After two fashion shows at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Huntington Library in Los Angeles, Ralph Lauren selected a catalog presentation and showroom appointment for his new collection. He’s a designer who’s as good at setting the mood as he is tailoring a suit, but we’ll have to wait until next season to experience RL IRL.
As it happens, tailoring is on Lauren’s agenda here, and of course a chalk-striped suit. And while we’ve seen it a lot on the fall runways, no designer has exemplified the look more than Lauren. More often, however, he does something unconventional: pairing a classic-cut tweed jacket with fringe and distressed leather pants, adding accents of silver and green to a classic single-breasted blazer and pleated trousers. Western belts with turquoise detailing, cut puffer natty glen plaid, or recreating his signature chalk stripe and beadwork look in black smoke.
The designer himself has long combined this surprising combination with his own personal style—proof seen in his runway bows over the years. He was in 73 Central Park for his 50 anniversary show, wearing a tuxedo with faded blue jeans and metal toe cowboy boots. Or check out his fall2016 show, where he paired a tweed jacket with a much-loved leather vest in a patina that looked no different than some pieces from the collection .
He loves the bronzer effect so much that it’s definitely more unexpected in his evening looks. Note the fading on the shoulders of a crystal-embellished black velvet jacket and the strapless bodice of a purple flocked denim evening gown. Flowy silk dresses dyed a similar shade of crimson and green, with chunky denim belts, tied the day and night parts of the collection together.
Lauren wore a custom sequin embroidered dress for Malala Yousafzai in a tulle gown with an integrated hood at the Oscars last month. The women’s education activist and Nobel laureate was the best line of the night when she told Jimmy Kimmel, “I only talk about peace.” A stretch-jersey dress here had the same twist detail at the waist, but was more understated. For customers who prefer her metallic sequined look, there is a one-shoulder gown with bronze micropleats and a platinum silk velvet gown with petticoat padding to give it a more structured, couture-inspired look, both All very striking.
