THE JOURNAL
Whatever image springs to mind when you think about classic New York style, chances are that Mr Ralph Lauren has something to do with it. “I have always been inspired by New York City,” says the designer. “It’s a place of beautiful contradictions, of timelessness, magic, luxury and aspiration. There is no other city like it in the world.”
Indeed, it was in a tiny showroom in the Empire State Building where Lauren first started out in 1967, launching his menswear under the Polo Ralph Lauren name a year later. A thriving centre of commerce and culture that helps set the pace in art, fashion and luxury, New York made for the perfect incubator for Lauren’s lofty ambitions.
Building his success from the ground up, Lauren opened his very first flagship store on Madison Avenue and 72nd Street in April 1986. In the decades since, he has become one of the main defining forces behind American menswear.
Lauren has also built a reputation for being the rare designer who is not swayed by the whims of fashion trends. Instead, he is known for committing to the bit and has managed to create an enduring sartorial language of quintessential American style that feels as relevant today as it did when he began.
It’s this savvily stoic approach to style and that anything-is-possible New York magic that Polo Ralph Lauren brings to its AW24 collection. Distilling the inimitable spirit of resilience and sophistication that the city is known for into classic American icons, the result is a range of comfortably timeless clothing that serves as a love letter to archetypal New York style, all designed at the brand’s Midtown headquarters.
However, you don’t need to be a dyed-in-the-wool, yellow taxi-hailing New Yorker to appreciate this latest drop from the brand. Case in point: the herringbone tweed sport coat. At first glance, it might evoke the charm of an English hunting jacket, but the more relaxed cut and softer shoulders are unmistakably American. A trusty staple that can be dressed up with tailored trousers or worn more casually with denim jeans or a preppy pair of beige cotton-twill chinos, it has roomy pockets to carry plenty of stuff and an extended throat tab that’s perfect for when you need to wrap up warm.
Next up are the crisp Oxford shirts. Coming in a palette of plaids, stripes or classic blue and pink, Polo’s shirts are tailored with wider sleeves and dropped shoulders, which lend them a subtle sportiness. With a beloved Polo icon that will pair well with a collegiate-style repp stripe tie, it can just as well be worn layered over a simple T-shirt, or – if you want to amp the preppiness – under one of the label’s knitted vests or cable knit sweaters. Part of the brand’s offering since 1973, the soft cable knits are crafted from Italian cashmere and come in a tasteful kaleidoscope of shades that you can switch up depending on mood and occasion.
Overall, this is a collection of flattering, tactile menswear classics that will look as good today as they did half a century ago.With close attention to detail and an uncompromising commitment to the classics, Polo proves it once again: While New York may shape the world’s style, it’s Ralph Lauren who shapes New York.