The Original Influencer

It began not with his famed Polo shirt, but with a set of neckties.

Even at 16, Ralph Lauren had an entrepreneurial spirit: working in a department store in New York, the young man from the Bronx approached his boss about designing a line of ties. “The world isn’t ready for Ralph Lauren,” his superior retorted. “I never forgot that,” says Lauren. “I took it as a compliment.” Five decades on, his global empire is celebrating its half-century anniversary, and a major milestone is always a pertinent moment to revisit the building blocks of a brand’s success. However, laced into the Ralph Lauren tale, one can recognise the DNA that will carry the company into the digital era. Every major fashion house is navigating the same uncharted terrain of social media, and Ralph Lauren is no different, seeking to organically entice a new legion of followers the way it has appealed to an existing client base. It is no exaggeration to note that the style sensibilities of Generation X have evolved with the brand’s own growth; Ralph Lauren’s lifestyle offerings have provided them a wardrobe of brand apparel for every occasion and environment – be it laid-back, sports focused or more refined.

“At the height of the ‘Casual Friday’ phenomenon when men started dressing down, I decided there should be a new level of luxury in men’s fine tailoring, sportswear and furnishings,” he explains, in our exclusive interview. The Ralph Lauren Polo Shirt was the game changer, created in 1970, and so named because it alluded to an elite lifestyle (also because the sports-mad founder “couldn’t call it basketball”, he has joked). It is a wardrobe staple, “worn by everyone from royalty to rappers. It’s become an icon of classic American style and everyone has their personal story”, says the founder. The company comprises a number of divisions – the high end Purple Label, for one, “created to stand for the best of the best. I chose to appear in the launch advertising campaign in 1994 because I felt it expressed my personal commitment to that kind of quality”, he discloses. The womenswear line was launched in 1972, while he became the first fashion designer to launch a home collection. Each of his lines has been refreshed and revamped over time, and an aspirational ethos underpins every Ralph Lauren project – ‘taking inspiration from New England’s rusticity, the West’s natural beauty, and Hollywood’s glamour’.

A tidy tale of triumph it may be, but Instagrammers and their ilk are independent, expressive trendsetters, who recoil at being labelled a ‘target audience’ – plus a brand’s legacy isn’t a mitigating factor when it comes to accruing precious ‘likes’. Yet despite the six decades that separate an everyouthful Ralph Lauren from the new wave (he was born in 1939), his brand can communicate on 2018 terms. How? Well, it is looking to appeal to a younger audience, but unflappable Ralph Lauren is not looking to sell his company’s soul – and the founder’s authenticity is precisely what fosters brand loyalty. “I have never chased specific customers,” he remarks. “I have always created the things I believed

in and shared them through my design aesthetic, unique retail experiences and special marketing messages.” His confidence in creating a strong narrative for classic clothing with functionality is what makes the brand one of the most reliably relevant. Ralph Lauren is a visionary, and while his success story took slightly longer to unfold than an Instagram story, his style mantras are ubiquitous; the RL ideology remains relevant – and over 10 million followers on social media would seem to agree. “I am always aware of what’s happening. You have to listen, watch, and be thoughtful about what’s going on in the world,” he muses. “On the other hand I do believe in my instincts and will never forfeit

what I believe in for the trends of the moment. It’s not about what’s going on, it’s about where it’s going.” The founder cites the launch of Ralph Lauren Country in the early 1990s as an example of his ethos. “I ran with an image of a romantic white barn. I felt it stood for the spirit of the collection. I have always been about creating a world and inviting all kind of people to share in it.” That lesson translates to today, he explains, because “the influence of ‘streetwear’ seems to be replacing any one designer’s message, particularly to the younger consumer. Well, I have always been inspired by living, and by the way people live and dress uptown and downtown. Living the best life you can is what matters most to me.”

On that front, Ralph Lauren’s own realm is downright desirable, often typified as The American Dream. The rags to riches fable means he is down to earth: his philanthropic commitments know no end, he is a dedicated family man, and though his Colorado-based Ralph Lauren Ranch could invoke some serious Insta-envy, he remains private. Moreover, he always looks so damn cool – and to rub salt in the wound, his effortless taste is seemingly innate. “The sense of ‘what looks good’ evolved for me over time, but I had a sense of style in the way I dressed which was very different from my friends that I grew up with in the Bronx,” he reveals. “Early on I was wearing buttondown shirts with the sleeves rolled up and cuffed jeans with lace-up shoes. I was always drawn to the beauty of utility in both clothes and objects and eventually cars. I liked quality and timeless style – things that had an intrinsic integrity in their design.” Who did he hold admire, fashionwise? “I was inspired by people that I met, like my English professor who wore tweed jackets with elbow patches and smoked a pipe, or Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who I passed on the street when I was in my twenties and was awed by the sophistication of every detail of his look. I’m inspired by movies, and music and places that I travel to, but sometimes those places were just in

my imagination. I developed an eye for what looked good to me and it was always about things that last, things that get better with age – style, not fashion.” Ralph Lauren has successfully translated these idiosyncratic notions to a multinational corporation. “I have great teams of employees all over the world, led by passionate individuals who work in design, retail, marketing, publicity, finance and operations who understand and share my vision to inspire a better life through authenticity and a timeless kind of style,” he praises. And though he stepped down as CEO in 2015, Ralph Lauren works with them “every day, to make sure everything we do – our collections, our stores, our advertising shares our world. To be celebrating our 50 th anniversary with all of them and all of our customers around the world is evidence of our commitment and love for what we do”. When pressed for a sentence to define each 10-year portion of success so far, “It would be the same for each decade,” Ralph answers, without missing a beat: “Stay true to yourself.” It is a simple yet enduring concept that can define 50 more years of style – and it is a belief that will resonate with a new generation of individuals, intent on honing their own personal ‘brand’. After all, consider choice fragments of Ralph Lauren’s interview answers: “I had no idea what a designer was, but

I always knew I had something to say”; “I had a passion inside of me. At an early age I couldn’t have defined what it was and where it would take me”; “Believe in yourself and the world will always be ready for you.” They could easily be the lofty mission statements of a fearlessly fashionable (self-aware) social media emergent. But they are self-assured remarks from an accomplished, inspirational style icon, with multiple awards and five decades of authority. He has been there, done that, got the Polo shirt. Make no mistake, internet: Ralph Lauren is the original influencer.

WORDS: CHRIS UJMA