChallengerspress tour. The actress has made archive pieces a central part of her style signature, as many other often-photographed celebrities are doing these days. It’s become a sort of red carpet competition, with the winner being the star who can source and wear the deepest cuts. The trend is a boon for designers who’ve been in the game for decades. The pleat-front baggy trousers that appear a few times in these pictures also look like a callback to Lauren’s ’90s, though the leather bustier and jacket couldn’t be more now.Of course, Lauren is a designer who believes in consistency, so the camel dress coat and tweedy gray pants blend right in with the rest of the new lineup, which is rooted in tailoring with Western and equestrian touches here and there like suede fringe and horsey novelty prints. A glossy racing-car-green trench, meanwhile, is a nod to his automobile collection. As ever, he brought a sense of aerodynamism to his eveningwear, including a slinky, cut-on-the-bias halter neck siren dress. His new bag, the Ralph, also takes cues from his cars, with the half-circle handle looking a lot like a steering wheel.
20 December 2024
Ralph Lauren, at 84, does nothing by half measures. For his spring 2025 show, he invited guests out to a 19-acre horse farm in Bridgehampton, an afternoon’s journey from New York City, parked his vintage cars near the stables, including a 1970s red Ferrari with Colorado plates, and had show horses jumping in a training ring, while Usher, Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Tom Hiddleston, Colman Domingo, and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden looked on.If you were at Lauren’s 50th anniversary show in Central Park in 2018, this one had some of that flavor, with clothes from his eponymous collection, Purple Label, and Polo modeled by a multigenerational cast that ranged from Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell to adorable smiling kids taking their first tentative steps down a runway. In the years since that milestone show, the U.S. fashion industry has been rocked by the pandemic and its economic ripple effects. Lauren, our elder statesman, is a beacon in this challenging environment, his success a model for the generations of designers that have come up after him, and his clothes synonymous with all-American style the world over.As befit the Hamptons setting, the clothes he sent out tonight tapped a beachy, breezy vein in his work. The de rigueur American flag sweater was paired with short-shorts made in white crochet, a texture he also liked for a long slinky dress with a plunging v-front. Point being, there was something for any and every East End occasion, whether calico and lace for a poolside barbecue, or a midnight blue slip dress for her and an ivory linen dinner jacket for him to wear at a black tie fundraiser. He also made room for some western suede and leather fringe—we were in horse country, after all.Before the show, David Lauren walked editors around the vintage cars, pointing out how both the exteriors and interiors had been customized down to the tiniest details, according to his father’s exacting specifications. There’s a parallel there with the way Lauren finesses the styling of his shows. The clothes themselves are classics, just how he likes them; the real pleasure for him is in the mix: a humble white cotton tank with a jewel fringed long column skirt accessorized by a western belt; a marinière stripe, shirting stripe, and pinstripe ensemble; the tailcoat and holey jeans modeled by Turlington.When it was all over, Lauren emerged for a bow in a Team USA Closing Ceremony jacket (you’ll recognize it from the Summer Games in Paris).
Behind him was a temporary Polo Bar that had been erected over the course of five weeks, twice the size of the New York City original. Absolutely nothing by half measures.
6 September 2024
“Dressing for me has always been an adventure. It’s dressing for the day and the moment, for a match on the tennis courts, for a glamorous evening. My Purple Label collection for spring 2025 is inspired by that kind of living—celebrating a personal style that is effortless and timeless, a quiet sophistication that is confident and always authentic.” This was the quote delivered via release from Madison Avenue to accompany this morning’s Ralph Lauren Purple Label presentation in Milan.This collection neither replicated nor repeated—nor even reinterpreted—core Lauren lore. Rather it felt like the latest chapter in his unbroken cinematic serial dedicated to alpha patrician menswear. This episode contained various sections which tended to overlap. A series of semi-formal maritime looks mixing blazers and some breathtaking linen field jackets with Breton stripes blended into a resort getaway cameo starring a navy terry blazer with white piping that advertised itself as a souvenir of Capri worn over white pants and espadrilles. Across from this a series of more clubby looks—clubby in the sense of leather chesterfields, slow-clicking grandfather clocks and nursery food—saw double breasted shawl collar blazers and more field jackets worn over high-waisted razor precision creased pastel pants, evening shirting and low-slung waistcoats. South of one linen herringbone field jacket was a navy sweater embroidered with an RL bear whose tied belt hung cutely loose and who wore an oversized watch and aviators.There were RL cricket sweaters worn alongside bridle leather tennis racquet holders and gorgeous billows-pocket suede shirting worn against bridle leather grip bags. A jacket in what looked like a heathery Scottish wool that would leave your neck a burning scarlet from rubbing after an hour or two turned out to be cut in silk linen houndstooth check that felt moisturizer-soft to the touch. There were a few diversions from chairman of the board to owner of the ranch that included a blue plaid shirt much more delicately proportioned than the heartier fare you’d find at Lauren’s more robust RRL outpost. A vintage Aston Martin that looked as good as new—if not better—was on display downstairs in the RL palazzo courtyard. Lauren and the engine of professionals that surround him seem consummately calibrated to discover endless variation in classically elegant menswear. Purple Label is ticking over beautifully.
15 June 2024
We were at Ralph Lauren’s 650 Madison Avenue headquarters for his show tonight. A few hours before its start time, a press release came through: The designer’s first womenswear show—in 1972!—was also held in his offices. In the 52 years that separate that inaugural moment and this one, much has changed, as black-and-white photos tracked down on Getty Images attest.In those early pictures, it was all editors and industry types in the small crowd—the lensman Bill Cunningham, who was not yet atThe New York Times, staked out a spot on the floor. This evening, Glenn Close, Jessica Chastain, and Kerry Washington glided through the doors, among many other celebrities. Also not a thing back then: a post-show dinner at the Polo Bar, with models in the glen plaid pantsuits and long bias-cut slips they wore on the runway.What has remained uniquely consistent over the decades, of course, is Lauren’s aesthetic. “The woman I design for has a beauty that comes from an inner confidence,” he noted in his press release. “My collection is inspired by that woman, her sense of timelessness, her individuality—a style that is forever.” The show’s opening song, Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are,” seemed chosen to call attention to that constancy, as did the first model Christy Turlington, who backstage told a story about meeting Lauren in an elevator as she was beginning her career in the 1980s.Turlington wore neat tailoring, a tie tucked into the waistband of her trousers, with an RL 888 leather tote in the same shade of buff gray as her clothing. Neckties and power suits were recurring sights on the fall runways, as if happens; for Lauren they’re not seasonal affectations, but rather pieces that he’s returned to over the years, sharpening and fine-tuning them the way a performer learns his lines.He’s always had a flair for the cinematic; a klieg light set up in one corner of the showroom reminded us of that, as did looks like a leather horse wrangler’s jacket and suede pants worn with a neckerchief and 10-gallon hat that might’ve strutted straight off the set ofHorizon, the upcoming Kevin Costner movie. Lauren himself wore a colorful western shirt and well-loved jeans to take his bow, relishing his standing ovation.City sophistication and red carpet drama are essential parts of his repertoire, as well.
These were represented by a chunky cardigan and cocktail dress combo, the pinstripe jacket he threw over a silk charmeuse shirt and long skirt in gunmetal gray, and the beaded body-skimming gowns that closed the show with scintillations of diamond-bright light.
29 April 2024
Fifty-six years after launching his very first collection (of ties, under the name Polo), Ralph Lauren is still very much in the saddle. The designer begins every episode of this collection by considering fabrics, just as you would when commissioning a suit, but on a much greater scale. He lays down swatches in order to develop an overview of the textures, weight and shades of suiting, outerwear and sports coats. Then comes the knitwear, shirting, ties, informal pants, shoes, and other composite elements of a Lauren menswear look. Once this overview is established, the outfits are built.For this collection Lauren stepped away from the tonal jewel-color suiting we’ve seen recently—it’s now pretty current again elsewhere too—and went back to the ranch. Tweeds and wools in checks inspired by horse blankets were amongst the designer’s starting points. More euro-equestrian houndstooths, Glen plaids, and country corduroy were mixed in as well. There was a fringed suede jacket worn above a black polo-neck knit, black denim, and a classic western belt in rough-cut greasy brown leather; brown on black is a received no-no, but such is the subtle might of the Lauren machine’s styling vision that it looked like an inspiration rather than an aberration.Equestrianism framed the mood but did not define the whole. A series of impeccable chairman-level executive suits were more appropriate for riding the ups and downs of the stock market. There was a marvelous green velvet rendering of a 1940s paratrooper smock, complete with authentic diagonally flapped map pockets: It was reimagined as an informal hybrid between evening and smoking jacket. More eveningwear came cut in black watch tartan, fastened with gold buttons: The ceremonial weightiness of this was leavened by the Yankees baseball cap styled alongside it that was part of a new collaboration. This was another faultless inning from US fashion’s biggest and longest hitter.
14 January 2024
The last time Ralph Lauren was on the New York Fashion Week calendar it was September 2019. Even by pre-pandemic standards that show stands out in the memory for its glamour. Lauren turned a ballroom on Wall Street into “Ralph’s Club,” stacked the cabaret tables with celebrities, and hired Janelle Monae to perform a medley of Jazz Age hits.This time around, he was after a different vibe. Oh, there were celebrities aplenty: Julianne Moore, Diane Keaton, Jennifer Lopez, and Amanda Seyfried, for starters, but the ambiance was artist’s loft by way of Lauren’s Colorado Ranch. We were in an empty warehouse on the edge of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but the only way you knew you were in New York was the line of black cars to ferry guests back to Manhattan waiting outside.In Lauren’s four years off the schedule, the New York fashion scene has experienced a generational shift; it’s a city of scrappy upstarts and little brands that could. The star power and setting tonight were testament to Lauren’s position at the top of the American fashion business. Calvin and Donna, his famous peers, have long been out of the mix; when young designers name an inspirational figure, Lauren’s name is the one that comes up time and again. Will any of today’s upstarts, scrappy or otherwise, be able to get to his level? Check back in 56 years. Lauren launched his business in 1967.The collection for spring 2024 was recognizably Ralph, but it also broke new ground. It started with that most American of fabrics, denim, only Lauren treated it in the most elevated of ways; lined with chiffon and tulle and burnt out into devorés, it was then over-embroidered with sequins and beads. It doesn’t feel like an exaggeration to liken these pieces to couture, even if the silhouettes he was working with were straightforward jackets and cargo pants.From there, the show moved onto a series of black and gold looks and a chance to play with house codes like the RL logo, which was picked out on the torso of a clingy beaded black dress, and the military jacket, which got belted over silky pants and strappy heels. Christy Turlington’s show-closing gold lamé one-shoulder gown was a knockout.Belt buckles, oversized and bearing the Ralph Lauren logo, got a lot of play throughout, including on the third group of looks that took Lauren’s famous starting point, men’s neckties, morphed them into silk foulards, and wrapped and draped them into easy-wearing halter tops, sarongs, and pajama pants.
Also in this section were bias-cut jewel tone silk dresses sliced with deep fringes at the edges and a madras print criss-cross bodice gown that’s one of those unlikely combos that Lauren does so convincingly well.The show was followed by a dinner in another room with wide wood plank floors and crystal chandeliers. Rustic? A bit. Glamorous? Definitely.
9 September 2023
Ralph Lauren is thinking pink for resort. Not Barbie pink, which is all over this season’s collections, with the Margot Robbie film finally hitting theaters next month, but ballerina pink.Like Barbiecore, balletcore is another popular TikTok trend, but it’s safe to say that Lauren’s design instincts aren’t informed by that social media platform. He has 50 years of archives to pull from when he’s searching for inspiration. Make that 55. Lauren celebrated his brand’s semicentennial five years ago this September, which makes you wonder if he has something big planned for New York Fashion Week.The collection is recognizably Ralph, with its emphasis on classic all-American tailoring. It opens with a double-breasted pantsuit in ballerina pink with a crewneck sweater to match. Later, there’s a masculine-cut coat with exaggerated peaked lapels in the same soft shade; it’s an unlikely marriage, but it works, as does the tweed blazer a few looks on that he paired with a short skirt embellished with feathers.Dancers’ garb informs the cut of a wrap sweater and its matching spaghetti strap slip, as well as a knit dress with a pleated skirt and a trompe l’oeil strappy neckline, while tulle (the stuff of tutus) is ombré dyed and sewn in tiers for a pretty party dress. Long dresses are as sleek as a leotard.The athleticism of the collection is balanced by an emphasis on artisanal work, a recurring theme of Lauren’s recent outings. The frock coat in look 16 has been elaborately antiqued so that it seems like it’s been worn for years, and the three piece suit (jacket, corset, and jeans) in look 18 is hand-painted denim. Their faded florals appear later on a couple of floaty semi-sheer dresses. The overall impression here was one of lightness. Pretty antidotes for a heavy time.
30 June 2023
If Quiet Luxury was not an almost arbitrary construct created to generate SEO-sexy content related to some popular TV shows, then Ralph Lauren would be the king of its American iteration—just as he remains the king of so many categories in American fashion. Following a four-year absence, his expansive and spiffily attired team returned to his gorgeous green marble Milan palazzo today. They were back to showcase Lauren’s Purple Label collection, and rightfully so. For although it is shaped by the M&M loving man himself from his Madison Avenue eyrie, Purple—the apex Lauren brand—is 100 per cent Made In Italy.Once past the custom Jaguar XK120 in the atrium, through the scrum of Champagne proffering waiters on the staircase and up onto thepiano nobile, there was a Lauren representative there to talk through the collection there to talk through the collection. This was breakdownable into three sections; latte, navy, and rainbow resort.The latte section featured deconstructed unlined formalwear including two peaked collar double breasted suits in linen and flecked shantung silk. There was a marvelous pleat-shouldered sports jacket in silk/linen herringbone over a v-neck herringbone sweater in coffee shades teamed with an expertly folded coffee check tie, complete with tie-pin. Looser looks, including a handmade cotton/silk faded Fair Isle meets Basque knit sweater and white pant, and a suede field jacket whose navy sweater was the segue to section two were teamed with that Purple label styling touchstone, the cravat. The navy section sailed into suede trucker jackets, cropped linen herringbone bleus de travail, elevated denim suiting (radical for Purple), and one pre-WFH Wall Street pinstripe.The final section was in another room, and getting to it was happily delayed by a detour into a new line of accessories named Bedford. Saddle stitched in aniline leather, they included burnished grip bags with interior “grab and go” canvas baglets, a backpack you just knew would get better and better with wear, and some ‘RL’ sandals. Nice. The rainbow room featured a mix and match of jackets, pants and resort wear in bird of paradise colors, all mix and match-able and styled with the usual velvet slipper and, more interestingly, an espadrille. Purple’s fastest growing category is non-traditional evening wear for clients who want to make a splash: these jewel-toned pieces were designed to deliver them. Luxury? For sure. But quiet? Not so much.
The best label to apply here was simply Ralph Lauren, with all its composite multitudes of cinematically masculine archetypes expertly executed by menswear’s finest hands.
17 June 2023
After a pair of shows staged at MoMA in New York and the Huntington Library in Los Angeles, Ralph Lauren opted for a lookbook reveal and showroom appointments for his new collection. He’s a designer as adept at creating a mood as he is cutting a suit, but we’ll have to wait until next season for an IRL RL experience.As it happens, tailoring was on Lauren’s agenda here, and naturally there were chalk stripe suits. Though we saw many on the fall runways, no designer can stake a greater claim to the look than Lauren. More often, however, he was up to more unconventional things: pairing a classically tailored tweed jacket with fringed and distressed leather pants, adding a western belt with silver and turquoise details to a classic single-breasted blazer and pleated trousers, cutting a puffer in natty glen plaid, or recreating the look of his signature chalk stripes with beading on a black smoking.The designer himself has long embraced the surprising mix with his own personal style—for proof see his runway bows over the years. There he is at his 50th anniversary show in Central Park in 2018, with faded blue jeans and metal-toed cowboy boots accessorizing his tuxedo. Or check out his fall 2016 show, when he teamed a tweed jacket with a well-loved leather vest whose patina looks not unlike some of the pieces in this lineup.He liked the patina effect enough to incorporate it into his evening wear, where that kind of treatment is decidedly more unexpected. Note the fading at the shoulders of a crystal embellished black velvet jacket and on the strapless bodice of a purple flocked denim evening dress. Fluttering silk dresses dyed similarly deep shades of red and green were finished with substantial cowboy belts, tying the day and night parts of the collection together.Lauren dressed Malala Yousafzai in a custom-made sequin-embroidered tulle gown with an integrated head covering at the Oscars last month. The female education activist and Nobel Prize laureate had the best line of the night when she told Jimmy Kimmel “I only talk about peace.” A stretch jersey dress here had the same twisting detail at the waist, but a more low-key vibe. For customers who liked the look of her metallic sequins, there was a one-shoulder number in gunmetal micro-pleats and a platinum silk velvet gown with crinoline underlayers that gave it a more structured, couture-ish shape, both were eye-catching.
4 April 2023
Over the last few years, Ralph Lauren has shown us his New York—the stupendous 50th anniversary show in Central Park, the café society show presented at his uptown store, the swanky supper club he erected near Wall Street and, after a break in live shows due to the pandemic, last season’s soignee affair at MoMA. While there’s no denying he’s a New Yorker through and through, nothing gets the creative juices flowing quite like a case of wanderlust.And so the designer looked farther afield for spring. Specifically to Southern California—shockingly, the first time he’s shown here. He could have gone anywhere he pleased, but Lauren landed on an unexpected choice—the Huntington Library, a museum and botanical garden just northeast of Los Angeles proper, founded in 1919 by an industrialist family that made their fortunes in railroads and real estate.It was against the museum’s Mediterranean Revival style facade that Lauren presented his vision to his pals from the upper echelons of Hollywood’s elite—Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, Diane Keaton (whom he dressed in her breakthrough role in Annie Hall), Laura Dern, John Legend, Chris Pine, Lily Collins, and Robin Wright, to name but a few. He savvily had a strong contingent of content creators present too, like TikTok stars Noah Beck and Wisdom Kaye. The cushioned loungers and twilight cocktail hour set the tone—this was California casual, done the Ralph way.“California has always been a land of dreams and contradictions—rugged coasts and red carpets,” he said in his show notes. You could sense that those contrasts fascinate him. “For the first time ever,” he continued, “I bring my dream of living here, sharing my worlds in an experience that celebrates a way of life I have always believed in—a mix of grit and glamour, energy and inspiration.”In his six-decades-long career, there’s nothing in the American psyche that Lauren hasn’t addressed in some way. And yet, the West and its mythos, has been particularly transfixing (it’s not for nothing he has a 16,000-acre ranch in Colorado). So it’s not surprising that he found ways to wring out new insights from archetypes and codes that he’s explored before.The show opened with a trim, wheat-colored suit worn with an oversized cowboy hat, a Western belt, and antique-style jewelry. The effect was confident and assured—a mix of the urbane and rugged, of masculine and feminine.
Floral-pattern bias-cut prairie dresses fluttering atop cowboy boots followed, adding a demure touch, while fringed knits became oversized cardigans or wrap skirts, imparting gravitas. Men, meanwhile, wore dusky denim suits, evoking the hardscrabble dignity of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, or, alternately, looked like suave frontiersmen of classic Hollywood westerns, the models tipping their hats and winking at audience members as they strutted by.
14 October 2022
It was September 2019 when Ralph Lauren invited us all to “Ralph’s Club” and Janelle Monáe charmed absolutely everyone with a sparkling rendition of “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.” Two and a half years later the world is a different place; for starters, New York has a new mayor, Eric Adams. But you know what hasn’t changed? Lauren’s vision of the good life. For his comeback show at the Museum of Modern Art, Lauren recreated his Fifth Avenue living room, down to the steel-armed lounge chairs, coffee table books, and black-and-white photos on the walls depicting his real-life Central Park views. Adams and Monáe were in the audience, joined by Jessica Chastain and Lily Collins.You don’t get to your sixth decade in business by waffling, and at 82 Lauren’s signatures are well-established. “I wasn’t catering to some lady somewhere, or some guy,” he toldVoguein 2019. “I was catering to myself.” His new collection for fall touched on many of his famous signatures, starting with Gigi Hadid’s opening look: a monogram sweater tucked into trim pleated pants accessorized by spectator heels and an oversized Ricky bag.From that beginning, there was a passage devoted to classic black-and-white tailoring; an après-ski section that saw a bejeweled Fair Isle sweater paired with a floor-length skirt; a few looks devoted to the very Ralph pastime of horseback riding, to lift the name of the 2019 HBO documentary of his life; and a high evening series that read like a love letter to New York, not least of all a black column dress with the skyline picked out in crystals.Driving home the timelessness and elegance of all of it was Lauren’s multigenerational cast: Shalom Harlow and Laetitia Casta mixed with newcomers, and Tyson Beckford, the face of many a 1990s Ralph Lauren campaign, took a lap of his own, stopping to shake the hand of the designer’s brother Jerry along the way. A special shout-out to the young model who carried his Gilded Age tailcoat with such aplomb.In fact, Lauren’s vision is more expansive than it was before the pandemic and the racial justice reckoning of 2020. Last week, the brand unveiled a new collection, Polo Ralph Lauren Exclusively for Morehouse and Spelman Colleges, that reimagines the collegiate prep look that is so much a part of his repertoire in a more inclusive fashion.
It follows the $2 million pledge that the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation made last year to support scholarships for students at 12 historically Black colleges and universities across the country.For the show’s finale, Vittoria Cerreti came out in a black tux with a Yankees cap on her head and a baseball jacket tossed over her shoulders. It was a nod to Lauren’s Bronx boyhood stomping grounds, but the alignment didn’t fail to telegraph another detail. The Yankees and Ralph Lauren are both American institutions.
23 March 2022
During the pandemic, Ralph Lauren made wardrobing collections of elegant clothes tailored to his clients’ circumscribed day-to-day activities. As working from home gave way to scheduled returns-to-office, neutral cashmere layers were replaced by crisp suits in a vivid palette of orange, green, and navy.This collection, in contrast, seems driven by Lauren’s cravings for wanderlust and adventure, which of course aren’t unrelated to the last two years of inertia. Its touchstone was a vintage picture of the designer holidaying somewhere in chinos and ikats. A scroll through the Instagram account #oldralphlaurenads will teach anyone unfamiliar with the man that Lauren doesn’t lack for personal style.The new collection lifts directly from that archival image, retaining its eclectic, laid-back spirit, while amping up colors and womanly shapes. Ikat tailcoats and blazers are paired with relaxed chinos or artfully embroidered jeans. The denim showcases the studio’s more artisanal approach this season; ditto a printed ikat leather dress laser cut into strips for an almost origami-like effect. Elsewhere the focus is on the very Ralph combination of flannel shirts and ikat sarongs wrapped at the hips with vintage turquoise and silver concho belts from his own personal collection.
25 February 2022
The Polo Bar reopened in late October and it’s been packed every night since, save for Sundays and Mondays, when it’s not open for dining. Ralph Lauren’s pre-spring collection, arriving in stores now, was designed for a back-in-business New York City. Omicron might slow the city’s roll, but nobody wants to go back to the sweatpants and slippers of the early lockdown.Sensing that, Lauren swapped out the soft neutrals of his pre-fall and fall collections in favor of bright pops of color. Emerald green, royal blue, and zesty yellow added verve to his iconic tailoring—verve that he amped up with a flourish of soft ruffles spilling down the front of a blouse. A classic navy blazer, meanwhile, was enlivened by a pair of slim paisley-print pants, a paisley that also appears on a handkerchief-hem skirt and a reversible bomber jacket.For a night out at the Polo Bar, there’s a bustier trimmed in gold buttons (sartorially sexy), a strapless cocktail dress woven with a proprietary metallic thread, and an emerald silk number with irregular pleats that evoke Fortuny. Sure, Lauren does sneakers—he’s not blind to the way the pandemic is reshaping our day-to-day wardrobes—but his high-tops are handcrafted in Italy. Their tawny brown leather is a perfect match to his new Welington cross-body bag.
2 December 2021
There was a moment early in the pandemic when a blazer and sweatpants seemed to sum up everything: It was business on top, cozy on the bottom, and the punchline of many a “Zoom style” joke. Eighteen months and thousands of video meetings later, it’s become a fact of how we dress, a look that meets our conflicting desires for comfort and class and reflects the spontaneous, haphazard attitude of the younger generations. It also isn’t a huge leap from Ralph Lauren’s own style and iconic signatures, mixing the elegant and rugged, city and country, high and low. His fall 2021 collection offers his take on the blazer-and-sweats combo, comprised of plush cashmere joggers, a Fair Isle hoodie, and a Glen plaid topcoat.Upgrading the casual and easing up the formal was Lauren’s general missive for fall (see: the ivory gown knitted entirely from cashmere) with a touch of Milanese sartorialism inspired by his fondness for the city. Every coat, balmacaan, and sharp-shouldered blazer was unlined, delivering all the swagger and none of the rigidity. Perceptive readers might notice the subtlest sparkle on an oversized, drop-shouldered mushroom plaid coat: The wool was embedded with tiny Swarovski crystals, a tactile, better-appreciated-IRL detail. The suit underneath had the same hint of shine, elevating the look as an unexpected evening wear option.A plush turtleneck was similarly hand-embroidered with crystals and pearls; its debut was actually inVogue’s September issue, photographed among the Icelandic glaciers in Gabriella Karefa-Johnson and Annie Leibovitz’s shoot. Other pieces veered even closer to couture, like stripe-y coats that mimicked the look of fur, but were actually pieced-together shearlings in various colors, weights, and textures. Innovation chez RL can look as simple as stripping the lining from a jacket or continuing to reimagine what fur-free luxury outerwear can be. He has a leg up on his European competitors in that regard; Lauren went fur-free way back in 2006, long before designers and conglomerates were in the headlines for doing so.
29 September 2021
The Ralph Lauren brand made fashion headlines twice already this week, first with the news that the label will become a fashion outfitter for Europe’s esports giant G2, and second with the launch of a virtual club promoting the new fragrance Ralph’s Club. Both moves demonstrate the company’s efforts to adapt to the times, to be where the new fashion customer is. Increasingly, of course, that’s online.Here on terra firma, Lauren’s pre-fall is arriving in stores. Leaving the experimenting that’s happening elsewhere at the brand aside, the collection will look reassuringly familiar to longtime fans. Lauren took up the topic of safari gear, presumably for the traveling he was doing in his mind. This collection was developed months ago, before the vaccine rollouts made actual travel a possibility again. Now that people are out and about, its active, easy-to-wear attitude is bound to have appeal.There was a safari wrap dress and wide-legged jumpsuit, both in silk, and a safari jacket in washed khaki denim that was paired with a long plissé lamé skirt. Comfort for whatever the occasion was another running theme, and it produced both a white floor-length T-shirt dress and a black sequined jogging suit worn under a black smoking jacket. The high drama evening looks typical of his shows were conspicuously absent, but presumably not for long; after a year and a half New York Fashion Week is coming back in September, and so, hinted brands reps, is Ralph.
23 June 2021
If you closed your eyes you could almost convince yourself that you were back at “Ralph’s Club” circa September 2019 when Janelle Monáe performed for the likes of Cate Blanchett and Henry Golding at Ralph Lauren’s last Before Times show. Monáe was the entertainment at the designer’s see-now, buy-now presentation again tonight—she sang Frank Sinatra’s “All or Nothing at All” and her own songs “Peachtree Blues” “Dorothy Dandridge Eyes,” and “Tightrope”—only now, of course, we were watching and listening via our laptop screens.After a year of COVID lockdowns, this collection is more informal than the black-tie togs that paraded around the tables at that starry show, but it’s still unmistakably Ralph: polished yet retaining his signature all-American ease, and grounded in tailoring for both men and women. The look-book-opening double-breasted plaid jacket, silk shirt, and Art Deco scarf was pulled from his wife Ricky’s playbook. In an environment changed so dramatically, there’s reassurance in all that. “My designs have always been about creating a world that is beyond fashion, a world of romance and timeless sophistication,” Lauren said in a release. “For Spring 2021, my collections intertwine those feelings and express a personal style that is modern and enduring.”Romancemight be the key word here. Lauren’s can’t-go-wrong-with-a-classic m.o. is no doubt why Joe Biden chose the designer’s navy blue suit for his Inauguration in January. But the campaign film that preceded Monáe’s performance—and the collection photos you see here—conjure the world of another aviator jacket-loving dude: Humphrey Bogart circaCasablanca.So maybe his customers aren’t jetting off to Morocco just yet, but Lauren’s cinematic vision could transport them there virtually—her in a striped pajama set by day and a plunge-front beaded knit dress by night, and him in linen separates when the sun’s out and a shawl-collar tuxedo and bow tie come cocktail hour.To set the mood for the online shopping experience that followed Monáe’s performance, Lauren sent hospitality kits to top clients around the world featuring a bottle of bourbon, a pair of tumblers, monogrammed napkins, and a silver plated bowl from which to nibble the included hand-cut potato chips. It’s not “Ralph’s Club”; the unscripted looseness of that event was its appeal. But the days of social distancing aren’t yet over.
In all respects—snacks, performance, and elegantly low-key, customer-friendly clothes—this production met the moment.
25 March 2021
Ralph Lauren designed this fall collection long before the country went into lockdown. In fact he’d already conceived of his show before the world was turned upside down and inside out by COVID-19. The now-canceled presentation he’d envisaged would have taken place at a lofty gallery space stripped bare of the cinematic set designs he’s become known for at New York Fashion Week. That more sober mood is reflected in the first outfit of his new look book: a simple pointed-flat collared white shirt, a full black midiskirt fastened with a skinny black belt, and sleek black heeled knee-high boots.Whether Lauren could have anticipated it or not, it seems now more than ever that fashion is being distilled down to the bare essentials. With nowhere to go and no one to see outside the handful in our social pod, the concept of getting dressed has become highly focused. As many work from home, it’s no surprise that the brand’s cashmere sweatsuits have been wildly successful. If anyone knows how to refine casual tropes through a luxurious lens, it’s Lauren.With his penchant for gray flannel as a starting point, the designer doubled down on the classics for fall. Those popular cashmere hoodies and slim-cut joggers were done in charcoal gray this season and paired with a matching slouchy double-breasted blazer. The brand’s beloved ’70s and ’80s menswear tailoring was tweaked to fit the demands of a modern wardrobe, hefty Harris Tweeds were replaced with tactile Italian fabrics, and checkered overcoats were encrusted with a twinkling layer of micro sequins.The American designer isn’t the kind to shy away from glamour. The ever-growing circle of A-listers he’s dressed for the red carpet over five decades stands as a testament to that. This season he mined the archives further still for inspiration, reinterpreting a paisley motif from the early ’90s over body-skimming turtleneck and deep-V dresses. That said, it’s hard to imagine any of his high-profile female fans having the occasion to wear his most glittering fare, though some will surely be tempted by the louche velvet suiting for the intimate party season that lays ahead.Jill Biden, PhD, has emerged as a new Ralph Lauren favorite in recent months. She’s been seen wearing his tailored Camden jacket and showed up to her husband’s acceptance speech at the Democratic convention in a navy blue Lauren dress.
The unfussy elegance of the designer’s latest collection is likely to be a good fit for her wardrobe on the campaign trail, and beyond.
17 September 2020
The jewel in the crown of Ralph Lauren menswear lines, Purple Label, will turn 25 this year, looking as dapper and chic as ever. Inspired by British upper-crust style, which is a personal favorite of Mr. Lauren’s, it has expanded its range to fit a modern attitude without abandoning old-school elegance. In the notes, Lauren said: “I’ve always believed in the art of fine tailoring. I wanted the fit and construction to have the integrity of old-world craftsmanship yet remain soft and supple, natural and comfortable.”At the collection’s core, a reissue of a series of ’90s tailored looks inspired by Lauren’s personal suiting spoke of his enduring love for a broad-shouldered, wide-lapel, nipped-waisted silhouette, crafted from luxurious Italian or English fabrics. “They look exactly the way he would wear and style them,” said the equally dapper John Wrazej, executive vice president, creative director, men’s, pointing out a fabulous three-piece tone-on-tone suit in a beautiful windowpane motif in a dégradé of grays and blacks.The pinnacle of the collection was the eveningwear, resplendent with exquisitely tailored, ’20s-ish white-tie tailcoats and Scottish Guard officer–inspired coats, regally embroidered with aristocratic coats of arms. They looked fit for a formal reception at Downton Abbey—or Buckingham Palace perhaps: The class of an impeccably tailored Purple Label evening suit can probably open any door.
11 January 2020
Very Ralph, the title of a new documentary on Ralph Lauren’s life, also happens to sum up the spirit of the brand’s latest collection. For those who’ve seen the recently released HBO film, the first look—a model dressed in a gray cashmere turtleneck, flannel blazer, and white high-waisted shorts—will be familiar. It’s a reference to a photograph of the designer himself, taken on the steps of the historic Hotel du Cap in southern France back in 1977.Over the last five decades, Lauren has drawn on numerous cinematic references to build a framework for his vision, though his most quintessential fashion ideas often spring from the fabric of his own life. Pre-fall brings many of his personal style signatures together for reinterpretation. The classic gray flannel blazer is lightened up and remade a few different ways, with the most glamorous version finished with a smattering of sequins. The designer’s love of denim is apparent here too, with the classic five-pocket silhouette made cocktail hour–ready thanks to a metallic velvetlike treatment.In the outerwear department, the traditional Lauren tropes—motocross jackets and trench coats, for instance—were given a tactile, earthy hand with canvas trimmed with brown leather; they’re ruggedly elegant pieces that will likely only get better with age. The artisanal items had a similar charm, including one knee-length skirt overlaid with hand-knotted macramé leather. And it wouldn’t be a Ralph collection without a cameo from the Bedford Bear, the Lauren mascot that was first inspired by his brother Jerry’s collection of Steiffs. Fittingly, the teddy on this particular cashmere sweater is dressed in an outfit straight out of Lauren’s closet: jodhpurs, sports coat, and a simple white tee.
5 December 2019
Ralph Lauren thinks of fashion in cinematic terms. Beyond the movie stars who line his front row, the magic of Hollywood is never too far from his runway. It’s why the dress code for his show tonight specifically called for black-and-white evening attire. Stepping inside “Ralph’s Club,” the ballroom on Wall Street where the designer held his show, was like stumbling onto a 1920s film set. Elegant Art Deco chandeliers illuminated the room’s monochrome trimmings—sleek white leather banquets, lacquered black floors—while a terrific jazz band provided the soundtrack as guests arrived. Leading lady Cate Blanchett clearly got the memo. The Australian actress, who was one of several celebrities who attended the show, appeared on the scene in a cool tuxedo-style black jumpsuit to make Daisy Buchanan reconsider her flapper dresses.That classically tailored silhouette, known as Le Smoking to the French, was the cornerstone of the collection. It’s a natural starting point for Lauren, who honed his approach to womenswear 50 years ago by adapting men’s shirting and suiting, first for his wife Ricky, then for Diane Keaton, who wore some of his earliest pieces on-screen in Woody Allen’sAnnie Hall. With a crystal-studded herringbone overcoat thrown over her shoulders and a bow tie to fasten her tuxedo shirt, Gigi Hadid seemed to be channeling that energy as she sauntered around the tables to the sound of Frank Sinatra’s “Night and Day.” There were primary-color variations on the theme, too—satin tuxedo jackets in red, blue, and yellow—though the strongest were cut in classic black and white, including one that came with a luxurious velvet robe in place of a blazer.About midway through the show, Hadid’s younger sister Bella glided down the runway, switching the show into high gear with a show-stopping red sequin gown. It was a reminder that Lauren understands the standalone power of a gorgeous red carpet dress.Still, the best cameo of the night was yet to come. With her tiny frame perched on five-inch platform heels, Janelle Monáe took to the stage in a halter-neck tuxedo dress with a billowing tulle and plaid skirt. She performed a medley of Jazz Age anthems, including an electrifying rendition of “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” bringing the whole audience to their feet. (By that point, Monáe was in full cabaret singer mode; having kicked off her shoes, she was climbing on tables and prowling around the room on hands and knees.
) Lauren, who sat with his family in the crowd after taking his bow, appeared to be fully immersed in the experience when Monáe handed him the mic for an impromptu karaoke session. Like all the most memorable movie moments, it was totally unscripted.
8 September 2019
If anyone can find the allure in 50 shades of camel, it’s Ralph Lauren. The American designer made elegant neutrals a mainstay long before the latest wave of stealth chic fashion rolled in. With that in mind, his new see-now-buy-now Pre-Fall collection is well timed. All the outerwear classics—a strong-shoulder camel coat, a buttery leather aviator jacket, a sand-colored double-breasted blazer—are in the the new offering, mostly modeled on menswear Lauren has had in his own closet for decades. With its gently oversize and cozy proportions, the shearling toggle coat is a nice addition to that repertoire of familiar silhouettes. The designer has never been shy about leaning into his equestrian sensibilities, and for Pre-Fall he’s bringing back the jodhpur. This time around, though, the coordinating shoe isn’t a knee-high riding boot but rather the brand’s city-ready lace-up ankle bootie.Lauren has a knack for transposing classic sportswear tropes for evening. The fashion world was given a showstopping reminder of that at the CFDA Awards last month when Jennifer Lopez wafted onto the podium to pick up her fashion icon statuette dressed in a coral crop top and billowing ball skirt. “I grew up in the Bronx, so of course I had to wear Ralph Lauren tonight,” Lopez said. “I know he understands a girl’s love for crop tops, ponytails, sparkles, and a little drama.” (Needless to say, the phone was ringing off the hook at the Ralph Lauren mansion on Madison Avenue with inquiries about the terrific look the next morning.)Though there are no crop tops in the new collection, there are plenty of eye-catching, late-summer party looks to suit the needs of glamorous women like Lopez. The traditional American flannel shirt is given a radical makeover via a work shirt that’s cut from lamé. That shimmering plaid treatment works well on a floor-length slip dress too. It for sure makes the idea of grunge a whole lot more soigné, the kind of camel that looks especially good with a tan.
11 July 2019
Purple Label is Ralph Lauren’s jewel in the crown, a cultivated exercise in fine tailoring, where a quintessential sense of ease is infused with sophisticated polish. A palette of soft tonal colors, a slightly vintage insouciance, a fluidity of fit and balance of proportions come to mind when thinking of Purple Label’s signature aesthetic. Yet at today’s presentation at the label’s sumptuous Milanese headquarters, what stood out was a gorgeous, visually compelling lineup of brightly colored evening suits in shades of saturated yellow, fuchsia, and orange. Slim fitting and sharply cut in silk shantung, they looked exceptional, pointing towards an updated approach, with a zest of chic playfulness: “They’re tailored with a lighter construction, but still maintaining sartorial proportions,” said John Wrazej, executive vice president and creative director of men’s design. “They’re all handmade; it’s our uncompromising way of tailoring. They’re probably among the best suits you can find.”The collection also played on sophistication in the daywear offer, with tailoring in proprietary soft-toned wool-gabardine exuding a luxurious yet relaxed feel. An interesting alternative for summer evenings was a single-breasted cashmere blazer in a dense, sensual tobacco shade; paired with cream-colored fluid pants, “it’d look beautiful with a tan,” suggested Wrazej.A sporty allure featured prominently in a series of knitted intarsia sweaters and polo shirts with marine-inspired motifs, while nautical references were in evidence in officer’s jackets, wide-leg pants, and striped sweaters.But the most innovative aspect the collection were the RLX technical performance fabrics used for roomy, well-cut waterproof parkas and sailing jackets. “It’s nylon, a polyester yarn made using recycled plastic bottles,” explained Wrazej. ”It’s completely high-performance. The company is taking a strong stand towards going sustainable. For Fall we’ll have a lot more sustainable fabrics; probably 80 percent of our nylons and insulations will be made with sustainable yarns,” he continued. “The issue is front and center across the company, with very strict guidelines that over the next four or five years we’ll be shifting the label towards a much more environmentally conscious approach, even in manufacturing.”
15 June 2019
After the spectacular 50th anniversary show at Central Park last September, Ralph Lauren was in the mood for something a little more intimate for Fall. So, it was breakfast at Ralph’s on Madison Avenue this morning. The brand’s historic flagship mansion was made to look like a charming Parisian brasserie with moss green leather-covered banquets and trays of freshly baked croissants to rival the popular Rive Gauche hangout Café de Flore. It was a refreshing break from the trend for star-studded evening shows which is beginning to dominate the Fashion Week schedule. That said, the crowd was no less major. Dressed in a mood-boosting shade of lemon yellow, Zazie Beetz was a sight for sore eyes, as was Karlie Kloss in her cool blue suit. And there were other front row standouts: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Camilla Belle, and Annabelle Wallis, who looked particularly good in a bohemian patchwork velvet skirt and cozy cashmere sweater from Lauren’s Fall collection.As Taylor Hill descended the mansion stairs in a pristine white admiral jacket and billowing wide-leg pants, it was clear Lauren was wiping the slate clean. The designer is known for elaborate themes, transporting his audiences to a different time and place with his collections, though his latest offering had a decidedly unfussy tone. Models swished by the wooden breakfast tables dressed in black and white crewneck day dresses that were cinched with shiny gold belts and finished with ankle-nipping pleats. That demure silhouette continued through to evening with tuxedos that were cut with a dramatic line, right down to the floor. It was an echo of the custom Ralph Lauren white suit Glenn Close recently wore to pick up her SAG Award for her starring role inThe Wife, which felt right for the moment. And at a time when the real estate of a red carpet look has become more scant than ever, that grown-up approach to dressing is a welcome breath of fresh air.Still, every show (fashion or otherwise) needs its shining moments, and there were several in this one to fit the bill. Of all the shimmering dresses, Bella Hadid’s golden V-neck number caught the spotlight. And yet, the most compelling red carpet contender in the bunch was far more understated: a black organza jumpsuit with a subtle floral motif. Oscar attendees would be wise to consider it.
7 February 2019
The Ralph Lauren look is among the most unassailable in the fashion system: If you’re someone who pays attention to style—even remotely—RL is very easy to spot. This is what continues to make the brand so powerful, especially at the Purple Label level; it is the apex of American sartorial finery.For Fall 2019, menswear creative director John Wrazej said that “they were reevaluating what made us who we are, and we came back with an equestrian focus. There have always been equestrian elements, but we gave the vibe a rest for a few years. Here, we looked at old silk scarves and archival company artwork, as well as our Stirrup watch, for inspiration.”So call it horseplay, albeit in a different context. A long navy duffle coat had stirrups and bits as graphics down the sleeves; likewise, the scheme appeared on a pair of jeans. A suede leather grass green jacket boasted patched-on tackle icons. Belts featured large hardware buckles, mimicking the timepiece that Wrajez referred to above. Yet the collection wasn’t all focused at the stables; there were excellent velvets, either cut into a pinched-waist tan sport coat or a cloud gray double-breasted suit. RLX’s Purple Label edition continued, too, to complement the activewear needs of the company’s most deep-pocketed clients. Wrajez also noted a ramped-up focus on “the unexpected, or the more unique,” pointing to frog closures on a tuxedo jacket or a cashmere tartan blazer that almost had a gown-like drape about it.Most unexpected, though, speaking of surprises: There was a decent amount of refreshing aesthetic indulgence in this collection—something more pop and grabby, with those equine motifs especially taking on an almost baroque ambience. But all in all, it was still unmistakably and iconically Ralph.
12 January 2019
Where to begin? The setting alone was unimaginably spectacular. Picture the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park—the scene of countless iconic New York movies, includingAnnie Hall—where Ralph Lauren gathered an A-list crowd of at least 200 friends and family for a moonlit celebration of his brand’s 50th birthday. Hillary Clinton, Oprah, Steven Spielberg, Robert De Niro, and Kanye West were just some of the faces in the front row tonight, not to mention Lauren’s esteemed fashion colleagues—Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and Diane von Furstenberg, to name a few.Featuring well over 100 looks, the anniversary show was historic in scope and scale. The opening fashion message leaned into the singular brand of American elegance that Lauren is known for. One part grit, three parts grace, the clothes ran the gamut of military surplus, cozy flannels, and tactile opulence in the form of velvet patchwork and delicately fringed sequins. Those counterintuitive impulses often found themselves operating most effectively in the same outfit: think, a glittering bias-cut skirt paired with a cozy Army green pullover and sparkling baroque costume jewelry. Even the most precious pieces seemed touched with an approachable kind of sumptuousness. The meticulously disheveled velvet appliqué on one standout coat was especially eye-catching.The most moving part of the show, however, was the passage of Polo Ralph Lauren looks. With a combination of familiar names (Carolyn Murphy, Gigi Hadid, et al.) and adorable kids who walked the runway for the first time, that section felt like a tribute to the modern American family. It was brimming with all of the most beloved preppy Lauren tropes, too—varsity jackets, patch-pocket tweed blazers, polo shirts in happy primary colors, and of course, those unmistakable teddy bear sweaters.Lauren is the father of American sportswear. The very notion of a lifestyle brand started with him. Indeed, in the five decades since he began, he has managed to export the allure of a nation in a way no other American fashion brand has been able to. Like Coca-Cola or Nike, Ralph Lauren is as American as apple pie. And the emotional resonance of his designs was more palpable than ever tonight. The designer took a victory lap with tears in his eyes, and there was barely a dry eye in the house.As a prelude to the postshow dinner, Oprah Winfrey gave a touching speech that encapsulated the mood, retelling her own origin story, as a young reporter in Baltimore.
“Back then my idea of celebrating success wasn’t to go out and get a fancy car or jewelry. It was a closet full of Ralph Lauren towels . . . they represented a sense of comfort, luxury, aspiration,” she said, raising her glass for a toast and turning towards Lauren. “Your designs define an unwavering integrity, and that is why we are here tonight.”
8 September 2018
It was cocktail hour at Ralph Lauren’s Milan outpost when Vogue Runway rolled up this evening. Due to a time snafu on our part the models had already skedaddled, and the sun was below this presentation’s yardarm. John Wrazej, EVP and creative director of men’s design, gamely put down his sundowner, adjusted his black cravat, and headed back into the showroom for one more debrief.That golden parka you see on a model was plucked from the storeroom. We sat on some deep Ralph armchairs and went over it from hood to hem. The fabric was inspired, Wrazej said, by the fire-retardant engine cladding found on the MacLaren Formula 1 car that is part of Lauren’s collection. Other design inspirations included early-20th-century Art Deco travel posters for the French Riviera and sports events, which were adapted and then redrawn via intarsia on sweaters or glossy bonded stencil on outerwear.The Ralph Lauren edifice has been undergoing internal redesigns aplenty in recent years and at this putatively Purple Label presentation the most interesting aspect was the integration of RLX, the formerly stand-alone performance sportswear line. The rationalization of lines and labels may well be a primarily financial/managerial decision, but it creates a contamination between formerly insulated-from-each other Lauren narratives that reflects the breakdown of categories across menswear.So why not wear a leather-roped, brass-hooked duffel coat over a swirly tie-silk evening jacket? Or team a navy-inspired boilersuit with a Clark Gable–inspired double-pocket shirt and a pair of technical sneakers?The one thing that stays constant on planet Ralph is the image of the founder, and here there was a new garment dedicated to the man himself: the Ralph suit. Broader at the shoulder, pinched at the waist, and designed to be fastened at the bottom button, not the top, of its double-breasted jacket, it did indeed reflect the founder’s silhouette.
17 June 2018
This time last week Ralph Lauren was being honored at the CFDA Awards for his impact on the landscape of American fashion. The likes of Vera Wang, Tommy Hilfiger, and CFDA chair Diane von Furstenberg paid tribute to the legendary designer, who rose to the stage dressed in a look that spoke directly to his American sportswear legacy: tuxedo jacket and bow-tie on top; weather-worn denim jeans and techy sneakers on the bottom.Lauren was a pioneer for the kind of lifestyle branding that is commonplace today. Indeed, his distinctive tastes still shape his business at every level. There were some very personal Laurenisms in Pre-Spring, starting with the fisherman’s sandals and espadrilles (he’s known to wear his with suits) that grounded many of the looks. The counterintuitive styling—think, a cashmere hoodie paired with a tulle skirt and cargo pants with a sequin tee—echoed his own unorthodox approach to red carpet dressing, too. Lauren is fond of a monochromatic aesthetic and continued the blue mood he started with Pre-Fall, adding an icy tone to the navy palette. One of the strongest looks in the lineup was a baby blue double-breasted suit—shades ofAnnie Hallin the silhouette, if not the color—an update on one that originally appeared in a campaign back in the late 1980s. On the flip side of that mannish silhouette was some new curvilinear tailoring, including a form-fitting cropped jacket called “the Princess” that was very Kate Middleton.Lauren is reimagining his Icon capsule this season, which essentially consists of all the brand’s most recognizable tropes—in other words, many of the pieces he adapted for his own wardrobe first: aviator shearlings, army jackets, et cetera. Among the classics he has updated is a blazer dress with gold buttons and a peacoat that has been tweaked with a cropped cut. The wordtimelessis often misused in fashion. The fact is that even the so-called “classics” need a subtle reboot to feel modern, and Lauren understands that.
11 June 2018
Ralph Lauren has honed a fair number of American sportswear tropes beyond the preppy polo shirt over the years. This season he’s giving many of those beloved and highly recognizable classics a subtle but unexpected twist. It all started when the designer washed the traditional cashmere camel coat with a moody, slate gray finish. Things get a lot more futuristic from there, with a mirrored silver leather aviator jacket, silvery trench, and full silver-coated flight suit that takes the tradition of American workwear quite literally to the moon. Still, Lauren isn’t the kind of designer to lose sight of a traditional idea of a wardrobe. In fact, some of the most quiet reworkings end up standing out the most here, including a navy shawl tuxedo blazer with a slightly slouchy, distinctly casual fit.Though the idea of athleisure doesn’t entirely fit the rarefied mold of the brand—lest we forget, Lauren is best known for dressing women for the global spotlight; the Hillarys and Melanias of the world—there’s clearly an emphasis on comfort in his new collection, even if his approach cleaves more luxurious than anything else. Case in point: Pretty Lurex sweaters and pleated skirts have a soft cashmere lining that’s spun with the reassuring coziness of a baby’s blanket. They’d be a nice proposition for cocktail hour.
16 May 2018
In dark political times such as these, the idea of a great escape is undeniably tempting. For designer Ralph Lauren, that happy place is currently Jamaica, with its sandy white beaches and mystical blue mountains. Lauren set the mood for his latest see-now-buy-now collection with a mise-en-scène that appeared to be transported straight from his luxurious Caribbean retreat. The reflection of rippling blue waters could be seen in the white blinds and cabana furniture at the end of the runway. His models were clearly in full vacation mode, too, bounding out barefoot and dressed in sun-bleached batik and woodblock-print summer dresses with woven tourist baskets and canvas totes swinging at their side.The island vibe made way for a more traditional yacht club aesthetic and classic nautical tropes that have been associated with a certain kind of American prepster for decades, including Bermuda shorts and double-breasted navy blazers replete with gold buttons. There were slick reworkings of seafaring anoraks covered in prints that alluded to the splashy glamour of the French Riviera, specifically Cap d’Antibes, a destination that’s long been popular with the rich and famous—Coco Chanel had a holiday home there. That jet-set milieu won’t be foreign to the high-profile women who Lauren dresses including Blake Lively, Melania Trump, and Katie Holmes, who sat front row at his show today. Though the clothes seemed more geared to an out-of-office wardrobe than anything else, the collection did offer new options for those with a schedule packed full of black-tie engagements. The sweeping primary-color evening gowns took inspiration from yacht sails and lent a dose of sporting style to a red carpet wardrobe. You could imagine Holmes or one of her Hollywood colleagues packing a number of those looks for some star-studded adventure, be it at home or away.
12 February 2018
The presentation of the Ralph Lauren Purple Collection played out as fivetableaux vivantsarranged according to different dress groupings, although each model’s attire was no less aspirational than the last. There was tone-on-tone tailoring that juxtaposed black and ivory houndstooth with Glen plaid; a similar monochromatic story in shades of gray conceived for weekends; activewear looks in khaki green and orange boasting RLX performance elements; an evening contingent well represented by Black Watch tartan and velvet; and finally, a military theme inspired by vintage garments and insignias that made novel of naval. Within each carefully composed ensemble were details that would do the legendary founder proud, but just as important, will also be appreciated by anyone who still values a sartorial approach—whether a dinner jacket with frog closures, or a gray flannel pant shown a half-dozen ways.Of course, in order that these standbys uphold an authentic Ralph Lauren attitude, they needed to suggest polish without pretension. In a few cases, the statement edged towards overdress—not in terms of formality so much as too much look (a Spencer jacket or captain’s jacket with gold cord, for instance). But then someone from the team happened to mention that the pronounced pieces usually prove the most popular, and perhaps this makes sense. Who would happily settle for another regular sweater when the ones from Purple Label span from regiment to ranch? The Norwegian construction of hand-polished boots must surely feel different. Back to sweaters: The second-to-last one in the lookbook features Lauren’s face as an illustration from a famous photograph. Apparently, it was created as a gift among the internal team before everyone realized it deserved to be put out into the world. As specific as the subject is, the appeal seems universal.
13 January 2018
Ralph Lauren’s love of fashion is perhaps second only to his fascination with cars. The designer’s collection of automobiles includes some of the rarest and most coveted in existence, including a 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, worth an estimated $40 million and arguably one of the world’s most expensive cars. Editors and buyers were invited to take a peek under the hood of his obsession, so to speak, with a show at Lauren’s famed Bedford Mills, New York, garage tonight.Some of his prized possessions—Ferraris, Porsches, and the aforementioned Bugatti—were lined up on the runway as models strode past their curvilinear bodies. The opening looks—a parade of tailored suiting in houndstooth and Prince of Wales check—might have seemed at odds with the top-gear setting at first, though they were totally in line with the American country lifestyle Lauren has carved out for himself over the past 50 years. Indeed, it felt as if Lauren was honing in on the tropes that set his global brand in motion, specifically the signature spiffy suiting first made popular by Diane Keaton in the late ’70s (remember Woody Allen’sManhattan?); in fact, the actress was among the crowd of well-wishers in attendance. For her front row neighbors, who included stars such as Jessica Chastain, there were plenty of glamorous red carpet options, many of which were directly inspired by the cars dotted around the room. Even the most princess-worthy pieces weren’t too far removed from the energy of the racetrack, with dramatic ball skirts and patent leather bustiers that recalled the primary color palette of sleek 1980s sports cars. That said, the classic elegance of a tuxedo is still hard to beat, and Lauren’s spin on the look—slightly slouchy in the thigh, with a strong shoulder—is likely to appeal to a wide cross-section of the high-profile women in the designer’s circle, including Keaton but also ladylike traditionalists such as Melania Trump. In fact, if any designer can persuade the First Lady to switch gears in her wardrobe and trade in her sheath dresses for a pantsuit, it’s Lauren.
13 September 2017
The most noteworthy takeaway from Ralph Lauren’s Spring Purple Label presentation today was the major uptick in sportswear—or, at least, the athletically inspired. Many (including this writer, until now) might only associate Lauren’s highest-end line with formal or evening codes. Such is no longer the case, and he’s been building toward this augmentation for a few seasons now. It’s a smart move, and one clearly aimed at providing the company’s top-tier clients with much more variety.And variety they will find. In the arena there were knitted updates on vintage Tour de France biking jerseys, dress pants with racing stripes down the leg, and a dashing, ’90s-recalling jumper with an intarsia cyclist depicted in stark white-on-black. Dressier parts—Purple Label’s more familiar grounds—had an off-duty verve, too, perhaps fueled by Lauren’s athleisurely focus. A black-tie jacket was updated with cargo safari pockets on the chest—it sounds weird, but it looked awesome. Suit jackets were loosened and lightened (echoing what we saw earlier today at Kiton), and unexpected details, like a Bolivian blanket blazer or espadrilles with tuxedoes, sealed the deal: Purple Label’s product diversification mission has proven itself accomplished.
17 June 2017
Ralph Lauren shot his Pre-Fall lineup at The Polo Bar, a place that has been a hive of activity for well-heeled New Yorkers since it opened. The designer was known to spend evenings people-watching at stylish eateries in Europe before he became a restaurateur himself, and his latest collection draws on the chic observations he made on his travels. Lauren has had a long-standing love of Savile Row tailoring, and you can expect to find plenty of Prince of Wales check on the shop floor when the clothes goes into stores early next month. In addition to classic Laurenisms—patch-pocket blazers, double-faced trenchcoats, and cozy shearlings that would be completely at home in Annie Hall’s closet—there were more overtly feminine renditions of menswear tropes. With a built-in corset and off-the-shoulder silhouette, there’s nothing remotely androgynous about the brand’s new pantsuit, for example. Even die-hard dress devotees like Kate Middleton might be tempted to wear one, given its ladylike allure.The duchess was something of a muse this season, as it happens. Her influence came through most strongly in a polka-dot ensemble—buttoned-up and demure, but far from dowdy. Of course, Lauren has a great deal of experience dressing women on the world stage, and his most pivotal fashion moments extend beyond the red carpet of Hollywood toward the hallowed halls of the White House. Whether your idea of a power suit includes a skirt, like Melania Trump, or sharply tailored trousers à la Hillary Clinton, there were several compelling options here. The jumpsuit is becoming a mainstay for evening at Ralph Lauren—the First Lady is a fan—and Lauren’s latest version comes covered with a sparkling ’70s-inspired equestrian motif. It would be a nice alternative to a traditional gown for a black-tie function, at home or abroad.
19 May 2017
Ralph Lauren held the second of his buy-now-wear-now shows at the brand’s storied mansion-cum-flagship store today, and set the stage for the event with a glorious “living” installation. With orchids and lush greenery sprouting from every inch of wall space at 888 Madison Avenue, it seemed that spring had officially sprung, at least under Ralph’s roof. It was described as an “oasis” in the liner notes, and as the first models hit the runway dressed in shades of sand and brown, the more distant, overarching theme for the collection came into view. The designer has a fondness for storytelling on a grand scale, and the desert scene was familiar to the luxurious world of Ralph Lauren. Chunky knit mesh sweaters and unstructured blazers had the rugged appeal of mosquito nets, while more utilitarian tropes, such as the jumpsuit, were refined with tonal brocade silk. The safari influence came through most strongly in the accessories, specifically the oversize cheetah-print satchels and sleek python wedges. Last season Kendall Jenner wore one of the brand’s popular distressed leather jackets on the runway, and there were more options for fans of the supermodel-off-duty look to snap up tonight. This time around, though, they came with shrunken proportions and an appealing sunbaked patina that was straight out of the Sahara.There was a distinctive Midas touch where the eveningwear was concerned, with a series of high-shine, iridescent gold dresses. Slinky metallic cocktail-hour frocks, sparkling floor-length columns, and caftan-style looks were worn with jumbo gold hoops and graphic statement collars. In the current political landscape, the color gold has particular significance in relation to the White House. Lauren famously dressed Melania Trump in a chic eggshell blue skirt suit for Inauguration Day, arguably one of the most important moments for any First Lady. That said, he also suited the former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, for the very same occasion—he was, in fact, an ardent supporter of Clinton, and created looks for all the key stages in her campaign. His Inauguration designs for Trump were seen as a significant act of bipartisanship.Clearly Lauren understands the sartorial needs of the world’s key opinion leaders, regardless of which side of the aisle they sit. His clothes speak to the demands of a high-profile, glamorous wardrobe in no uncertain terms.
And yet there is still an all-American grit and optimism to Lauren’s aesthetic that has universal appeal, as evidenced by the last look in the show: a billowing, sporty floor-length dress that shimmered with a floral print and was layered over—what else—distressed denim jeans.
16 February 2017
The mission to broaden this highest expression of Ralph Lauren menswear from luxury tailoring and boardroom-class weekendwear to be compatible with every dialect in the designer’s canon continues apace. For this season there was particularly concerted outreach to Ranch Ralph and and RRL-esque Ralph—weathered military vintage seasoned with a pinch of Himalayan explorer.Held high in the Ralph Lauren Madison Avenue aerie, this presentation was subdivided into complementary stories of color and theme. The opening one, the scene-setter, was overwhelmingly black: The first three looks were collared evening jackets in black-on-black jacquards of coiled snakes, Southwestern weave, or a bucking bronco design sourced from a vintage boys’ sleeping bag, worn above black denim evening jeans with a grosgrain flash. A cowboy fringed zip-up hoodie in subtly, spongily bolstered jersey, sweats featuring the Polo bear reimagined as a man-in-black gunslinger, a down jacket in wool twill with Western-shirt piping, and floral and monochrome Southwestern jackets all emphasized the integration of the wilder Western Lauren codes into this most urbanely upscale label on his roster. Gray, brown, and olive stories were more conventionally Purple, featuring some wonderful blended check woollen safari shackets; deconstructed cashmere tweed jackets; raglan-shouldered micro-check overcoats; and satin-lapelled, Windsor-collared corduroy evening jackets of a rakishly generous drape.A return to olive at the end inserted a second phase of cross-pollination into the military mountaineer. A fiercely lovable sateen finish parka, technical pants, and cashmere sweats embroidered with roaring tigers and Himalayan vistas, and a fantastic rough-hemmed coat in straight-haired shearling with Mongolian-inspired beading at its cuffs and hem were some of the standouts here. Amongst them, slightly incongruously, was what this punter reckoned the coolest piece of all: a herringbone-weave heavy linen jacket in navy, with narrow red piping, frogging at its shoulders, and tarnished metal buttons with Southwestern ribbons at the cuff. Based on a turn-of-the-20th-century French fireman’s jacket from Lauren’s stockpile of vintage, it had frankly no place here in terms of the story these clothes told. Yet the instinct to include something so lovely, whatever the part its provenance played in some bigger picture, was an admirable example of Purple Label’s increasingly for-everyone outlook.
1 February 2017
Originally commissioned by New York heiress Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo, the building at 867 Madison Avenue—now simply known as theRalph Laurenmansion—is as stately as retail spaces come. The designer may have presented collections in this, one of his flagship New York stores, in the past, but none as monumental as the one he would show today outside its doors, the brand’s first foray into see-now-buy-now territory. Lauren announced the news just days earlier, and pulled some pretty major strings to make the event a New York affair to remember—the mayor’s office was called in to help him shut down the block. He got some pretty traffic-stopping A-list names on board both his front row and his runway, including Hollywood starsJulianne MooreandJessica Alba, and supermodels such asBella HadidandKendall Jenner.Stepping out onto the sidewalk in an oversize weather-worn leather jacket with brutalist-inspired statement jewelry jangling around her neck and at her ear lobes, Jenner set the tone for Lauren’s Fall 2016 collection. Three parts Western and one part Art Deco glamour, the new clothes fed into themes that have been reverberating at the core of the brand since Lauren launched it almost five decades ago. Jenner herself has been picking up the thread on the Western look this summer, and was spotted swanning about town in L.A. in a vintage fringed leather jacket not unlike the one she wore today. There was a lot to satisfy the instant-gratification of social media–engaged fashion fans here overall; elevated versions on familiar Americana classics, like the buffalo-check shirt, and the cowboy shirt which was rendered in black—all the better to wear in the city—and finished with pretty white embroidery. There was plenty of color to be had as far as eveningwear went, on the other hand, though it was the pieces with a minimalist palette that hit home the most. British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who has reportedly moved to the States, was eyeing up the sequin suit that was covered in a black and gold Southwestern motif, for example. Of course for Huntington-Whiteley and the other high-profile women on the shop floor tonight, having access to clothes straight off the runway is nothing new. Shoppers who come through the doors opposite the Ralph Lauren mansion tomorrow morning, however, will be walking onto a new and entirely level retail playing field.The following review was written about the brand’s previous Fall 2016 show.
15 September 2016
Ralph Laurenis a reed that bends in the wind but he is forever Ralph Lauren. America’s pre-eminent designer has streamlined his brand architecture and is now going through a process of more profound corporate restructure: Yet in his Milano palazzo today the 2017 archetype of Purple Label masculinity was serenely assured. This presentation, which demanded its models loiter on three steps like a huge collection of eclectically outfitted groomsmen, was notable for its lack of Wall Street formal suiting.We started our pan from right to left with a cluster of all-blue looks; gorgeous garment-dyed silk linen suits, all silk suits, silk gabardine separates. Then a switch to gray via air-spun cashmere sweaters in herringbone or served plain worn under a lovely technically-lined tropical weight wool parka with bonded seams which, team Lauren assured, offered total wickability. A pair of fine gauge wool Bermuda shorts were injected with elastene, skinny jean style, to offer a bit of give. One sweater was teamed with a pair of wide-legged, proudly pressed white linen pants that, had the look not come shod by espadrilles, would have demanded a reprise of Channing Tatum’sOn The Towntribute tap inHail, Caesar!Then an eddy uptown, to tuxedo jackets and complementary knits in art deco jacquards; a cardigan and sweater both bore monochrome imprints of the great soaring contours of turn-of-the-last-century New York architecture. Then, acceleration; a sports-driven section was fronted by a white mesh jacket—“suspension mesh”, apparently. Also “yes, please” was a blue, breathable neoprene hybrid of donkey jacket and duffel coat. Cut left again to the Evelyn Waugh sub-section; scarves in poppy paisley–accented sweaters in Aran-esque stripes of interestingly out-of-time pulsating color. At the last it was liftoff in an olive, military touched section headlined by an embroidered RL flight suit. This was commanding stuff.
18 June 2016
Purple Label remains the acme ofRalph Lauren’s expression of luxury. However, since the brand rationalization that has seen it swallow the function of Black Label—a sportier, more casual voice in the Lauren choir—it has become a broader church whose remit runs beyond the boardroom.Witness the fantastically sleek steam-sealed shearling and technical alpine and urban outerwear clustered around a pair of bespoke skis in carbon fiber and burled wood (there was a snowboard, too). Or a cream-heavy section of ruggedly styled shaggy-shearling looks that wereThe Revenant–meets–the Ritz, because who can’t imagine Leo beguiling bears in a pair of cashmere spa pants? Particularly powerful was the inverted shearling worn by Lucky Blue in a finish that looked wolfish and featured toggles inspired by—but not made of—seal’s teeth. A trucker jacket in cowhide and a ragged-hemmed suede jacket with fringing and faux rough-woven-edging details—both worn over hearty leather belts with hand-tooled buckles—all spoke strongly of this house’s long-honed rancher angle.This fantasy masculine montage transitioned once more, shifting from big country to high society: A richly patterned jacquard evening jacket (with matching slippers) and a devilish all-black hussar jacket were the standouts in a section that included a subtly military-touched tuxedo.Luxury business suiting is still a key part—if no longer the core—of the Purple Label proposition. The formal suits featured lightly roped jackets otherwise unlined, in a palette of complementary grays. At the end of the line this collection brought it all together with a black suit cut sharp in a ski-suitable performance nylon. The message? Everything that the Ralph alpha male might possibly hanker for lives under one, Purple, label.
16 January 2016
If there were an official league of fashion buzzwords, then it’s safe to say thatathleisurewould take home the prize this year. That sweet spot, where fashion and an active lifestyle meet, is arguably familiar territory forRalph Lauren. Though nature of the activities might have changed in the decades since the brand was founded—polo then, pilates now—the idea is essentially the same. An elevated sense of ease and comfort ran throughout the new Pre-Fall collection; think a cropped leather bomber jacket, or a cashmere suede tracksuit. Styled with heels and a sparkling sequin camisole, as it was here, and it’s clearly a look intended to travel beyond the confines of Sunday brunch—more ath-luxury, than athleisure, you might say. That casual approach to cocktail hour worked nicely alongside more classic party dresses, including one charming, pleated Art Deco–print frock.More traditional Lauren sportswear tropes were in the mix too, including a handful of equestrian-inspired looks, one of which featured slim-fitting jodhpur-style leggings with leather knee patches, a polished alternative to the now-ubiquitous yoga pant. In an age when the price of sneakers can easily rival those of designer shoes, the idea of investing in a pair of Lauren’s comfy knee-high riding boots, made with leather that will no doubt look better with age, is pretty appealing.
3 December 2015
“U.S.R.L. 1967,” the patch on a white shirt announced.Jessica Chastain,Julianne Moore, and the rest of us were transported oceanside atRalph Lauren’s show this morning. To use a maritime expression, the designer found his sea legs for Spring. Accessories ranged from captain’s hats to souvenir straw bags to the sort of cork platforms you see in resort towns. As for the clothes, they hewed to the RL standards: preppy yacht-clubbing essentials in a vivid all-American color palette, and cable sweaters draped over shoulders or wrapped around waists. Amid the large offering of navy and tan leather jackets, there was at least one of his de rigueur double-breasted blazers.The seafaring theme was particularly hard to miss in a series of looks in a super-bold, geometric sail print. This was one of Lauren’s most literal-minded collections in some time, but if the designer and his styling team might’ve used a lighter touch to convey the season’s crisp, sporty message, piece by piece there were great clothes. A color-blocked sleeveless jumpsuit had the graphic punch of nautical flags. Clingy knit dresses that took cues from athletic swimsuits looked like they’d be fun to wear—in particular, the evening versions with their sexy, strappy backs. And who doesn’t love a striped knit? Speaking of stripes, the stars of the show were the evening dresses in cotton broadcloth shirting fabric: haute silhouettes in a humble fabric.
17 September 2015
What brought Ralph Lauren back to Milan for his first on-model European presentation since 2003? Rather unromantically, an expansion of brand architecture. Back on Madison Avenue, Polo is being nurtured through a growth spurt that's seen its first NYFW womenswear presentations (menswear will follow soon) and first stand-alone New York retail site (London will come next, on Regent Street). So with Polo upping sticks, there's suddenly room at the apex of Ralph Lauren's offer.Thus this collection saw Purple Label's formerly tailoring and trad-casual focus pan back some for the sake of a wider angle. The look that encapsulated this was the black denim tuxedo. A sports-casual story offered Aran knits, crocodile blousons, summery foulards, and wide, cuffed linen pants worn alongside an orange-shouldered, laser-cut, bonded-seam leather sailing jacket. Street-ninja sportswear combined nylon with stripes of yellow leather; espadrilles came printed with an abstracted RL monogram; and an overt RL logo was applied to Purple for the first time on belt buckles. An interesting color section used lilac as a base beneath an overlay of cream brushed-silk tailoring, while a double-breasted shawl-collar white evening jacket was, in its way, rather radical. Accessories included perforated leather RL totes along with the chunky stolidity of the Cooper bag. Whether the day demands executive decisions or extreme expeditions, only bankruptcy now prevents the Purple Label man from ever needing to accoutre himself anywhere else.
20 June 2015
Boiled down to its essence, the Ralph Lauren Resort collection was about three things: khaki, combinations of black and white, and denim. But within each of those groupings there was a lot going on. In the khaki group, Lauren explored the equestrian motifs he's returned to time and again in his nearly half-century career. Fifty years in 2017. This season, the horsey theme was used sparingly. A supple suede shawl was hand-painted with a saddlery motif, but the painting was tone-on-tone, so you almost missed it. Fitted pants came with the patches at the inner knees typical of jodhpurs, but thankfully with none of the volume at the hips. Whipstitching details could be seen here and there: lacing up a wrap suede skirt or defining the waist of a thin neoprene dress. The black-and-white group had a sleeker, more after-dark sensibility. There was newness, not to mention versatility, in an outfit that looked like a dress but was actually a long tunic with a diaphanous, handkerchief hem worn over a long narrow skirt. Not shown in the lookbook was a silk jersey, color-blocked long-sleeved gown. Covered up yet still plenty sexy, it was an excellent retort to the recent spate of naked dresses on the red carpet. Best of all the categories was the raw denim. Black and stitched in white, it looked sharp on a three-piece suit. Spliced with black chiffon on the skirt of a long dress, it was unexpected, but also utterly Ralph.
3 June 2015
"Ralph is the god," Kanye West declared in an interview published on this site this week. Today, West was sitting front-row, worshipping at the Ralph Lauren church. It was his first time seeing the designer's show in person. He picked a good one.Taking up where Lauren's Pre-Fall collection left off, the show had a distinct Western flavor with swaggering capes, graphic black beading reminiscent of Navajo patterns on evening looks, and suede fringe everywhere—on shawls, on bags, and on embroidered ankle booties. The fur was flying, too. But as Lauren's program notes pointed out, the company "has a long-standing commitment to not use fur products. All fur-like pieces featured are constructed of shearling." That explains why the inventive vests, jackets, and ponchos were pieced and patchworked.Of course, it wasn't as countrified as all that might sound. In the past, when Lauren did a destination collection, the clothes sometimes erred on the costumey side of things. This show suggested that Lauren now fully appreciates the fact that whether or not his client lives in the city, she's certainly urbane. And so there was a sleek polish to the minimal knitwear and plenty of simple, straightforward tailoring, as well, mostly in heathery shades of brown and cream. A three-piece pantsuit in black with a generous brown shearling shawl lapel was a standout.For after dark Lauren mostly opted out of red-carpet fare—there were just two sparklers—preferring the understatement of black velvet or black tulle-shrouded lace instead. The most sensational evening look, a cream lace long dress with a high Victorian collar, played back to his Western theme. It made you think that Kanye just might be onto something.
19 February 2015
If there's one takeaway from Ralph Lauren's Pre-Fall/Fall/holiday spectacular, it was the eveningwear boilersuit—a genius and chic fusion of opposing values. And so it was with America's godfather of menswear. Walking the halls of his Madison Avenue office/showrooms—retrofitted to feel more like the interior of an elegant mansion—one was constantly confronted by juxtapositions: luxury and sport, tailored and disheveled, heritage and modern. A croc leather café racer dared any motorcyclist brave (and wealthy) enough to wear it on the highway. A three-piece suit in rich black glove leather, perhaps for that same motorcyclist's wedding, was equally decadent. Purple Label tailoring was immaculately timeless—the uniform of a Wall Street power broker (if there are any still around willing to own the title) or a turn-of-the-century gangster. A hooded suede tracksuit, cashmere lined, could have been a strong alternative to Kanye's Grammys-performance velour. Polo Sport made its return. Mixed in with the super-tech, luxury-sport hybrid RLX line, the team sports-inspired kits looked authentic enough for Lauren's most jockish patrons. Polo, now a coed consideration, did what it does best: conjured youth, sex, and money like no other brand. A denim trucker was overprinted with camo; double-breasted overcoats in navy and herringbone were equally fitting over jeans or a suit. The classic oxford shirt was reimagined in Polo's famous piqué cotton. The girls and boys lounged together in their complementary rugged outdoors-meets-urban sophisticate ensembles—a Bruce Weber shoot come to life.
13 February 2015
Ralph Lauren's Pre-Fall collection was born the day he strode into the design studio in his own pair of fringed suede pants. The proof was in the slimmed-down style in a warm shade of camel that hung from the racks of his Madison Avenue flagship, where the brand held an informal presentation this morning. Next to it: a double-breasted cashmere jacket, also in camel, with a matching fringed scarf slung over the shoulders. The blazer was a little bit country and a little bit city. It's tempting to summarize the whole lineup that way, but in the end Lauren's urban inclinations won the day (and night). The Western influence really only extended as far as the fringe, which also showed up as a detail on cozy sweaters, at the hem of a fun crocheted knit dress, and as a decoration on practical bucket bags. His other embellishment of choice was beads: Embroidered in a glittering Art Deco motif on a wisp of a top, they held the promise of a glamorous evening. Otherwise the designer was thinking sleek and streamlined, with, among other things, a collarless cashmere coat, wide-leg trousers with vents above the knees, and a plonge leather shirtdress. A strict palette of ivory and camel added to the feeling of elegant, uptown restraint.Lauren's PR team wouldn't say which stars they're working with for the Golden Globes on Sunday, but if we were a celebrity stylist, we'd get the silk cady evening column with the delicately beaded lace sleeves and open back on the next flight to L.A. It would look sensational on nominee Robin Wright.
7 January 2015
Ralph Lauren launched Polo for Women in a big way earlier this week. Big as in a first-of-its-kind 4-D holographic light show projected onto a fountain of water shooting out of the lake in Central Park. It seems the experience of working on the sportier, more affordably priced Polo left an impression on the designer, because there was a discernible casual spirit to the high-end collection he showed on the runway today. The first look out summed up the mood: fitted cargo pants and an amethyst-colored silk scarf top accessorized with dangling gemstone earrings. Call it haute safari gear for the wilds of the Hamptons. As the show moved along, Lauren worked that high/low, chic/sportif conceit in different ways. Safari jackets came in bright orange gazar or fatigue green metallic organza. There was a jumpsuit in shimmery silk charmeuse. And jodhpurs, a Lauren staple, trotted out for day and evening.Lauren wasn't rewriting fashion history here. All of this has been done before at just about every price point, including, of course, by his truly. Lauren's been elevating American sportswear for 40-plus years now, and the fact that he practically invented this look certainly gives him the license to revisit it. But he was thinking at his most creatively for evening. Epaulets and patch pockets on a white silk cady T-shirt gown looked modern and fresh. And a snug, cropped black sweater worn with a black gazar skirt that laced up the hip was one of the most seductive after-dark proposals of the week.
11 September 2014
Ralph Lauren's greatest achievement was creating an all-encompassing aspirational lifestyle disguised as a clothing brand. His labels—Polo, Purple Label, Black Label, RLX—are best experienced in their immersive retail environments and through photographer Bruce Weber's cinematic ads. The clothing is no less desirable than the styling—the lifestyling, if you will—of the ranches and yachts and rugby teams and shoppable "mansions" Lauren has built around the world.But the aspirational lifestyle is an evolving concept. Now we find it in the most unlikely places, often via the frenetic streams of Instagram (where Ralph Lauren has 940K followers and counting), Tumblr, and e-commerce, platforms that are free from the confines of physical space. Everything is a brand. People are brands, and they are no less special than actual brands. Labels are as desirable as ever, but their worlds are somehow less vivid than the worlds captured in the more personal accounts we follow. So where does that leave Ralph Lauren?In the case of Purple Label, the clothes have never looked better. The browns and creams of the haberdashery section were classic and timeless, even with the distinctly old-timey flair of collar stands exaggerated to appear removable. Throughout, there was an emphasis on textured, breathable fabrics, such as a chunky silk and linen twill that felt much lighter than it looked. The strongest statements in tailoring came in shades of blue—the vibrant, French blue double-breasted blazer with wide peak lapel and a lightweight denim three-piece suit that looked more like a rich navy linen were highlights. A selection of Purple Label sportswear could have been billed as Polo's greatest hits, including bonded leather jackets and trunks in vintage French prints. The safari section—quintessential Ralph Lauren—was given a slight twist rendered in black and tan. Black Label, equally refined, proposed a European take on the Purple Label ethos. Suits were slimmer, softer, and minimally adorned.The preppy, Polo-wearing jock, meanwhile, hasn't changed too much over the years. He still layers his clothes with careful dishevelment, contorts his collars and cuffs to turn up at the perfect angles, and mixes his oxfords and blazers with his sports gear. Polo juxtaposed every trope of American masculinity—it was boyish and rugged, nerdy and jockish, preppy and rough-hewn.
The real news here is that the Polo guy will soon be getting some female company, with a Polo women's line and accompanying Fifth Avenue flagship slated to launch this month.The appeal of Ralph Lauren's lifestyle hasn't faded, but the way we experience it is changing. Stores and ads, no matter how perfectly they're styled, don't have the impact they once had. Ralph Lauren's challenge is to figure out how to control our desire in this brave new multichannel world. We consume differently because we see each other and ourselves differently. You imagine a pioneer like Lauren will relish the challenge. In fact, Weber's portfolio for Polo women's won't just appear in print but will have an online life in the form of a video series on ralphlauren.com. It might be an acknowledgment that the guy from the glossy Polo spread isn't real enough anymore, or at least can no longer stand alone. He may still exist, but you won't find him only in the mansion.
12 August 2014
Ralph Lauren was the picture of elegance in his navy blue suit this morning. The Resort show that preceded his bow at his Rhinelander Mansion flagship could be summed up in much the same way. The designer zeroed in on the colors navy and white, accessorizing with bright flashes of gold. The palette lent the collection a nautical, preppy air. Quintessential Ralph, in other words, but also smartly up-to-date.He touched on several of fashion's current preoccupations—polka dots, thigh slits, and pajama dressing, among them—without looking trendy. Evening dresses featuring body-contouring color-blocking looked particularly sporty and modern. Other smart pieces included a delicate chiffon dress with a headmistress's pointy collar and a sharp ivory suit. The collection had its femme moments and its masculine ones, but it all felt of a piece. Only a motorcycle jacket paired with wide-leg leather pants was a bit off; the leather was fine, but the pieces would work better worn separately.Speaking of accessorizing, Lauren is clearly keen to build that business: The first model out trailed a glossy gold wheelie and matching Ricky bag. As the show went on, the Ricky emerged in several different treatments (including those lively polka dots) and sizes. We were particularly drawn to the drawstring version.
3 June 2014
Ralph Lauren had a surprise for his guests this morning. Not hot cocoa—although that would have been a nice treat after slogging through Winter Storm Pax to his remote venue. The designer is launching a new Polo collection for women, and he introduced it on his runway today. The first twenty-five looks of the show were Polo label, and it was a diverse offering. After more than four decades in business, Lauren bridges worlds. There were serape blanket coats and distressed leather bombers, a pinstripe suit, athletic outerwear in acid hues, and even what looked like a nod to grunge in the tweedy tailoring he mixed with floral silk dresses and plaid scarves. All recognizably Lauren but with a casual, easy spirit that was unusual for the designer's fashion week runway. Leggings paired with patent Mary Janes and rag wool socks worn with platform sandals reinforced the idea that the new collection is aimed at a young crowd.The lights dimmed in between the show's first and second acts, but there was no mistaking Polo for the Ralph Lauren portion of this outing, which was as elegant as they come, and the designer's finest work in some time. Even his jogging pants looked refined. This wasn't a collection about loungewear, per se—more than forty years of experience means Lauren can leave the trend-chasing to other designers. However, he did put an emphasis on the tactile pleasures that clothing as fine as his can produce, opting for a soothing monochrome palette of pastels and grays (not unlike at his Pre-Fall collection) and rich materials like cashmere, brushed suede, satin pongee, and Mongolian lamb. Who would say no to a cashmere wrap coat in winter white, with one side slung over the opposite shoulder just so?That easeful mood carried over from day to evening, where a snug turtleneck paired with a long jersey skirt slit all the way up one leg looked new for Lauren. Silk jersey also found its way onto gowns, although the best look was a little more formal. We'd love to see his pale pink lamé strapless evening dress at the Oscars next month.
12 February 2014
The big news in Ralph Lauren world is the impending arrival of the new Polo store. Slated to open this August, the stand-alone flagship, on Fifth Avenue and 56th Street, will be a multilevel home for a baby that's outgrown its accustomed nest. Polo may be older than the tailored labels it shares space with in the Ralph Lauren family, but its prepster sensibility had made it seem like the little brother. But make no mistake, Polo is not little in any way. It's a behemoth. The space it is coming to occupy was formerly the home of Disney, in a building owned by Coke. That fits. Ralph is a megabrand among megabrands.Taking a fresh look at Polo in the frat house-cum-hunting lodge the label creates in its showroom, it reminds you that as old as the line is, it has weathered well. (That's not even going into the weathering meticulously applied to, say, a shearling jacket, which looks to be around a century old; as a rep was quick to point out, this company was in the vanguard of using aging effects on clothing.) There's a lot of freshness to Polo because of the way it's relentlessly recombined. Every preppy "classic," so to speak, is worn under, over, or stitched into something else. Cardigans are patched with tweeds, hand-knits embroidered, chinos overprinted. And the Polo world will be shaken again with the introduction of Polo womenswear this fall. One imagines the little brother moving out on his own will welcome the chance to have girls in his room.Meanwhile, Purple Label and Black Label continue to develop. The Fortune 500 CEO who waxes Purple can indulge in a sky-high stand collar for work and a cashmere sweatpant for the weekend—which is the greater leap of faith, only time will tell. While Purple brings plummy three-piece tartan suits for the holidays, Black Label, the most "European" (read: slim, soft, and unstructured) of the RL stable, is dark and sleek. Among the denim shown with haberdashery, and haberdashery shown with denim, softer-shouldered jackets in bird's-eye and micro-houndstooth stood out. From Disney to Euro, Ralph Lauren spans worlds.
28 January 2014
For Pre-Fall, Ralph Lauren worked with a precise color palette—shades ranged from pearl to smoke to dove, with some taupe and putty in the mix. Most, if not all, of the looks were monochrome. You could call it hisFifty Shades of Greymoment but for the fact that it was as tasteful and dignified as anything the designer has ever done.The show was held in his Madison Avenue flagship, and the proximity of the models on the runway, combined with the strict palette, put the focus on fabrics, which were predictably lush. There was suede in abundance on jackets, leggings, and wrap dresses, as well as cashmere, which was often trimmed in shearling. These were clothes designed to provide tactile delights as much as visual ones. It was that spirit that influenced the collections strongest evening look, a silvery silk cashmere sweater worn with a long, bias-cut satin pongee skirt.Lauren accessorized some of the looks with raw crystal belts. Jewelry in a similar vein added an earthy dimension to the lineup, which was otherwise quite urbane. Come next summer, you couldnt go wrong with a sleeveless worsted wool sheath gathered at the side of the waist with a brooch.
7 January 2014
Ralph Lauren is feeling mod for Spring. To start, he showed a sixties A-line shift in black with a contrasting white collar. Patent leather Mary Janes and knee socks gave the outfit a youthful zing that was unexpected from New York's elder statesman. Actually, almost half of the fifty or so looks that followed came in black and white: a three-piece pantsuit in tattersall check, a floral patent trenchcoat, a striped shirtdress accessorized with a flower tie, and sweater and miniskirt sets. Some of the models sported space-agey plastic goggle frames.Lauren never does things halfway, and he didn't get where he is today by following trends, but this time his enthusiasm didn't quite work in his favor. The sixties aren't really resonating on other New York runways this season, which made this collection feel out of step. There were a few of the designer's dependably elegant pantsuits, but the black-and-white looks became repetitive fast. When color did finally enter the picture, it was Crayola bright—lime green, acid yellow, neon orange. Not easy hues to wear. On the upside, Karlie Kloss's cobalt-blue strapless gazar gown was gorgeous, and a strapless cape dress in red cady will certainly make an entrance.
11 September 2013
Given that Ralph Lauren is essentially the flagship designer of the U.S. of A., perhaps it was inevitable that the many arms of his empire would eventually come to resemble a United States of Ralph: all flying the same flag, but distinct in their ways and means. More than usual, Lauren took care to separate out the different labels under his aegis this season: Purple for the execs, Black for the modern gents, Polo for the guys, a sprinkling of RLX for the hikers and bikers. And what's piloted at HQ may eventually come to the real world, too: Hong Kong got its own Purple Label-specific flagship this year, and a New York Polo store is en route for 2014.Ironically, the more separate the lines become, the freer they seem to be to borrow from one another. Purple Label, ever the home of extravagant suiting and formalwear, had plenty of it on show, from a shawl-collared dinner jacket to Wall Street-ish pinstriped suits, but its sportswear collection was expanded like never before. What's more, it came in brighter colors more often found at Polo. And here, as throughout all of the lines, a desert motif reigned, in suede sahariennes, linen trousers, and the requisite $90,000 full-croc jacket.Black Label had its usual dark suiting, but leavened with weathered denim, styled with sherbet-bright sweaters, and generally with a more casual air—"where sportswear and haberdashery come together," the company calls it.At Polo, collegiate prep still rules, right down to the P-knit letter sweater. But here it got a buzzy jolt of color, in distressed chinos and shoulder-slung cable-knit sweaters, plus a dose of Lauren's Southwestern yen, thanks to a free hand with serape prints.
13 August 2013
Ralph Lauren showed his Resort collection on the runway for the first time ever this morning, in the second-floor salon of his Madison Avenue flagship. Lauren has made a career out of destination collections—Aspen, Africa, England, Spain. Designers love to do that kind of thing for Resort, but today's lineup had a polish that felt distinctly urban. If he looked anywhere for inspiration, it could've been a few blocks west, to New York's Lincoln Center. Ballet pink and black were the show's prevailing colors, and stretch bodysuit dressing its dominant message.It carried over from the cashmere wrap top, racer-back tank, and fluttery georgette skirt he opened with to the blazer and trousers he layered over a second-skin turtleneck. Lilac was the collection's only other color. It made a big impact on a reversible suede wrap coat. Also sit-up-and-take-notice-worthy amid all of the solid color was a pair of black-and-white printed and pleated silk dresses. The one whose pleats were accented with strips of leather particularly resonated.Lauren's shows usually end on an opulent note, with a series of high evening dresses. This time around, he opted out of beads, sequins, and lace. It's too far to call the slim black silk cady gowns sporty, or even athletic, but they were appealingly streamlined, especially the long-sleeve version with the plunging neckline.
5 June 2013
The antler candelabras lighting the runway at Ralph Lauren's show this morning said the American West, but they were a decoy. Today, Lauren took us on a romantic voyage with naval-inspired pieces, vaguely Russian-feeling velvets and tapestry embroideries, and dramatic eveningwear. It was his most fully realized, successful collection in a while.Military references have emerged all over the New York runways, but Lauren is hardly playing follow the leader. They've been part of his arsenal for decades probably, and he showed off his sure hand here with a cream wool toggle jacket and a black crepe tailcoat, both worn with leggy flared sailor pants. If silk frogging and gold ribbon trim on other outerwear put too fine a point on it, underneath it all was fantastic, sharp tailoring. Extending the sailor theme into evening, he came up with one of the show's best looks: a fitted fisherman sweater and to-the-floor tiered black skirt in taffeta and organza—a modern mix of day and night.An interlude of fitted knits and A-line midi skirts (thankfully brief) followed, after which Lauren really turned on the opulence. It's tempting to assign credit to the Russian street-style stars (at least one of whom was in head-to-toe Ralph in his front row) for the Cossack pants and pieces like a black velvet embroidered coat with shearling collar. They get too much attention already. And, again, Lauren's been at this kind of thing for ages.He closed with a group of jewel-tone shirred taffeta gowns made all the more grand by the fur hats the models wore. A subtler silk velvet column with a bejeweled crystal bib would be a sure hit at the Oscars. The editorial set, meanwhile, took particular notice of a sleeveless black dress made from pleated silk and leather.
13 February 2013
City and country are the Ralph Lauren poles. The enormous breadth of his complete Fall 2013 menswear—comprising a series of lines, sublines, and offshoots that seems to grow every season—pogoes between. The story at Purple Label, Lauren's most extravagant offering, had a country tilt, thanks to plentiful Harris Tweed. Full three-piece suits in the stuff, with their swanning peak lapels, said "country weekend," though the abundance of British racing green and the quilted details on some leathers said "moto"—biking around the country estate, perhaps?But before you could dig too deep—though not before you stopped to admire the delicate hand-distressing of a shearling-lined jacket—you had entered the world of Black Label, Lauren's more urbane collection. Building on the slenderer silhouettes of last season, Black Label was again fitted in the young-gun mode, this time with narrower lapels to boot. (There's a sentence not often heard here.) The color of the season is city-sidewalk gray, layered monochromatically.But then, off to Polo—mixed, as with last season, with the sportier RLX and the Olympics-themed line—which sent us, once again, to tweedy country togs and plenty of that beautiful green. But Polo, always the peacemaker of RL, manages to resolve the city-country divide. Here, heritage fabrics layered on tech ones, or combined both in one: the tweed down jacket over hither, the hiking boots with repp tie yon.
30 January 2013
Ralph Lauren tweeted a picture from his show this morning, writing, "I am forever inspired by far away exotic places. I may never have been there, but in my imagination it is real." The exotic place in question for Spring could've been Spain or Latin America. Matador suits, serapes, ruffles, fringe—they all got the Lauren treatment.Playing with black, white, red, and turquoise—the colors found in those serapes—he started with soft tailoring in suede, some of which was accented with tooled leather details. Shawls and ponchos turned up in various forms, and dresses and skirts were hand-crocheted. Scarves knotted at the neck, glass bead necklaces, and studded leather mailbags completed the vivid picture.If the beginning of the show sometimes felt like a costume drama, Lauren didn't fail to deliver real-life chic. A double-breasted white suit looked sharp, and a trio of kicky silk jersey dresses will play well with the social set in New York and beyond.But this collection really came to life when Joan Smalls glided down the runway in a black and white halter-neck evening dress. The dozen or so numbers that followed were all pretty much flawless, but a few in particular caught the eye: Lais Ribeiro's ivory silk V-neck gown with the red rose at one hip, Bette's black satin column with strands of jet beads draped across the back, Frida Gustavsson's white cotton shirt and flouncy organza skirt. Front-row guests Jessica Alba and Olivia Wilde would be lucky to wear any one of them.
12 September 2012
You may never walk a mile in Ralph Lauren's shoes. You may have to walk a miletoRalph Lauren's shoes. A fashion spectator, invited into Lauren's sweeping Madison Avenue showrooms, has a long journey ahead of him. The trip through the worlds of Purple Label, Black Label, Polo, and RLX—plus the Jeans iterations of at least a few of the preceding lines—seems to encompass at least one city block. Bring your hiking boots. Or borrow a pair of those on display.First, Purple Label, the toniest jewel in the RL crown—the chairman of its board, if you will. The highest rollers won't be disappointed by the three-piece tailoring and tailcoated evening options, though they may be surprised to find them newly snug, thanks to a slimmed silhouette. The sportswear offerings have been much expanded, from floral pants to hazard orange, bonded slickers, for the CEO who peacocks when he's off the clock. Or perhaps just in acknowledgment of the fact that today's CEO isn't necessarily hoary. This is the age of the Instagram millionaire.At Black Label, the story is brown. It's the label's new neutral, and it looks great against the country club pastels like lilac and sea foam that are RL standards. The Black Label denim gets in on the story, too, in weather-beaten sand tones.Polo is more relaxed, the college boy of the bunch, with natural shoulders and softer materials to match. The RL team has begun to mix it in with the technical-sport RLX collection, a move that's brought a bit of freshness to both. The vibe is Outdoorsman in the Off Hours—which translates pretty directly to Men's Fashion Editor in the On Hours. Leave on those hiking boots, in other words, but put on your blazer, too.
13 August 2012
It's been four years since Ralph Lauren showed his Resort collection to the press, but he came back with a splash today, showing house classics like his fringed suede jacket, body-skimming evening sheaths, and safari-influenced pieces in seriously bright shades of hyacinth pink, lime, lemon, and orange. A floral print combined all of those hues and an electric plaid was unlike anything seen onDownton Abbey, the hit TV show that inspired his Fall collection. For tamer souls, most of the pieces are also available in a neutral khaki.A beaded and hand-painted lamé slipdress reverberated with the distant roar of the 1920's, but overall, this outing had a more contemporary feeling. Lauren, like other designers these days, is liking the way a tunic looks over cropped and tapered pants, and for footwear, he even showed his own take on heel-less platforms.
17 June 2012
The soundtrack fromDownton Abbeycame over the loudspeaker at Ralph Lauren and you could sense a crowd worn down from a long week of runway shows perking up. The TV program has become such a phenomenon that you half-knew this moment would be coming sooner or later, and it was no shocker to see it arrive at Ralph. Still, hunting plaids aside, the references to World War I England weren't all that literal in this collection.For example, the first part of the show was devoted to boy-for-girl suits. Downton's Lady Mary was rather forward-looking in her thinking, but you never saw her wearing pants. (It would take another several years for the modernizing influence of Coco Chanel to assert itself in Yorkshire, no doubt.) If anything, this felt like Lauren revisiting and reworking his own oeuvre. The trip down memory lane wasn't one of the designer's blockbusters, but it produced some strong outerwear, from a houndstooth greatcoat to a glen plaid double-breasted style. Among the many suits on display, a burgundy silk velvet three-piecer had the most snap.The after-dark portion of the collection—a study in gold and black, with a pair of bright fuchsia satin gowns injected into the mix—felt quite different from where we'd started out. Here, the Roaring Twenties were an obvious influence on a beaded flapper number and black column dresses picked out in gold and platinum Art Deco embroideries. Nonetheless, the evening looks as a whole felt modern.
15 February 2012
In 1974, not long after he founded his company, Ralph Lauren designed the costumes forThe Great Gatsby. They launched a mini Jazz Age trend at the time and jump-started his career. Today, with Baz Luhrmann remaking the film—Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan are reprising the roles originally played by Robert Redford and Mia Farrow—Lauren took the opportunity to revisit the roaring twenties, half a year before the movie actually hits screens and everybody and his mother decides to "do" the decade themselves.Both Daisy and Jay's wardrobes got an airing here. Since way back when, Lauren has always loved the feminine/masculine mix. On the Buchanan side of the story were wallpaper floral bias-cut dresses, timely pastel silk pajama pants, and "vintaged" cashmere sweaters with faux moth holes. For accessories: raffia platform sandals, embroidered and fringed bags, and delicate scarves tied tight at the neck. Lauren's girl Gatsbys had pinstriped three-piece suits with cropped pants, shorts, or full trousers to choose from and the occasional anachronism in the form of a pink leather Perfecto jacket.The collection really came alive after dark. Glinting silver flapper dresses and column gowns looked tailor-made for the spotlight. Luhrmann's costume designer wife, Catherine Martin, is in charge of the clothes for the new movie, but Mulligan and her female co-stars need look no further than Lauren when it comes to red-carpet sparklers for the premiere circuit.
14 September 2011
He's conquered the Boulevard Saint-Germain and Madison Avenue with sweeping new flagships, so where to next for Ralph Lauren? From the looks of his Fall runway, Shanghai and Beijing are on the horizon. (As it happens, the company bought its Southeast Asia business back from a licensee last year and has made no secret of its expansion plans throughout the continent.) Not unlike Oscar de la Renta yesterday, and Marc Jacobs last season at Louis Vuitton, Lauren looked to the Orient for inspiration—China specifically. The models wore jade and coral earrings, lacquered red heels that matched their lipstick, and bold middle parts, but in case you didn't get the references, the designer played a cover version of David Bowie's "China Girl." If that little detail was less than subtle, Lauren employed a lighter touch for the most part when it came to the clothes.He opened with a crisp white shirt tucked into a pair of wool trousers, and from there moved on to mannish tailoring and cocktail fare, cutting his clothes in glossy fabrics nearly as reflective as the lacquered runway—satin for a blouse, polished leather for a halter dress, Lurex-shot cashmere for a hobble skirt, and panne velvet for a quilted jacket. Chestnut brown shetland tweed coats with shearling lapels—shades of Shanghai's early-twentieth-century colonists—broke up all the black and white. The show was not without its costumey moments, chief among them a China red tuxedo jacket with multicolor dragon embroideries. It finished strong, though, with a series of elegant black evening dresses accented with a single brooch or beaded in an Art Deco style.
16 February 2011
Ralph Lauren has ridden out West countless times in his 40-plus-year career, but he always manages to corral something new. His latest take on cowgirl couture happens to be right in line with some of New York's big trends. To start with, the collection was rendered predominantly in that noncolor of the season: white, mixed here with shots of pale sky blue and some silver accents. The arts-and-crafts tendency we've been seeing? Lauren touched on that, too, in the form of some very wearable tatted lace tablecloth dresses. And if you're shopping for a statement blouse—say, something with a fancy sleeve or a high Victorian collar—there'll be no better place to look than the designer's first New York flagship dedicated to womenswear at 888 Madison Avenue, set to open next month. All of which is to say: Ralph's home on the range is a very urbane kind of place.Only Lauren could be quite so brazen with fringe. Long strands of the stuff decorated the opening off-white leather jacket; silver beads swung from an embellished little evening skirt, paired irreverently with a man's colorful plaid button-down; and in between, a model wore fringed brown leather pants not unlike the ones the designer himself sported to take his bow. Lauren rustled up some wild accessories for accompaniment, too, including iconic blanket bags, bull's-head belt buckles, and suede chokers studded with natural stones. But he drew the line at cowboy hats; those would be too gimmicky. He was firmly in control of his material, and it was a smooth gallop from start to finish.
15 September 2010
Over the course of his four-decade career, Ralph Lauren has made many looks his own—equestrian, country club, ski-lodge chic. Bohemian gypsy is a little more unexpected, but there were definite strains of that in today's show, and not only because Stevie Nicks was singing Fleetwood Mac's "Sisters of the Moon" on the soundtrack. Lauren got there via the Edwardian tailoring and romantic florals that his fans already know and love—not to mention a trove of beaded necklaces, beanies, and fingerless lace gloves.Puffed shoulders made repeat appearances, here on a fitted charcoal herringbone jacket, there on a cotton flannel plaid blouse or jewel-tone velvet top; a black suede tunic with leg-of-mutton sleeves was sashed at the waist over flaring leggings. Mixing masculine and feminine with his usual deftness, Lauren slipped a chesterfield on top of a floor-grazing georgette dress, and cinched distressed leather belts around the washed Shetland wool jackets he paired with ruffled skirts.There was a pinstripe interlude that looked tailor-made for his tony clientele, but not unlike his Spring collection, with its Great Depression-inspired beaten-up blue jeans, this one seemed pitched to a more downtown crowd. That was especially the case when it came to evening. A passementerie embroidered silk ottoman coat was plenty posh, ditto a black silk georgette and tulle beaded gown. His flower-print long dresses, however, were layered over lacy long-sleeve tees in a way we've seen young designers doing all week. If this felt like strange new territory for Lauren, there were moments—as with that silk georgettefils coupegown—when it was fertile ground indeed.
17 February 2010
Style.com did not review the Fall 2010 menswear collections. Please enjoy the photos, and stay tuned for our complete coverage of the Spring 2011 collections, including reviews of each show by Tim Blanks.
17 February 2010
Hard times. The Great Recession we're all living through got Ralph Lauren thinking about American resiliency. "I am inspired by the character of the worker, the farmer, the cowboy, the pioneer women of the prairies," he wrote in his program notes. So in place of the polo fields or any of his other tony stomping grounds, Lauren took us back to the dust bowl for Spring. Models in newsboy caps wore faded and torn oversize jeans with blue work shirts; patchwork overalls; nightshirts in mattress-ticking stripes; or sweet calico print dresses with white ankle socks and oxfords with heels.It was cinematic, like most of Lauren's collections. And it goes without saying that his vision is a romanticized one: Henry Fonda's character inThe Grapes of Wrathdidn't carry a lizard-skin bag. In fact, the show played like a rags-to-riches tale, a story line dear to the designer's heart. After a few white cotton organdy dresses and some thirties-esque suits—think pinstriped three-pieces with cropped and gathered pants or a boxy d.b. with fuller trousers—the work jackets and carpenter pants reappeared in blue ombré silk charmeuse, the nightshirts came striped with beads, and the overalls were transformed into a floor-grazing lamé dress. A pair of evening jeans, completely covered in silvery beads save for the fraying holes, took the concept to the limit.When Lauren came out for his bow, it was to the tune of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." He'll see the other side of this recession—no one works harder than he does; he's the great American brand.
16 September 2009
Ralph Lauren supplied a hopeful, positive coda for fashion week. His response to dark times was to let the light in, quite literally. Yes, he opened with a little black dress, but he soon moved into taupe-y tweed suiting, soft pastel knits, and rich velvet dresses, finishing up with antique ivories and golds. Along the way he showcased his great-looking outerwear and subtly glamorous evening options, while touching on such treasured motifs as haberdashery, the equestrian world, and a spot of Anglophilia in the form of Fair Isle knits.With even the very rich hunkering down, Lauren made a point of showing plenty of cozy coats. A herringbone tweed topped an embroidered lamé dress, and there were also embroidered shearlings, Mongolian lamb chubbies, and an Oliver Twist-ish patchwork or two that should please the ironists among his fans. For the evening looks that closed the show, he stowed the outerwear, sending out one shimmery dress after another in ivory satin, pale pink charmeuse, or vintage gold lamé. The highlight of the bunch was a delicate frock with a silvery bodice and gauzy pink skirts to the knee, but they all fairly glowed. For 15 minutes, at least, Lauren had you believing that everything is going to be just fine.
19 February 2009
Down came last season's gold antlers and up went a Moroccan lamp: Ralph Lauren looked to North Africa for Spring. For many in his audience today, it's a place that automatically conjures up images and thoughts of Yves Saint Laurent. But Lauren has been in business for 41 years now, and in that time he's mined every continent but Antarctica for inspiration, so if this was in part a respectful nod in the late Parisian designer's direction, it was mostly a fresh look at some of Lauren's own biggest hits.The show opened with a khaki camp shirt that looked like it had just come back from safari (one sleeve was ripped at the shoulder) and beaded gold harem pants slung with two belts. Interspersed among the other silk-satin takes on that slouchy, relaxed silhouette—which happens to be right in step with the season—were bronze or white linen suits worn with matching shirts and metallic ties, as well as great, swaggering trenches in buttery leather and parachute silk. Indiana Jones hats, turbans (some of them too literally over-the-top), and pearl-and-emerald sautoirs added to the show's adventurous spirit.The theme continued into evening. A silk-linen gauze strapless gown in olive drab might be just the thing for a candlelit dinner in the Atlas Mountains, and shades of colonial Africa could be seen in a thirties-ish cream silk dress. A black silk evening jumpsuit, on the other hand, looked utterly urban and modern. Ubah Hassan, a model from Somalia, resplendent in a gold lamé column gown and beaded headdress, closed the show. Kudos to Lauren for addressing the diversity issue on the runways, and for a collection well done.
11 September 2008
The message was crystal clear as a Baccarat glass tinkling with iced Campari and blood orange on the beach at Parrot Cay: Ralph Lauren's take on Resort is unabashedly classic. He calls it "takeaway" (but, nope, it's got nothing whatsoever to do with Chinese food). It's a wardrobe that says Mustique, Palm Beach, and St. Bart's in a happy rainbow of paisleys, white cottons, sunshine yellows, and kelly greens, with bags and jewelry to match. Imagine long silk button-down cover-ups, worn with gold sandals, that magically transform into dresses as you go from beach to lunch. Amid the traditional five-diamond fare, green silk cargo pants seemed slightly out of place…but, hey, even on vacation, a girl can't pay homage to Babe Paley 24/7.
23 June 2008
For fall 2008, Ralph Lauren's Polo collection shelved the cinematic fantasy of seasons past in favor of an idealized vintage Americana. Hard not to interpret that as a comment on the present state of the nation. There was also an unambiguous masculinity to the clothes, which was only reinforced by the absence of the little twists that usually illuminate Polo (unless the Leopold and Loeb vibe of the Roaring Twenties college boys counted). This season, those twists could be found at the other end of the Lauren spectrum, in the top-of-the-line Purple Label, with its flamboyant color scheme (to wit: fuchsia herringbone, a strawberry blazer, and radical orange cords). This was Ralph's Edwardian gentleman at work and play: high, cutaway collars and fob chains for the city; Fair Isles and plaids for a Highland hike. Sitting somewhere in the mid-Atlantic between Polo and Purple is the Black Label, with its lean, linear international look. Black indeed, except fall 2008 brought some hard-core flourishes: a little military detailing in a camouflage puffer and slim-line combats, or a red cashmere sweater embroidered with Chinese characters spelling "warrior." How's that for an artful recognition of new market realities?
8 February 2008
The antler chandeliers spray-painted gold were the first clue that we were in for a change of scenery. After throwing what will go down in fashion history as one of its grandest parties ever for his 40th anniversary last September, Ralph Lauren swapped Central Park for Colorado. His Western family retreat, the Double RL Ranch, has provided inspiration for many of his famous signatures, and he reprised several of them today with superb results.Lauren opened with a series of city dresses and suits in cashmere herringbone and black double face cut close to the body. But he didn't linger long in this urban terrain (smart thing; the leopard-print pieces weren't a good fit with the rest of the collection). Soon we were heading West to the land of green border-stripe swing jackets, red-and-black buffalo plaid suits, and cozy blanket coats. He worked these Ralph-isms with customary expertise, coming up with unexpected combinations like a fitted plaid hunting jacket with a spry little mini in a buffalo check, or a cashmere plaid shirt unbuttoned to reveal a glam necklace (Lauren lined up a stunning list of jewelers for the show, including the Gem Palace) and tucked into a sassy tulle skirt covered in beads and feathers. Of course, many of these outfits will look just as at home in Manhattan as on the range.The plaids lingered after dark—some, like a winning high-necked gown that fanned out below the knees, more successfully than others. But his evening wasn't one-note. He showed supple draped velvets, two of the prettiest in a deep hunter green and a garnet decorated with beads. And for something more dramatic, there was a black tulle gown with a cutaway back. Lauren knows that wherever his ladies take themselves, country or city, they always pack a party dress.
7 February 2008
It was a fashion spectacle to end all spectacles. To celebrate his 40th anniversary in business, Ralph Lauren staged an extraordinarily lavish runway show and black-tie after-party in the Central Park Conservatory Saturday night. And it wasn't only celebrities or moguls—everyone from Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman to Sarah Jessica Parker and Diane Sawyer to Mayor Michael Bloomberg—who came out to support him. His designer peers—Vera and Carolina and Diane and Donna—did, too. Afterward, Karan joked, "I'll tell you what I'm not going to do: Afterthat, I'm not going to have a show!"As for the clothes, Lauren said, "I drew upon everything I ever loved, and that was it." He touched upon many of his best-known signatures, including haberdashery, equestrian themes, and Anglophilia, but this wasn't a greatest-hits collection—there's a Rizzoli book coming out next month that will cover all that. The show started in black and white: a ruffle-hemmed gown cut higher in the front to flash sexy fishnets and worn with a picture hat straight out ofMy Fair Lady, followed by a man's re-proportioned houndstooth jacket, waistcoat, and full-leg pants. From there, the designer worked his way through exuberantly colorful floral-print silk-georgette evening dresses and equally vibrant jockey wear. Before finishing with a red-carpet stunner in swagged silver chain and tulle, he sent out a group of taffeta dresses in bold primaries that stood out for their simplicity.When all 72 looks had come and gone, a tuxedoed Lauren took an emotional stroll down the runway, greeting well-wishers and drawing wife Ricky to his side. The scene was accompanied by a standing ovation and Frank Sinatra'sThe Best Is Yet to Come. And to prove it, the painted backdrop parted to reveal a candlelit garden with tables for 400 guests. Hollywood couldn't have executed a grander, more cinematic moment.
7 September 2007
You know the drill by now. Ralph offers three ranges: Polo is the fast-fashion fix with a dozen little refractions of the young metropolitan male; Black Label is a more upscale, edgier version of city dressing; and Purple Label is the apex—Lauren deluxe. The comprehensiveness of the vision is always enthralling and, given the size and success of the operation, it's a pleasure to see there is no laurel-resting. This season, for instance, Purple, always dandified in its extreme English-tailored proposition, galloped into flamboyance with eye-poppingly toned sportswear in orange, yellow, leaf green, and cyclamen. The narrow lapels of the suitings nudged against the smaller collars on shirts, which were wrapped around tightly knotted paisley ties of an extravagant four-and-three-quarter-inch width. It's the design house's 40th anniversary, and this was Lauren's way of bringing it all back home—to the tie on which his empire is based. Black Label also took up the cudgels of color, sparking an all-black group with stabs of pink and turquoise.As ever, Polo offered outfits for a sweep of Central Casting archetypes: sensitive artist, global nomad, eccentric playboy. But even within these previously explored parameters, Lauren found ways to freshen the mix. The artist went a little nautical, for instance, in navies and whites, with an Edwardian edge to stand-up club collars. And a group called Flat Iron played sportswear against tailoring: a sweatpant, for example, with a linen-blend herringbone jacket. But it was perhaps the World Traveler storyline that contained the "Rosebud" moment to the Ralph Lauren saga: It imagined clothes as souvenirs of everywhere you've ever been or anyone you've ever wanted to be. That's Ralph for you—a boy with a dream.
6 September 2007
Bikini? Check. Little black dress? Check. Beach bag? Check. Ralph Lauren's concise resort lineup read like a luxe packing list for a midwinter weekend trip to Mustique. Working in a palette of white, black, and acid yellow, with a multicolor floral tossed in, he kept the shapes (tank dress, sailor pants, V-neck maillot) as simple and as bare as a vacation in a hot clime requires. The flouncy, flamenco-esque ruffles that decorated the neckline of a low-cut blouse and the hem of a party dress were the only extras; they gave the collection some spice.
9 July 2007
Ralph Lauren's own preoccupations are the thread that knits a dozen disparate elements together with his various menswear ranges. That's how the top-of-the-line Black Label, with its single, hypertailored silhouette, can share space with the black GT group of driving-inspired utilitywear. (Ralph is a dandyanda car collector.) This season, Ralph the horseman was another running theme, from Black Label's chic horsey subtext to the more rough-and-ready Double RL range. Streamlining was the news at Purple Label, with a slimmer silhouette and narrower lapels on the jackets. A double-breasted style had four buttons instead of six, the lower closing elongating the torso.Black and Purple are classic in that their evolution can be measured in millimeters, but Lauren unleashes his inner cineast when he comes to Polo. For example, Fall saw him referencingThe Shooting Party,James Mason's last film, about life pre-WWI on a grand English estate. A tweed jacket with poacher's pockets could have been a period piece, but the fabric treatments (washing, distressing, patching) injected some 21st-century panache into items an Edwardian shooting party might actually have worn. In fact, fabrics throughout the various ranges had been subjected to all sorts of creative abuse. A pair of jeans seemingly crusted with dirt was a particularly novel extension of country life. Polo also offered a "town and country" group that intertwined Manhattan and Greenwich (a three-piece herringbone suit, say, that could do double duty in both locations—especially if you were the artistically inclined scion of a fine old family). An equally patrician theme was evident in a group inspired by the casual luxe of the Santa Barbara lifestyle, with a side trip on horseback to San Ysidro, the ranch where the Kennedys honeymooned.
19 February 2007
Leave the 180-degree turns, the frantic grasping for new ideas, to other designers. Ralph Lauren delivered one more in a line of self-assured collections today, and even better, proved he still has the power to surprise.Returning home from last season's jaunt across North Africa and India, this urbane show began with suits—the first was long and lean, with a closely fitting, cropped double-breasted jacket and a skirt in the slim, three-quarter length that now looks fresh again. From there, he took the season¿s knit-dressing trend in a new direction. First, classic cardigan coats in hand-knit metallic tweeds cut a reliably elegant figure. Then—and here's the surprise—he whipped up strappy little cashmere dresses with short, kicky skirts. They had real youth appeal. The nipped-waist shape was echoed elsewhere in the collection—in slim turtlenecks worn with dirndls; in a chocolate flight jacket and matching flaring skirt; and in a couple of great-looking coats. These were slim on top and full to the knee, and the best one came in the antiqued gold that was the only flash amid the blacks, browns, and grays.But in Lauren¿s world, after-eight dressing will always call for something sinuous. This season, that meant a pair of exit-making black gowns, one with a giant bow at the lower back and another with an organza ruffle from nape to ankle. Along with a daring, plunge-front dress in burnished gold lamé, they were surefire hits.
8 February 2007
Between his Black and Purple labels and Polo, Ralph Lauren is aiming to dress all ages of men in all corners of the globe. If such a goal threatens mainstream blandness in theory, it's anything but in practice. That's partly because Lauren's collections for men are so cinematic in their scope that they're high on entertainment value, and partly because they're so artfully abreast of current notions that they're equally high on fashion. Black Label's spring suits, for instance, have a sleeker, leaner silhouette, and color is introduced in the shirtings and knitwear. The top-of-the-range Purple Label also trims the silhouette, with a skinnier pant and a shorter jacket. Even if the fabrics used are heavily luxurious, there's a light touch in the way a white shantung evening jacket, say, is paired with a tuxedo shirt whose front is striped as well as more conventionally pleated.But if Lauren is catering to the professional with Black and the connoisseur with Purple, Polo is like a pop-up book of playful possibilities. One group, called "Loden and White," is the designer's revisionist take on classic safari: Again, the shorter lengths, higher armhole, and slightly shrunken proportions, but these clothes also look like they've been across the Sahara and back. One jacket is frayed, with madras lining showing through the tatters. Another, in oilcloth, is cropped short like a pilot's. The group labeled "Savannah" features a suit in cream herringbone linen. Pair it with the pique waistcoat, and you've got an outfit that begs for Big Daddy and a julep. And we haven't even got to "Vineyard's" (as in Martha's) patchwork madras pants, multicolored gingham shirts, and bee-embroidered chinos.
24 September 2006
A tip of the hat to Ralph Lauren, whose sharp spring collection cut through the haze of tulle and organza that was New York like a knife through butter. Last season's English hunting party has charted a course through North Africa and colonial India—hence the serapes and metallic work in today's mix. Mostly though, this was a show of polished clothes that only glancingly hinted at their exotic inspirations.He started things off with trim pinstripe vests over looser bib-front shirts and wide-legged cuffed trousers or shorts. Suits in silk jacquard and antique linen took a dressier direction; jackets were snug-fitting and peplumed, and pants came slim and cropped above the ankles to show off peep-toe patent heels. The show's black-and-white motif—count on Lauren to nail the trends without appearing to try—extended into dresses, including a strikingly pretty paisley floral tea-length silk with puff sleeves.The silvers and platinums arrived with his substantially expanded nighttime offerings. Lauren has absorbed today's more relaxed approach to after-dark dressing, so he paired linen shirts with metallic-brocade skirts and pants. But this wouldn't be a Ralph show without a few showstoppers, and the designer gave Diane Kruger (sitting front row in his fall cape and over-the-knee boots) what she came for: a short, drop-waist beaded twenties dress that spelled restrained glamour.
14 September 2006
Rustle up your riding boots: For Fall, Ralph Lauren organized a Highlands hunting trip, complete with glen plaids, cashmere jodhpurs, sweeping carriage coats, and swaggering horse-blanket capes. It was inspired by what he called a "modern shooting party," but of course it will work perfectly for those whose idea of the great outdoors is the jaunt from townhouse to town car.Lauren's women's collections are at their polished, elegant best when he weaves haberdashery into the more feminine elements. The jackets of three-piece plaid suits had a peplum kick, and the matching pants a fitted cut far sexier and more youthful than last season's pinstripes. Finely tailored blazers were paired with soft leggings on the runway, but there were also slim suede pants to satisfy clients in search of more structure. After the loden-and-olive opening, Lauren moved into rich black velvets, some embellished with gold braid and bullion, in keeping with the show's horsey inspirations.For evening, the designer's theme was at its most literal, and least persuasive, in patchwork taffeta tartans. And we've seen the gold-and-crystal-embroidered tulle dresses that closed the show before; they're flirty, if a trifle light. A black satin column with a high neck and a dramatic bare back, on the other hand, is the last word in urban-huntress chic.
9 February 2006
Ralph Lauren hasn't shown his menswear on a New York runway for over three decades, so it was only right that the mayor (and Jerry Seinfeld and Anderson Cooper) turned out to mark such a prestigious occasion. And Lauren didn't disappoint his high-profile fans. The fast-paced show he laid on was a classic rags-to-riches saga that drew selectively on all of his collections—Polo, RRL, Purple, and Black—to dress Ralph's man on his unstoppable way to the top.With such a vast repertoire of items to draw from, Lauren was able to give each outfit enormous detail and subtext—if there were 44 looks on the runway, that meant 44 male archetypes. An opening passage of shrunken patchwork tweeds, exhausted chinos, and grommeted jeans, worn with sockless brogues, was the very essence of hobo chic. It surrendered to fiercely tailored flannels and pinstripes, followed by the cowboy styles to which Lauren himself is so partial, with jeans and leathers so lean, mean, and studded they wouldn't have looked out of place on Keith Richards. (The show had launched to the strains of "Sympathy for the Devil.")That such clothes could share space with the Edwardian gentleman in his glen plaids, or the oligarch on his way to an opera benefit in full white-tie rig, underscored the sheer scope of Lauren's men's empire—as, for that matter, did the presence of his powerful friends.
6 February 2006
At Ralph Lauren, last season's Old Hollywood,Aviator-style high glamour took a backseat to a more relaxed brand of chic. Gone are the silk charmeuses, hourglass suits, and bugle beads, and in their place are charms of a more rustic nature: denim, serapes, and hand-painted decoration. "Freewheeling" is how the designer described his collection, and he drove that point home by coming out for his bow in well-used sneakers and jeans.He began with a series of navy jackets in a nautical theme, including a Sgt. Pepper style that divided the audience—some loved its gold bullion embroidery; others didn't. These were paired with classic linen pants and shorts or georgette skirts in white. From there, Lauren moved on to skirtsuits in crisp, mismatched shirting stripes. Interspersed throughout were eyelet and lace, in keeping with the season's trends, and other items—a horse-blanket poncho, a patchwork jacket, thrashed and embellished jeans—that were distinctly Ralph.For evening, he took the menswear fabrics he knows so well and shirred, ruched, and ruffled them to create sweet but seductive shapes. More of that gold bullion appeared on a swishy cocktail number, but a gown made from yard after yard of embroidered white tulle was the show's real stunner.
15 September 2005
When Ralph Lauren talked about his Polo collection reflecting "heritage looks of Americana" for Spring 2006, he might as well have been describing his Purple and Black Labels too. In all three ranges he celebrated homegrown archetypes. Purple had the Astaire-smart Palm Beach dandy in gray plaid cashmere with a pink windowpane overcheck. Black had the thrusting Wall Streeter, noughties-style, in a streamlined pinstriped suit, the jacket sleekly suppressed, the trousers flat-fronted and tab-closing, the oxfords worn sockless. And Polo had all the fun, with the frontier guy in his worn, Western-stitched suede jacket, the Connecticut preppy in his blue cotton blazer and plaid pants, and the boho artiste in cropped, paint-spattered denims under a herringbone jacket straight from the thrift shop.If they all sound like characters in a movie, that's no less than we've come to expect from fashion's most celluloid-obsessed designer. And his vision here was as sweeping as any director's. The looks described above scarcely encompass the breadth of Lauren's offering. Or its occasional wit (the green paisley blazer with the pink chinos that Preppy Man wore, for instance). Or its desirability, in everything from a hot-yellow cargo pant to a navy duffel jacket to a double-breasted suit in a Prince of Wales check, overlaid with a pale yellow windowpane. Savile Row weeps.
13 September 2005
For his fall 2005 menswear presentation, Ralph Lauren eschewed the runway, opting to show three collections from his ever-expanding stable—Purple Label, Black Label, and Polo—by appointment. The showroom setting served to emphasize just how wearable and well-cut these clothes are. Purple Label, with its luxurious cream cashmeres and impeccably tailored single- and double-breasted charcoal suits, continued to offer a compelling vision for the way contemporary masters of the universe ought to dress. At Black Label, there was an emphasis on narrow silhouettes, with refined three-quarter-length coats in velvet and leather. With Polo meanwhile, Lauren offered his own well-practiced spin on the sporty-dressy mix that has been so prevalent this season: a white hoodie under a gray pinstripe suit, tweed jackets paired with brightly colored cargo pants, and a series of corduroy trousers in eye-popping shades. In its own way, each collection stayed true to the quintessentially urbane American style that has come to define all things Ralph.
17 February 2005
Ralph Lauren's immaculate fall show was inspired by his personal collection of vintage cars, 13 of which go on display March 6 at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Close-fitting black leather jackets and skirts echoed the elegant curves of a very rare Bugatti, while the train of a strapless beaded dress evoked the tapered tail of an early Mercedes.Paying homage to speed, Lauren thankfully avoided a theme that's been all too prominent this season: volume, which he dismissed in his opening sequence of strictly tailored gray fitted vests, below-the-knee skirts, and wrap coats. A parade of great menswear looks included a standout bold glen plaid trench, tossed with nonchalant confidence over the shoulders and teamed with a charmeuse shirt and cuffed houndstooth pants. Streamlined cashmere dresses, accented with leather epaulets and elbow patches, were pure luxe, and cropped jackets in fur-trimmed cognac leather and silvery shearling were just as sexy as his sleek trenches.After dark, Lauren continued in a thirties vein. Matte jersey met silky charmeuse on simple columns, and Art Deco beading decorated the torso and trim of a silvery gown. The gender-bender suit and goggles sported by Erin Wasson were a misstep, as were the unfortunate skull caps inspired by Tamara de Lempicka's 1925Autoportrait. But Lauren's pleated black tulle dress is worthy of an old-style Hollywood swoon.
10 February 2005
Ralph Lauren's spring show was inspired by the polished, formal wardrobes of thirties society in Hollywood and Manhattan. Aiming to update that golden moment, Lauren produced an impeccable array of sportswear that was also a healthy reminder—in a season so focused on single items—of what a complete collection should be about.From slouchy silk cardigans over fragile lingerie dresses, to narrow, nip-waisted jackets over slim, calf-grazing skirts, to tan shantung suits with cropped trousers, Lauren sent out entire outfits that could sail straight into the closet of a latter-day Daisy Buchanan. Sound too retro? No, thanks to a handful of deft, modern touches like gleaming, silvery fabrics; metallic belts; high-heel spectator pumps; and even a Polo pony logo, redone in crystal on a pair of full-cut white denim jeans.For evening, Lauren rose to the occasion with a series of figure-caressing, bias-cut hammered-satin gowns. The forebears of these pieces were worn in rooms filled with witty banter and popping Champagne corks; their seductive descendents are destined for red carpets and popping flashbulbs.
14 September 2004
While it’s great to see new talent finding its wobbly way down the catwalk, sometimes it’s nice to relax in the hands of a professional—especially when he’s at the top of his form. Ralph Lauren’s fall collection, shown on the last day of Fashion Week, was smooth as charmeuse from start to finish: simple, perfectly cut clothes in excellent fabrics, worn by flawless models, to a mellow soundtrack courtesy of Fleetwood Mac.Lauren opened with some body-hugging camel-hair pieces—a bateau-neck sweater, a high-waisted slim skirt—that were as cozy as they were sexy. Then he took firm possession of the tweedy trend running through fall, slamming out one great nubby piece after another: a chocolaty mélange, a bold black-and-white check, a frothy black bouclé occasionally dusted with sequins, that he made into trim little blazers, pencil skirts, classic trousers, and pretty ballerina skirts. His outerwear, particularly a generous trench cut from the sparkly black bouclé, was another home run, and Lauren even put a new twist (literally) on the now ubiquitous shrug by making it from a generous loop of cashmere. For drama, he added some blood-red velvet pieces and a lovely, spare black dress with a collarbone-framing scoop neck and graceful swirling skirt. And while the rest of the world is raiding grandma’s jewelry box for her big gold brooches, Lauren’s customer is going her own way, sporting big chunky antique Navajo belts, necklaces, and earrings that keep her suits from getting too fussy.For evening, Lauren simply took the great sportswear motif and cut it with a little more va-va-voom. (Who knew a tuxedo jacket could have deep décolletage?) His closing gown, an inky stunner paved from head to toe with winking bugle beads, put a gleaming exclamation point on a very strong statement.
12 February 2004
Ralph Lauren sets out to beautify his customer’s life without complicating it, and that philosophy has served him well; his far-reaching lifestyle empire now brings in about $2.4 billion a year. With his confident, colorful Spring collection, Lauren once again demonstrated his time-honored skill at balancing classic sportswear with a sense of luxury.He started with a group of cream and black pieces inspired by the athletic life. There were tennis-flavored dresses, one in white silk with a polo collar and a swingy pleated skirt, another inspired by the classic cable-knit sweater with a plunging V-neckline; a pinstriped baseball jacket worn with a matching pencil skirt; a sequined varsity cardigan; and a sexy white silk gown with a silver mesh racer back that suggested fencing gear. Lauren cuts a great jacket, and there were plenty of terrific options in black silk stretch or white cotton, with nipped waists and a bit of flare over the hips to emphasize the female form.For the second half, Lauren exploded into color, assembling tropical hues of violet, lime green, yellow, pink, and fuchsia and sending out classic man-tailored pantsuits worn with vivid contrasting cashmere sweaters and georgette shirts. The designer ended with a handful of utterly simple, perfectly cut liquid charmeuse gowns, in bird-of-paradise colors guaranteed to intoxicate.
18 September 2003
Maybe it was just coincidence that Ralph Lauren chose to show his Fall collection in Manhattan’s Chelsea area, in a light-filled art gallery with rustic bleachers and exposed beams. Ever the Anglophile, Lauren’s collection was full of references to the other Chelsea, in London, where the rich and bohemian have thrived for decades.With early Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones setting a retro-counterculture mood, Lauren sent out elegantly tailored pieces that underscored his ability to transpose menswear into a feminine key. He cut trim little jackets and slim pants from mossy tweeds, and made nut-brown suede into cool motorcycle jackets worn over fluttering satin skirts. A nod to dandyism showed through in a green plaid overcoat worn with a velvet shirt and tie, and plummy velvet suits—perfect for the modern-day bluestocking. For evening, Lauren went full-on feminine, via a series of icy-cool pieces touched with silvery beading. His white charmeuse top over black velvet leggings is just the thing for a chic dinner party, while a night out on the town (or on the red carpet) demands one of his snowy white satin columns—topped with a suitably funky black motocross jacket.
13 February 2003
Some designers will tell you what their inspiration is; Ralph Lauren actually takes you there. To stage his spring show, Lauren pitched an enormous muslin-draped tent, filled with white cushions, huge candles and twinkling crystal chandeliers, in the lush walled gardens of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Entering the building, the audience was met with trays of champagne, while the smell of tuberose and the strains of Erik Satie wafted through the evening air.If that wasn’t enough to induce a romantic swoon, the clothes would have done the trick. Lauren loves the womanly silhouette of the fin-de-si¿cle, with its nipped waist and curving hips. For spring he chose to highlight that silhouette with regal fabrics like damask, jacquard and silk moir¿, made into curvy jackets, bustiers and vests, and shown with creamy linen or silk trousers or light, pretty skirts. There were great leather pieces, gilded or printed with a wallpaper floral, and beautiful, skin-baring silk chiffon dresses. While Lauren makes no secret of his love for the past, he’s also resolutely modern: For evening, he showed a beaded top with a floor-length bustle skirt made from very distressed blue denim.
20 September 2002
After his all-white Spring show, Ralph Lauren turned in a serious, elegant Fall collection that was almost entirely black. The high-ceilinged library of his Madison Avenue headquarters formed an appropriately scholarly backdrop for a show that embraced historical references—best seen in a lovely fitted, puff-sleeve Victorian top that stopped just above the waistline for a sexy glimpse of skin.The designer kept silhouettes clean and close to the body, lending texture to his outfits by juxtaposing humble and high-scale, rough and supple: cotton cargo pants worn with a soft ruffled chiffon shirt and a supple velvet jacket, for example, or a cropped embroidered shearling jacket over a clinging velvet gown.Jackets are making a concerted comeback, and Lauren offered a baker's dozen, each with its own attitude. Downtown hipsters will pick the cropped, fitted styles, or put the reworked chalk-stripe morning coat with a pair of jeans; uptown types will love the ladylike styles that hug the waist and flare slightly over the hips.The biggest news was Lauren's new strength in eveningwear, which ranged from stay-at-home elegance—a beaded cashmere sweater and wool flannel pants—to the all-out glamour of embroidered silk gowns. Being in a black mood never looked so good.
13 February 2002
Ralph Lauren capitalized on fashion's current infatuation with Americana, mixing and matching romantic home-on-the-range elements with more rugged, vintage-inspired pieces.Playing with white, sand and ivory, Lauren went for small, fitted jackets and low-rise, boot-cut trousers; flirty ruffles softened up blouses and long, full skirts. Shawls and ponchos surfaced in various forms: dramatically fringed, tied around the waist and embroidered with an assortment of flowers. Lauren did not, however, neglect his customers' need for everyday urban simplicity—his essential pantsuit came in beige wool gabardine with handpicked detailing. An ivory silk charmeuse pant and jacket ensemble provided a relaxed spin on the tuxedo.Highlights of the collection included a beaded, scalloped camisole paired with natural deerskin jeans, and the combination of an embroidered tulle skirt, white linen shirt and distressed leather jacket that closed his show.
20 September 2001
Ralph Lauren tapped into fashion's current need for simplicity, referencing equestrian uniforms and making them relevant for modern urban life.Lauren's fine-gauge cashmere turtlenecks, lush cable sweaters, cavalry twill pants, textured crocodile belts and plaid jackets with leather elbow patches will work perfectly for a casual lunch date or a weekend getaway to Greenwich, Conn. Supple espresso leather shirtdresses, fitted chocolate suede pants and generously ruffled shirts also looked practical and smart, as did the short, easygoing georgette cocktail slips lavished with beaded paisleys.For evening, Lauren segued into long, rich velvet skirts and floor-length strapless gowns, but the real show-stoppers were a series of tuxedos that could be worn with an ivory silk shirt, a short string of diamonds, or nothing at all. As Lauren stated in his show program: "It's thoroughbred dressing at its newest and most chic."
13 February 2001
"Spectator at its most modern" is how Ralph Lauren defined Spring 2001. Lauren's collection built upon the polished, well-heeled aesthetic that dominated the New York runways last season, but his new interpretation is graphic and geometric.Black-and-white and brown-and-white served as the leitmotif for mod shift leather dresses, blazers with generous trimmed lapels and pockets and sexy two-tone jeans. The season's essential crepe de chine skirt—pleated, to the knee, and paired with a casual cashmere and silk tank—was a laid-back alternative to a sinful white crocodile minisuit. Chevron skirts, pinstriped jackets and a glen-plaid pantsuit were all worn with the same strings of pearls that were a Fall favorite.The evening looks were also ladylike and controlled—Lauren gave lace camisoles and georgette pants lift with a touch of beading, and closed his presentation with three impressive floor-length striped gowns.
19 September 2000
"There's a new kind of glamour that's polished, sleek and sexy," said Ralph Lauren about his collection of simple, elegant American classics. Suits played a key role for Lauren this season—black, fitted jackets and sharply detailed trousers and skirts were worn with casual cashmere crewnecks and ivory silk blouses. Fair Isle sweaters accompanied comfortable Donegal tweeds and steely leather pants. Striking crocodile car coats and broadtail trousers added a shot of opulence to the presentation, as did the evening dresses: There were body-conscious satin and jersey gowns, as well as Persian-motif embroidered gowns that are sure to cause a stir at any event.
8 February 2000
"Jackie O. meets Brigitte Bardot" would be a fitting description for Ralph Lauren's latest collection, which featured numerous styles stitched up in gingham and polka dots. "This is for a woman who understands how sexy simplicity can be," explained the ever-discerning designer. His palette was heavy on black, white and red, which showed up in taffeta pants and tops, gabardine jackets and skimpy shorts. There were also georgette floral skirts and camisoles, and sensational leather jeans. Overall, Lauren's strong collection worked beautifully by defying conventional rules.
14 September 1999