Ralph Lauren Fashion News

Ralph Lauren - he opened with a little black dress, but he soon moved into taupe-y tweed suiting, soft pastel knits, and rich velvet dresses, finishing up with antique ivories and golds



along the way he showcased his great-looking outerwear and subtly glamorous evening options, while touching on such treasured motifs as haberdashery, the equestrian world, and a spot of Anglophilia in the form of Fair Isle knits.


For the evening looks that closed the show, he stowed the outerwear, sending out one shimmery dress after another in ivory satin, pale pink charmeuse, or vintage gold lamé. The highlight of the bunch was a delicate frock with a silvery bodice and gauzy pink skirts to the knee, but they all fairly glowed.





Source: http://www.style.com/

New York – If any collection summed up the mood in the latest New York Fashion Week it was that of Ralph Lauren, whose patchwork yet patrician ideas for fall 2009 were all about high society entertaining.

Underneath a series of glittering crystal chandeliers, Lauren sent out splendid patchwork jackets and vests in mixes of windowpane check and Donegal tweed. But he varied their partnership, showing them with anything from tan cavalry twill pants to honey charmeuse silk paisley gowns.

Established menswear designers are going back to their roots this season, and no one knows his brand heritage better than Ralph Lauren The diversity of his men's collections, presented this week, allows for emphasis on tradition and simultaneous courting of new customers with more modern fare.

Creatively, the company remains focused on its sub-brand culture even as Polo—just like every other fashion and luxury brand—battles the challenges of the recession. The difficulties were crystallized Wednesday when Polo reported a decline in quarterly income and cut its full-year profit outlook.

Yet Ralph Lauren's vision has always remained consistent. And for fall, that means:

Purple Label, which began with made-to-measure tailoring, now represents the most traditional luxury that Ralph Lauren has to offer, whether in tailored clothing or sportswear. It is deliberately worldly, to contest the perception that Ralph Lauren merely stands for prep or Americana.


"Purple Label is classically the most sophisticated. It has an international quality. This could be Italian, it could be French," said Lauren

English influence comes through dandyish, gray or brown three-piece suits, complemented by shirts of fuchsia, violet or cornflower stripes, some horizontal. Scottish Highlands and equestrian life played into Purple Label sportswear.

"These are things you think you see in a lot of places because they're timeless and classy, but you really don’t," the designer noted.

The modern sleekness of Black Label, on the other hand, alludes to spy planes and Italian race cars. The tailored component is minimal and slim, and styled in monochromatic charcoal ensembles.

"Black Label is contemporary, somewhat technical. This is really saying what sportswear is. We took things from skiwear, various active things," said Lauren, gesturing to fitted and padded black leather racing jackets with bright pops of primary color.

"I love the ability to go from Purple Label, which has heritage, to Black Label, which feels like another brand," said Lauren.

The Polo label introduced two new suit silhouettes. One has a wide-notch lapel paired with trim flat-front trousers. The other has rolled shoulders. Here again are three-piece suits with striped dress shirts and wide club ties. "The three-piece suit feels modern to a young guy," said Lauren.


Polo sportswear was displayed in vignettes, including a tweedy hunting party and a '30s football rivalry.

And hidden behind a curtain, but meticulously arranged, was a display of RRL, the purely vintage-inspired line that is not wholesaled. Lauren said RRL enjoyed a serious following in Japan, where there is a resale market among collectors. Special-edition RRL jeans sell for $1,350 only in Ralph Lauren's Omotesando store in Tokyo. "It's a cult thing," said Lauren.


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Ralph Lauren is joining forces with Swiss luxury goods firm Compagnie Financière Richemont to create a jewellery and watch company. The joint venture – Polo Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewellery Co. S.A.R.L. - will be based in Switzerland , where it will design, make and distribute luxury watches and jewellery. Starting prices for watches will be $3,000.

“I believe strongly in this partnership,” Polo chairman Ralph Lauren said of the venture in a statement. “This business is an important part of our global luxury accessories strategy. I am confident that our unique design sensibility and luxury brand-building skills, combined with Richemont's unique experience on a global basis, creates an opportune way for this partnership to succeed.” Lauren and Richemont's executive chairman Johann Rupert have been working on the creation of this company for two and a half years. The venture is new to both; Polo has never crossed over into the jewellery and watch market before and Richemont has never collaborated with a designer, instead owning design companies in their entirety.

The pair chose a joint venture, instead of a license or partnership, because of its authenticity. “I don't have licenses,” Rupert told WWD. “The question with licenses is always who is controlling the design and who has the final say.”

The watches will debut in the spring of next year in Geneva and the first products will hit stores in fall 2008. Neither company wanted to give sales projections. Meanwhile, jewellery sales are likely to begin on a smaller scale than watches. Rupert said that the category would, however, grow faster than watches, taking into account that “generally as a sector, it is growing quicker than watches.”

According to Rupert, this joint venture is a one-off and does not mean that Richemont has changed its strategy. It will continue to own luxury brand portfolios, such as Cartier, Piaget, IWC, Jaeger-le-Coultre and Baume & Mercier. In terms of the strategy for the new company, it will be positioned as a global brand with considerable growth potential in the US.

Source: http://www.fashionunited.co.uk/news/polo.htm