There is a plethora of lessons to be learned here and
perhaps Ralph Lauren deserves a new moniker other than the quintessential
American designer. Let’s start with that he no longer designs classically or
distinctively American clothes; the man designs chic, ageless, fashionable,
timeless urbane and soigne apparel for women. This is a man who first believed
that he could design that “wasp dream” for women as he did for men but he has
gone far above that initial concept.
This capsule collection is Ralph at his best. The clothes
are exquisitely styled and rendered in a neutral palette that elicits the same
reaction as a fireworks display and chock full of the obvious and the
underlying signatures of the brand. This is where one can separate the men from
the boys as if you look at a very very similar palette used in THE ROW, you now
see that a master takes it and makes it exciting and the pikers turn it into
yawn worthy.
Without question, Mr. Lauren is head and shoulders above the
flock of American designers and for that matter he sits alongside the few of
international designers who are now his peers. This collection is about
evolution and not revolution, restraint and excess, timeless over trend and
most of all beautifully executed clothes that exude the very best of what is
possible in the world of fashion.
Suffice it to say, in my opinion, the young guns can’t hold
a candle to this veteran and the so called media has lost sight of why they do
what they do …. Fashion is above all about selling clothes and dreams and as
the very grand Mrs. Vreeland said … “Give them what they didn’t know they
wanted!”
The message received from so
many is either the consumer is an exhibitionist, designers are hyped up talents with no talent designing collections of which they know nothing or some fashion victim waiting for their next
photo op and flash! It is all about perceptions and bottom lines and as far as
I am concerned Ralph Lauren wins on all accounts!!!
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