Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1545388
alph Lauren has had more of an impact on what people wear every day than perhaps any other designer in fashion history. Decades before it became de rigueur on Paris runways, he made sportswear— polo shirts, tennis sweaters, denim—aspirational. Starting with neckties in 1967, the designer steadily expanded into menswear, womenswear, home goods, fragrances, and restaurants on the way to becoming a global brand. But his biggest innovation was turning clothing into a story. Because customers are not just buying a shirt, they are buying into an American dream of Ivy Leaguers, old-money equestrians, Golden Age matinee idols, Western ranchers, and New England cottagecore mummies that one can picture in the mind's eye and dress like. The fashion runway has been key to Lauren's world-building, bringing to cinematic life the archetypes that define his timeless aesthetic. More than 50 years of runway storytelling is showcased in "Ralph Lauren Catwalk" (Yale University Press), a stunning new visual archive with more than one thousand images, starting with his women's debut for Fall 1972 and running up to his Fall 2025 collection. The book was curated and written by revered fashion journalist Bridget Foley, who, incidentally, was a colleague of mine when we were at Women's Wear Daily. She's been in attendance for at least half of Lauren's shows and maintains that the way he uses the runway to guide his storytelling comes down to two words: character creation. "Ralph has never seen his runway as a path for mannequins pushing the latest fashions. He's seen it as a story arc. And that's particularly fascinating, because he doesn't always do a major set," says Foley, explaining that restraint has been part of his magic. It's a lesson Lauren learned as a child growing up in the Bronx in the 1940s going to the cinema, dreaming of other worlds in rugged Hollywood Westerns and refined Golden Age movies. "Ralph has always presented his characters as idealized reality. And that's part of the storytelling." Using the book as a starting point, we took a trip down memory lane, discussing Lauren's impact, our favorite looks, and show anecdotes over the years, from Janelle Monáe's cabaret performance, to Tom Hiddleston reciting poetry to me on the way out of Lauren's spectacular 50th anniversary show and candlelit dinner in Central Park. Booth Moore: The characters on Ralph's runways are idealized, but they also seem like people you know. Bridget Foley: Ralph's inspiration, first and foremost, is his own life, his family. He started out with what he needed—first he had an idea for interesting ties, and then he couldn't find the shirts and suits to go with the tie—that was about his life. He and Ricky [Lauren] married very young, then it was about what does Ricky need for her life, then their kids. So there's that whole reality-based, lifestyle-utilitarian function of what we need to live our best lives. BM: Right, the ultimate aspirational piece for a life well lived could be the perfect ripped jeans. BF: Absolutely, that's one of his major contributions to fashion, that newer is not always better. There is value in age, in wear, in something having been loved and showing signs of that love. He brought that to the runway, and perhaps to our own aesthetic sensibilities. BM: Ralph started out with simple, straightforward presentations. But as the years went by, and certainly as the major European luxury brands started doing so, he embraced larger runway sets and destination Booth Moore sits down with fellow fashion journalist Bridget Foley for a spirited and nostalgic look at Ralph Lauren's enduring appeal on the runway and across American fashion. ARC R