How Ralph Lauren’s Son David Is Keeping The Luxury Fashion Brand Strong

Ten floors above Madison Avenue and one block from Central Park, the corporate headquarters of Ralph Lauren are, as one might expect, a paean to all things preppy, a bricks-and-mortar temple to the brand’s glossy, elegant image. In the wood-panelled lobby, where long-limbed, swishy-haired members of staff trot to and fro, there hangs a gargantuan portrait of Ralph himself, the firm’s 76-year-old founder, wearing aviators, behind the wheel of a vintage motor. This is not fashion’s cutting edge but rather its country house, selling an idealized, romanticized Americana, of loafers, linen and lobster rolls, patriotism, the Kennedys and summers on Cape Cod. It’s been a busy week on both sides of the Atlantic for the brand, which turns 50 next year. On Wednesday night, for its traffic-stopping New York Fashion Week show, models took to an outdoor, glass-enclosed runway, shutting down Madison Avenue. Immediately afterwards, shoppers could own the entire collection — Ralph Lauren is the first firm of its size to let buyers snap up their wares before the models have wiped off their make-up backstage. Then, yesterday, the brand opened its first stand-alone Polo Ralph Lauren store in Europe, a three-floor flagship emporium on London’s Regent Street. Read more at Evening Standard.