This year, Ralph Lauren is marking 50 years since his eponymous American brand has been in business.
Entering the brand’s storefront on Boulevard de Saint Germain the other day, I was submerged into the Ralph Lauren visual biography. Throughout the years, Monsieur Lauren created collections that transformed an ideal American lifestyle into fashion: the polo shirt, western suede jackets, lumberjack shirts, cabled cashmere sweaters and equestrian hacking jackets, just to name a few of his iconic pieces.
Everything is part of what I was dreaming for myself,” he remarked in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar. “I responded to the vibrations in the world I loved—black-and white films, the Kennedys, Sinatra, my first trip to Santa Fe—and I expanded them and fed them back to the world.”
Ricky & Ralph Lauren, Double RL Ranch
Robert Redford in 1974’s The Great Gatsby. (Lauren made the costumes); via Esquire
According to Paul Goldberger (architecture critic and friend of Lauren’s): “Everything is as much about setting as the thing itself. Which is of course the whole genius behind the [Madison Avenue] store. You go into that store and you feel good. And so you wanna buy things. Because you’re buying a piece of this life. That was his whole idea—you know, come into my movie, buy a piece of this life. As opposed to just a piece of clothing.” (Esquire)
Ralph Lauren began his illustrious career by selling ties at Bloomingdales as Ralph Lifshitz.
Says David Lauren (executive vice-president, Ralph Lauren, and son): “Ralph Lauren started with a tie. My mom and my grandmother used to help sew the labels into them, and he would take these ties and go door-to- door to department stores, trying to get people to buy them.” (Esquire)
“Nacho Figueras, a well-known Argentine polo player, has appeared in our men’s fragrance and clothing ads for many years, and recently in a World of Polo men’s fragrance campaign. He epitomizes many of the men that have modeled in Ralph Lauren ads for the last four decades—surfers, architects, writers and actors. My father always felt that “real people” brought a character to the clothes they were wearing, and life to his cinematic advertising.” (Nowness)
From Glamour: “Through his various labels … Lauren tapped into various parts of the American experience, from high-end suiting to modestly priced workwear. His designs were worn by First Ladies and kids in Brooklyn alike. And he’s inspired generations of designers—from Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors to Alexander Wang and Jason Wu—to push the envelope while interpreting what American fashion can look like.”
Ralph Lauren Home Ad Campaign
In the words of Greg Lauren, a fashion designer and Ralph’s nephew, “He was growing up in the Bronx, and it was a time when heroes really meant something. Between movies and sports, those heroes drove his inspiration and his passion to create.” (Esquire)
Perhaps Harper’s Bazaar describes the Ralph Lauren aesthetic best: “Fashion is a fickle beast beholden to the zeitgeist, but Lauren dreams in absolutes, in classics, in icons: nautical stripes, peacoats, and sailor’s caps fit for a Jean Sebergian American in Paris; a slinky satin number worthy of Dietrich; wide-legged pinstriped trousers conjuring Keaton’s Annie Hall; a high-necked white blouse with a big leather belt suited to Meryl Streep playing Isak Dinesen on the African plain.”
And in the designer’s own words, “When I design a collection, I have a heroine in mind. She is the star of my movie and expresses what I have to say. I study her character and I create for her and through her.” (@ralphlauren)
Christy Turlington for Ralph Lauren
Clotilde On Safari, 1984, Hawaii, Bruce Weber
Ralph Lauren Ad Campaign
