“Ralph Lauren is back” seemed to be on everyone’s lips this New York Fashion Week—but did he ever really leave? The veteran designer, now 83, rejoined the show calendar after four years of absence in typical RL fashion: by transforming one of the city’s landmarks into an over-the-top luxurious and undeniably pleasant respite from the outside world, despite the traffic it took to get there.
This time around, the venue of choice was the Brooklyn Navy Yard, previously a shipbuilding hub which now functions as a collection of industrial warehouses, one of which was made to replicate Lauren’s own sprawling Colorado property, the Double RL Ranch, located at the base of the San Juan Mountains.
The stars came out to take it all in, comfortably seated on plush Ralph Lauren sofas. Gabrielle Union schmoozed with a very dapper-looking James Marsden, White Lotus stars Lukas Gage, Meghann Fahy, and Leo Vincent Woodall reunited outside the confines of a resort, South Korean singer and actress Krystal Jung posed with Stephy Qi, and Diane Keaton clapped when she saw an all-denim look hit the runway.
Which brings me to the clothes. Denim was adorned with floral patterns and paired with lace bustier tops, crisp suiting and ties were tempered with skinny jeans, and splashes of metallic gold appeared on dresses, blazers, and even a polo shirt, which steered the collection firmly into evening territory.
After the show, guests filed into an ornately decorated dining room, where they sat for an intimate seated dinner featuring a bespoke menu of classic Polo Bar dishes: grilled lobster salad, filet mignon sourced from Lauren’s farm, branzino, and, to finish it all off, a Ralph’s brownie. As the night came to an unfortunate close, immersed in my decadent dessert and oblivious to my surroundings, I found myself among the few in the room that weren’t part of the actual Lauren family. But for a brief moment, it felt like I was.
BY CLAIRE STERN
Photo: Getty