Collection is unabashedly grand while reflecting an awareness of fashion as it looks in the real world right now
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alph Lauren is the US’s poet laureate of style. His brand came of age in a gilded era of American charm, when Bill Clinton was president, the economy was booming and the twin towers glittered on the Manhattan skyline. His clothes speak to an America of sportsmanship and vigour, where everyone has a firm handshake and perfect teeth.
The US could use some poetry right now, and at 86, Lauren is still the man. To open New York fashion week, he transformed a grand marble palazzo in the city’s financial district – a showpiece of the young city’s financial muscle when it opened in 1894 – in the style of his own country estate upstate.
The frigid streets outside, banked with greying icebergs of snow, were banished in a cosy scene of overlapping antique rugs and generous urns of winter greenery. In keeping with the film-set vibe, a significant proportion of the audience were red-carpet famous. Lana Del Rey showed off her new Ralph Lauren cowboy boots to her fellows on the front row. There was a Devil Wears Prada moment when Anne Hathaway, soon to reprise her role as underling to a legendary magazine editrix, posed with Vogue’s Anna Wintour.
