Ralph Lauren – 50 years

Who on earth, that is a bit interested in fashion, has not heard of Ralph Lauren?

Some may not know him but most know his greatest creation… The Ralph Lauren polo poney logo…

Ultimate object of desire… I remember when I was a teen and all I wanted was to wear the Ralph Lauren shirts and polo shirts… every kid in the block was proud of the poney… mine was a pink poney…. how clichè…

Ralph Lauren is way bigger than its polo collection… It is the greatest AMERICAN fashion designer of all…

Believe it or not, the source of his inspiration was the basic American culture… the countryside… He mastered the combination of leather, fringes, boots and wished the Americans to look to the inside rather than to the outside….

It is undisputable that the world has always looked to Europe for fashion inspiration… the biggest fashion houses are in France and Italy… Ralph Lauren felt different… he felt the American culture and pride was misrepresented so when creating his first collections, he looked into the rural America for source of inspiration. 50 years later, the source remains the same…

Ralph Lauren is a man of humble origins. Born in New York, he started his business quite modestly… in a small corner inside the Empire State Building… designing ties…

Up to that moment, no American designer had dared to “break the rules”… and that was the gap Ralph Lauren filled… His first collection, although small and modest, was fully bought and sold exclusively by Bloomingdale’s…. There was the beginning of an empire…

No other people in the world demonstrate love and pride to its flag as the Americans… The American flag is everywhere… but until Ralph Lauren no one had used it in fashion, in clothing…

Then, there is before and after Ralph Lauren… the American flag became popular… tangible and yes, more than ever a symbol of pride… a demonstration of how America can be great…

The story does not stop there… Ralph Lauren continued to push changes forward… in a time when nobody discussed gender or race equality… Ralph Lauren’s catwalks was populated with models of different races and ethnical sources…

As a person, he is said to be discret and rather a man of few words, who managed to build an empire but also a solid family… and when one would think that he had it all… he engaged in philanthropie by directly “dirtying his hands”… Ralph Lauren center for cancer and prevention was created… to help with research but also to help with poor families of Harlem… a poor neighbourhood of his home town…

I could write hours and hours about him… but his legacy speaks for himself…

Congrats, Mr RL

XX Valentina