Hmmm… hold up… Ralph Lauren… on this blog? I don't wear it. I don't buy it. What's going on? In short, when posting about the biggies fashion ball players, I often feel like a child clutching on the skirts of adults; what can I say that someone far more esteemed hasn't said before? That said, an experience felt in-person will always conjure up things that internet browsing can't.
And so, in this converted hôtel particulier built in the mid-1600s, over five floors (23,000 square-foot) filled to the brim with the kind of detailed and incredibly intricate visual merchandising that only a company with gazillions of profit, I snapped away, trying to pick up on all the things that caught my eye that on its own may not immediately denote Ralph Lauren but compositely formed the Ralph Lauren universe.
I'm not going to pretend I knew what I was navigating through, the ins and outs of Ralph Lauren Black, Purple, Blue, Sport etc etc… I just wandered up and down taking it all in… it's funny how the more is more approach is taken to with gusto where the interiors and fittings are concerned where it's not just about products in stark white spaces…
Let's just get the cheesy shot out of the way… yes, it's the Tour Eiffel and no, I'm not ashamed about calling this out as a stunning top floor view…
When I said I snapped, I really snapped… the first thing that struck me about the store was the amount of art, design and historical references were made through framed prints evoking spirits of the heroes and heroines that work as starting points for Ralph…
Like I said, I may not be able to wax lyrical about Ralph Lauren's work without sounding like a dunce but I can't deny a good bit of contexualisation…
Ralph Lauren Collection is interior-identified with a lot of blue and white porcelain washed out denim tones…
I didn't expect to find vintage pieces mingling in the store but there were the odd apt pieces like this heavy lace coat…
I actually found myself being drawn to the Blue Label, where vintage Native American/Navajo designs and motifs lend themselves to the pieces…
I found myself unable to tear away from rose painted tan stitched jeans… they're crying out for a slubby grey sweatshirt to bung on top…
I went into a killer dressing room that was attached to the menswear Black Label but what with the size of the mirror and leather partition, this is probably the co-share dressing room of our distant dreams…
Give me a good cricket knit, some vintage tennis references and I'm a happy bunny…
Probably what I associate with Polo Ralph Lauren the most… one tried-and-tested shape/style in many many colours…
I found the top Ralph Lauren Jeans floor the most crammed and 'themed'… I can't think how much fun it might be to be on the VM team and source the stuff for the displays…
Leather, leather, leather… comprising classicism, cowboys and plenty of croc…
Ok, so swooning over building facades, interiors and spot-on visual merchandising may still not be a convincing. I therefore end with something that David Lauren (son of Ralph) said… that Ralph Lauren can be many things under one umbrella. Next to his suited and booted self stood this lady; Mary Randolph Carter, VP of Ralph Lauren's advertising aka the junking queen who sources all manners of brick-a-brac for inspiration and branding purposes (The Selby, as always reveals a whole lot more…). With her Ralph Lauren comprised outfit and vintage waistcoat, she encapsulated the surprising eclecticism that is held under one roof at Saint Germain. It's Americana and loosely connected strands that traverse through periods and situations; Gatsby, Hamptons, Navajo, Hollywood, Wild West, equestrians, yachting, tennis, American writers and artists abroad… romanticised perhaps but definitely not resting on one note.
I love that you flitter around to places like Paris, that RL store looks amazing!
http://couldihavethat.blogspot.com/
Ming Blowing Collections….Like like it Very Much…
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Viva-Magazine-Your-Premium-Womens-Natural-Health-Magazine/262734921452?ref=ts
ahem.. what’s going on here?? I don’t come here to read about Ralph Lauren, I can see his ads bombard me on every other fashion site I go to…
oh well guess it’s happened, the blogs have blurred like the magazines into one big ad, all pushing the same shit..
ohhhhhhhhh you were in PARIS !! next time we have to see each other 😀
how was the store? and the cafe? i would like to try it but i would like to have your advice first.
wonderful images! so much to discover. wanna go there!
What an amazing store! LOVE the lace ‘coat’!
xx
It sure is quite a romantic store. Probably makes quite a good costume wardrobe for a film set.
wowowowow!! I love the pictures and the crazy pastelness! Her outfit is so cool! The mass amount of belts is nice 🙂
http://skiepies.blogspot.com/
I’m so glad you did this post on Ralph. I have been a closeted Ralph fan for years and this has actually freed me a bit! The styling of the SS10 campaign is genius with the dungarees, blazer, scarf and baker boy hat!
I also want to make a prediction about the classic cable knit jumpers making a huge come back….
http://layersandswathes.com/
it’s such a chic and interesting store
http://thestyleparticle.blogspot.com
Comment3: I don’t think there is anything wrong with writing about Ralph Lauren – just because something is well known, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be talked about. I hate that kind of intellectual censorship, where anything vaguely popular is off limits. It is boring to limit fashion (or music, or anything else) in that way.
I think some of the stuff Ralph Lauren comes out with is great (partic the classic navy stripes, loafers, chinos, blazers and cricket jumpers), but the trick is not to become too much a ‘clone’ by wearing head to toe. But then that is a pretty standard rule for any designer. I really like the classic Americana of the label and think the pieces tend to mix well with other more interesting or eccentric designs.
oops, forgot bloggy link 🙂
http://pennydreadfulvintage.blogspot.com/
Why shouldn’t Susie write about Ralph Lauren? What’s wrong with covering labels outside-the-edgy-box? Still, Susie’s ambiguous stance is a good example of how turning a big brand PR-event into your own story remains a challenge for fashion bloggers (& fashion journalists).
Beautiful building, I want to live there!
Laura Mackness for Weekday and Benefit treats to win on my blog if you’re interested!
Also, any chance of getting that interview back to me? Don’t worry if not!
http://iliketweet.blogspot.com/
x
Playhunter, Claire, Penny: You have all made valid points. I would like to say that I was under no contractual obligation to post about the store launch…. that I did was purely for the fact that I DID find it interesting… I found the store from a VM point of view really quite beautiful…. the sort of aesthetic isn’t my own but that doesn’t mean it takes anything away from it…
I would say that I do like to find an angle that works for me and I’m standing by my post because err… well… I did like the store at the end of the day but I do understand not everyone is going to feel the same way…
That said, when I post about independent designers, opinion can be split too…
If the issue here is whether this post was ‘paid for’…then I’d say like the Chanel, Gucci trips etc where the travel/accom expenses were paid for, I undertook them in order to find an experience that I think would make a good post…
I LOVE this post, thanks Susie! I’m a closet Ralph Lauren fan – I don’t buy or rarely even browse their clothes, probably because of my preconceptions/inverted snobbery, but if I find myself near a store I have to go in – the visual merchandising is INCREDIBLE. No other store comes close, in my opinion. I have to admit, while drooling over fixtures, I have spotted items I have loved, but almost feel embarrassed trying them on!? What is wrong with me?? Too cool for prep school.
that’s a super fair answer I think, obviously it’s boring to read in the post if there was a specific payment in kind like the american blogs now need to do, but it does just feel like these mega buck brands can manage to get in on everything and of course it’s cool that you find it interesting, it’s because they do their vm so well that they become so huge, I just personally wish they’d leave the blogs alone, but that’s just me, I used to love blogs precisely because they ‘seemed’individual, and now it feels as mainstream as all other media, that’s all, still think you do it better than anyone else though..
This is an awesome post – i love ralph lauren, but the fact that Susie talked about ralph lauren? That’s just super awesome 🙂 I love all the pictures, and no, you really shouldn’t be ashamed to call the Eiffel view peeking over roof tops ‘stunning’… roof tops define the romantic paris time of day for me – it’s all those times i’ve watched Moulin Rouge 😀 x
ralph lauren is okay for an american designer…
http://www.twolia.com/blogs/teacups-and-couture/
I went to school on the Upper East Side so throughout the first 10 years of my existence I got about a thousand times more exposure to Ralph Lauren than most other people have in their whole life, so I can’t say I’m a huge fan. But I do love americana and that visual merchandising is indeed super! So I think it’s the snob in me that says I’m not a huge fan – I daresay if I looked around at a store like that I’d most def find more than a few things a I liked. So even though this may be a big-box brand, I still found the post quite insightful as it managed to go beyond “polo shirt”. Thanks Susie! 🙂
Wonderful images, i love all the trinkets and bits & bobs!
http://www.beautifulstreets.blogspot.com
Well I’m not a closet fan, I’m an out and proud fan. LOVE your review – that denim floor… effing beautiful! It’s the VM that does it for me too but also for classics Ralph can’t be beat. (V expensive but hey, that’s what Bicester Village is for.) I have a perfect-cut boys blazer that is top quality and my staple summer jacket – just love it. Can’t wait to visit the shop, esp to see the cafe. PS, the downstairs bit of the Ralph Lauren London flagship has the loveliest moodboard displays – and the poshest public loos in the west end!!
Right, off to look at that lady on The Selby
Fantastic! Especially love those mannequins but then I would! Glad I’ve found your blog, Lucyxx
Such a beautiful store!!!!
Mary Randolf Carter’s outfit is amazing. Those shoes really do say old Hollywood, like Carole Lombard era. And I love the belts display, too.
Nice work, Susie, thanks. You need those pants.