Two weeks ago I took a field trip to the Ralph Lauren Madison Avenue flagship, located in the restored Rhinelander Mansion.
I played the part. I wore my older brother’s white Polo, crisp cotton shorts, brown leather belt, brown leather flats, a brown suede shoulder purse, my natural loose curls, and oversized Jackie O. black sunglasses.
Very Ralph. Or so they say.
I stopped at Ralph Coffee beforehand. Iced whole milk latte please. Simple syrup please. That will be $9. Great, thank you.
I took my overpriced Ralph latte to an outdoor table and sat. I changed my shoes (I am a woman who commutes in flats to swap for heels upon arrival), and read about 15 pages of my book before an older gentleman also reading behind me got my attention.
“Excuse me, miss. There must be something wrong here.”
To which I answered:
“Huh?”
“Well, we both appear to be actually reading BOOKS!"
He was kind. I laughed. I liked his observation. I’ll admit, it made me feel smart. Like I belonged in his reading group. So I finished my page and wished him a great day.
And such an instance is the essence, I believe, of Ralph Lauren.
To read outside on Madison Avenue on a sunny day suspended from the rest of the working world and trade your car shoes (mine are subway shoes) for heels while enjoying morning coffee. To interact with a virtual stranger and bond over reading. To share in something that is authentically human yet both uncommon and sometimes even unaccessible.
It was a moment, for me, that had texture. And because the day was beautiful and the coffee strong and the time uniquely mine and the heels suddenly comfortable it felt somewhat of a fantasy. Which also undergirds the spirit of Ralph: one of fantasy, of moments, of textures, and of a uniquely “American” story.
You might be asking: Well what exactly is that story?
And I can’t be the one to answer that for you. So I will let Ralph!
Ralph’s father was a painter. Ralph grew up in the Bronx. He married his dream girl Ricky in 1964. They lived under the L train. Shortly after, Ralph became a tie salesman with 5k to his name. Ralph’s ties had fabrics people had never seen before.
The tie line was named Polo for the esteemed horse riding sport famous in bourgeois European cities. Ralph had never played a game of Polo a day in his life. Then boom, trial and error, Ralph gets his ties into Bloomingdales in 1970. 1972 the Ralph Lauren Polo debuts in 24 colors. And the rest is history.
Ralph’s is a story of success. It is also a uniquely American success story, in that classic “rags to riches” way. Of course, Ralph did acquire the dream. And his business soared. He created staples from the Ivy Leagues to Brooklyn. And he packaged that ideal in a very seductive way.
Because Ralph’s America is just that; an ideal. His aesthetic is one of aspirations. The fantasies he paints are ones we wish to believe. We want to be suited up lawyers too. Successful corporate mothers. Boat owners. Collegiate hunks. Well dressed star athletes. Prep school jocks. We look at the campaigns, the beauty, and think, maybe that can be my America too.
Ralph’s American ideal is of course imbued with whiteness. His early fascinations with America’s historically less than inclusive Ivy League permeate his brand to this day. The polo, the chinos, the boat shoe, the entire aesthetic, is even so closely associated with Ralph Lauren that his very name even became an adjective “Very Ralph”.
So it’s amazing to see our modern day open that up to everyone. I think of Miu Miu seasons pandering to the classic “preppy kid” but getting all kinds of hot people on board. The vision has certainly expanded.
And I don’t count Ralph completely out. I’m thinking here of Tyra’s work with the brand as well as Naomi, and of course model Tyson Beckford’s early Ralph campaigns.
There’s then of course the entire Lo Life crew from Brownsville, Brooklyn who all wore Polo. They would travel to the Rhinelander mansion to get these pieces. And what the Lo Life crew did is make Ralph Lauren the brand to be worshipped religiously, since they wore Polo down to the socks.
And I love this exchange, because the Lo Life crew cemented Ralph into really what it is. In watching the Very Ralph documentary, it was nice to see these guys get their well earned flowers.
Ralph Lauren has stood the test of time. That day, as I combed through the storied Rhinelander mansion, I witnessed the blueprint for a brand that is encapsulating an American heritage. Amidst wicked jack hammer construction, I winded through mahogany staircases in Ralph’s epic den to oggle at cashmere socks, ties galore, and vintage memorabilia.
This store, the apple of Ralph’s eye, is the brand in a nutshell. It is lived in, it is getting better with age. It is so intensely detailed that I can even understand if certain squeaks in the old wood stairs are choreographed.
Walking through those rooms, I fell in love with an old America I did not even recognize. One of quality, of uniform, of celebration. And just for a minute, I was transported into the fantasy of what the brand aspires to. And I believed it.
I will lament that the quality does not match the price tag at all. I was saddened to see tags with “Made in China” on very high end priced cashmere. I am also a woman on a strict hourly wage budget who cannot really afford anything in the Ralph store anyway. Save for some socks (which looked so beautiful, like a dish of candies). Or perhaps a tie, if I find an amazing occasion for it. Or if I just feel like emulating Karen Mulder (how epic are these pictures of her done by icon Sheila Metzner).
Perhaps in all of us exists a bit of Ralph Lauren. Tailored, suited, dressed to impress. Or the other Ralph side. Jocky, laidback, all-American cool. We are all aspiring towards something. For me, it is the dream of one day leaving my day job. Or actually modeling for Ralph Lauren (Ralph team I am with Next models my agents’ names are Becca and Veken).
We all have something of a dream. Ralph knows this. And continues to dress us for it. And in 2024, I see whispers of Ralph everywhere.
In Miu Miu, in Raimundo Langlois, in the demand for Bruce Weber A&F issues now sold out from Bill Hall’s High Valley Books, in the photography of Alyssa Kazew.
So we are still dressing to that American ideal, whatever that might be. We still aspire to more and signal that through our dress. Through the rise of our jeans, or the collar of our polo. The wear of our shoes, and the quaff of our hair.
Recently, I asked my mom what her memories of Ralph Lauren were. She told me that late in the 80s, while still in the editorial world, she was down at Balthazar when Ralph Lauren came in. He had just finished a runway show. The entire restaurant stood up clapping.
He bowed.
The tie maker who aspired to the American ideal, that Polo green fantasy that continues to evade us, slipping through my fingers like sand.
Allegra you won’t believe it but I have a piece dedicated to Ralph Lauren Country in the making! I’m a Very Ralph girl and I absolutely loved reading Ralph’s story in the Allegra way 🤍
love the way you write! it feels so vivid and full of imagination - you're not just stating facts but embedding them into meaning and personal anecdotes that are so deeply personal yet universally experienced.