Bronx-born Anglophile; the most influential American fashion designer of the 20th century.
Ralph Lifshitz was born in the Bronx in 1939 to immigrant Belarusian parents. He changed his name to Lauren at 16. By 28, he was selling wide-collared men's neckties out of an office at Beau Brummell.
Founded in 1967 as a tie brand, Polo Ralph Lauren expanded into menswear (1968), womenswear (1972), home goods (1983), and a full lifestyle empire that today generates over $6 billion in annual revenue. The brand has been continuously controlled by Ralph Lauren himself for 58 years.
Founded 1967.
Ralph Lauren was 28, working as a tie salesman at Beau Brummell. He convinced his employer to produce a small line of his own design — wider, more colourful, English-aristocrat-inspired ties under the name Polo. They sold. By 1968 he had his own menswear line. By 1972 he had added womenswear with the famous Polo Pony embroidered on a pique cotton shirt.
Through the 1980s and 1990s Lauren built what is still the most complete American luxury lifestyle brand. Home goods (1983), the launch of Polo Sport (1992), the IPO in 1997 at $1.6 billion. The brand became synonymous with American Anglophile aspiration — the Hampton's, the Ivy League, the British country house all reimagined for an American customer.
Ralph Lauren Corporation generates over $6 billion in annual revenue across the multiple Polo, Ralph Lauren Collection, Purple Label, Double RL, and lifestyle brands. Ralph Lauren himself remains executive chairman and chief creative officer at 85 — the longest-tenured American fashion founder still actively designing.
1 era of creative direction.
Fifty-eight years at the helm of his own label. Lauren's design language — Anglophile, aristocratic, American — defined American luxury sportswear for two generations and built the most complete lifestyle brand in the United States.
8 icons. Each one a scene; each scene a gallery.
Named for Ralph's wife Ricky. Structured top-handle in alligator or calfskin.
Slouchier version of the Ricky.
Calfskin shoulder bag with the Polo ID nameplate.
Top-handle structured bag.
Tote bag named for the Welington address.
Heritage line of leather goods.
Small leather goods in the Polo collection.
Crossbody shoulder bag.