POLO RALPH LAUREN AND THE CULTURE CLUB SHOW

Leave it to Polo Ralph Lauren to bring together the menswear industry last Thursday night at his Madison Avenue flagship men’s store, celebrating the launch of the fall 2023 Polo Originals Collection, which this season is inspired by the early days of Grand Prix history and specifically the Goodwood Motor Circuit on England’s South Coast.

The evening started with a live-audience podcast recording of The Culture Club Show, a live talk show/interview panel, where the audience is a vital player and is hosted by four menswear tastemakers, Jeff Carvalho, co-founder of Highsnobiety, Ruba Abu-Nimah, Creative Director and Consultant, Jian Deleon, Nordstrom, Men’s Fashion & Editorial Director and Ben Dietz, Chief Strategy Officer of NTWRK. This episode’s guests were Michael Williams, Menswear OG and founder of A Continuous Lean, Scarr Pimentel, Owner of Scarr’s Pizza,  and Lord Charlie March of Goodwood.

For the podcast, which covers the intersections of fashion, art, music, creators, and Web3, the group discussed the crossover between the new originals collection and the illustrious history of British motorsports, vintage car collecting, and how all these elements converged at Ralph Lauren’s special takeover at this year’s Goodwood Revival festival.

Following the recording, the Ralph Lauren Men’s Mansion was turned into a party venue, and the PRL team certainly knows how to put together a party, rearrange the fixtures for mingling, turn the fragrance bar into a dedicated Old Fashioned Bar, and install a cool DJ, like Amrit Tietz, behind the sweater counter. Then all you have to do is welcome a mix of the best menswear movers and shakers, editors, and influencers, all in their favorite PRL fits.

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Guests included MR favorite, Zachary Weiss, Guerre, Kate Bartlett, Luca Mornet, Simon Goldman, Drew Joiner, Wesley Breed, comedian Kareem Rahma, Esquire’s Alfonso Fernandez Navas, WSJ magazine’s Rashad Minnick John Ortved, artist Daniel Arsham, and many others.

To keep it current, because we all know PRL is invested in the Metaverse, there was a special digital art display by Swiss artist, Fabian Oefner, and at the end of the night, guests took home an exclusive, digital-collectible of the Bentley Blower, from Mr. Lauren’s personal collection of vintage automobiles. PRL knows how to do it correctly on all levels.

All photos: Ethan Ben Rosser/BFA. Top image: L to R, Michael Williams, Chiraz El Azizi, Charlie March.