Ralph Lauren made the unusual decision to put on a men’s show in Milan last month. Unusual because more often than not this century Lauren has shown his menswear in a presentation format, but strong sales and renewed interest across his women’s and men’s collections—he picked up a CFDA womenswear designer of the year award in November—convinced him to get back on the runway. Smart decision. Combining Purple Label and Polo, Lauren’s was the most-viewed men’s show of the season across both Milan and Paris.
This women’s collection exuded some of the rugged elegance that enlivened his menswear offering. The walls of the Jack Shainman Gallery had been hung with hand-painted canvases depicting forest scenes and the floors were laid with overlapping antique rugs. We could’ve been in a grand country estate along the lines of Lauren’s home in Bedford, New York. The models were kitted out as if for a hunting weekend, blending indoor and outdoor clothes, day and night, and the rugged and refined in a manner that Lauren has made his own over the last six decades.
Established in 1967, Ralph Lauren the brand is older than all but a small handful of designers on the New York fashion week calendar, but if this collection hewed to a familiar formula it didn’t fail to feel relevant. The sturdy riding boots did essential work grounding the looks in reality, and so did the canny mixing of casual and formal: a slouchy sweater worn with a floor-sweeping skirt; a leather bustier and wool trousers topped by a chunky toggle cardigan; a tweed blazer adding dash to a strapless bead-embroidered dress. The show notes touted more than 50 custom materials, most with a tactile, touchable hand.
According to those show notes, Lauren was channeling a “renegade spirit and the confidence of the woman who will wear it in her own personal way.” The styling drove that message home. Belts cinched both tailored suits and chainmail evening dresses, and shawls, one as prodigious as a throw blanket, were pinned around the shoulders with vintage brooches. On the other hand, a plunge-front silk velvet evening dress finished with delicate chain straps was so subtly fabulous it required not a lick of jewelry or other accessories. For the right red carpet adventuress it would make a smashing Oscars look.
