Classic, to me, is something that’s timeless, enduring. The things that never go out of style. Polo, the kinds of clothes I design are the kinds of things I believe in, the kinds of things that last forever. I love things that stay.
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Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren (born Ralph Lifshitz; October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and business executive, best known for the Ralph Lauren Corporation, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He has also become well known for his collection of rare automobiles, some of which have been displayed in museum exhibits. Lauren stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of the company in September 2015 but remains the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer. As of October 2017, Forbes estimates his wealth at $5.8 billion, which makes Ralph Lauren the 91st richest person in the world. 2Early life Ralph Lauren was born in The Bronx, New York City, to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants, Frieda (Cutler) and Frank Lifshitz, an artist and house painter, from Pinsk, Belarus. He is the youngest of four siblings--two brothers and one sister. Lauren attended day school followed by MTA (now known as the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy), before eventually graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1957. He went to Baruch College, at the City University of New York (CUNY) where he studied business, although he dropped out after two years. 2Career 3Early career From 1962 to 1964 he served in the United States Army and left to work briefly for Brooks Brothers as a sales assistant before becoming a salesman for a tie company. The Ralph Lauren Corporation started in 1967 with men's tie
I like romance, I like glamour and I like realism. I think that’s a great combination.
Style is very personal. It has nothing to do with fashion. Fashion is over quickly. Style is forever.
To design without fashion in mind, to design something legendary that has a sense of timelessness, a foreverness that still excites us, is what I aspire to.
The excitement for me of being in this business is not following, it’s leading and having an inspiration. I’ve given all my feelings out in terms of my clothes. I feel like I write through my clothes.
I try to design into a world that is constantly moving, and moving me.
My ideas come from life; they come from work; they come from everyday living.
My dreams are my work. I design out of the things that I love.
I try to project a constant sensibility about life. To me, the clothing is not—it’s not just clothes. It’s how you live and what your dreams are... I’m always designing clothes for those dreams.
I started with the origins of tradition, but I was not bound by it.
I don’t want to be this year’s fashion. I want to be forever. The kinds of clothes I design are the kinds of clothes that are timeless. I don’t want to be last year’s look. So in concept of my designing, I’m always very conscious of the timelessness and of not being trendy.
The way I do collections and what inspires me is a story or theme that gets to me... that says I know how to build this. I don’t build a collection from the sleeve or from a specific fabric. I build it out of a dream.
I’ve never wanted to be in fashion. Because if you’re in fashion, you’re going to be out of fashion.
My point of view is I’m designing for the person who buys the clothes, and I’m filling their world, and I’m not making a dress, I’m making a dress for them.
Every time I design clothes, I’m making a movie.
Glamour is an attitude—it’s the expression of a certain kind of confidence. A glamorous woman is always elegant, but she also possesses an air of mystery and excitement. She’s dramatic—almost untouchable.
When I create a collection, I approach it with a cinematic point of view—I am not designing clothes, I’m creating a world.
I am constantly drawing inspiration from everything I see—the places I travel, the people I know and the movies I see.
I know I have a signature. I know there’s a New England sensibility. I know there’s a cowboy sensibility. I think there’s a sports sensibility. They’re all mixed. But they all come from non-fashion. They all have an origin of being natural, timeless, real—comfortable sensibilities.
I have always been inspired by the dream of America—families in the country, weathered trucks and farmhouses; sailing off the coast of Maine; following dirt roads in an old wood-paneled station wagon; a convertible filled with young college kids sporting crew cuts and sweatshirts and frayed…