That Ralph Lauren Feeling

What really works in American fashion is consistency. I’m usually pretty bored by Ulla Johnson ’s shows, but on Sunday morning I couldn’t help feeling dazzled by her three-dimensional florals and dizzying zig-zag knits. (Made me think she’d be a great designer for Missoni, but that brand needs help, and she’s too smart to take on some impossible po... See more

"The thing that set Ralph apart was his single-mindedness of purpose. Everybody else moved from place to place, from trend to trend. He wasn't trendy. He stayed with it. It's the single most important thing about him. To this day there are people walking around saying Ralph Lauren isn't that special, I could have done it. It's the weirdest thing. T

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This started with the Seventh Avenue, shop-and-copy approach that has defined the industry, but no longer works with consumers on a global scale. America created the concept of lifestyle brands—it drove the rise of casualization as early as the 1950s, first through denim, then khakis, and now leggings. But the fashion itself has long been predicate... See more

I used to get all huffy about Ralph Lauren shows because they don’t budge one bit forward. Maybe I’ve softened, but I not only don’t care about that any more, I don’t think they should. Lauren is really like Lagerfeld of America, and his ideas hold up. The revolution will come when it’s time.

Loewy had an uncanny sense of how to make things fashionable. He believed that consumers are torn between two opposing forces: neophilia, a curiosity about new things; and neophobia, a fear of anything too new. As a result, they gravitate to products that are bold, but instantly comprehensible. Loewy called his grand theory “Most Advanced Yet Accep... See more

“We should not forget that maybe not everybody only wants a camel cashmere turtleneck,” Olivier Rousteing remarked. Beyond the cyclical nature of fashion, Rousteing’s observation captured a mash-up of trends that has been solidifying into a durable aesthetic.

This is a different kind of aspiration than the one found in closet tours of young influencers and celebrities. Many of those figures seem focused on stockpiling luxury brands and reacting to trends. Part of why Rockmore and Woodall feel so reassuring is that, like all cool older people, they seem comfortably past all that, as though they’ve a... See more