You know his name and you probably are familiar with his story, but a post about Ralph Lauren is always worth checking out, at least for the iconic photos of the man who took American menswear to another level.
“My life has been a dream.”
His story – from having nothing to becoming a billionaire – is one that Ralph Lauren himself wouldn’t believe if he was to read it somewhere.
He was born Ralph Lipschitz, the youngest son of Jewish immigrant parents living in the Bronx and all he had growing up, really, were movies.
“He truly did project himself into the scenes in which men like Gary Cooper and Cary Grant were playing. He sees the characters that populate his dreams and visions, and that vision — that ability to step into a fantasy world — Ralph brought to the fashion business.” Michael Gross, author of “Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren,” told Bloomberg.
According to this article on Business Insider, Ralph Lauren wrote “millionaire” as one of his life goals, in the 1957 DeWitt Clinton High School yearbook. Now almost fifty years in the business, it appears that he achieved his goal, being worth over $5 billion.
“Style is very personal. It has nothing to do with fashion. Fashion is over quickly. Style is forever.”
And the truth is that Mr Lauren’s style is indeed timeless, as you can see in the photo above. I love the denim shirt and the white henley and of course, the accessories: the belt, the sunglasses in the pocket, the watch.
Also below, an outfit that could be comfortably worn on a sunny end of October like this.
“Fashion is not necessarily about labels. It’s not about brands. It’s about something else that comes from within you”.
“It’s all possible and I’m living proof.” – Ralph Lauren.
Apart from several mansions in the United States, Ralph Lauren also owns one of the world’s most valuable car collections, on which he comments: “Others collect art, but for me owning a rare and magnificently designed car offers a different kind of experience. Like a painting, you can look at it, enjoy its visual aesthetic, but unlike a painting you can get inside of it, drive it, listen to the way it sounds and feels underway. In the end you can enjoy both the beauty of the machine and the journey it takes you on.”
“The clothes that I design and everything I’ve done is about life and how people live and how they want to live and how they dream they’ll live. That’s what I do.”
And I think we can all agree that he succeeded in doing exactly so.
If you want to check out more iconic people that I’ve written about, click here.
[…] most, was the one which has inspired possibly the greatest sartorial anglophile of recent times; Ralph Lauren. I think he has done more than most to champion British sartorial style, and is regularly […]