Today my travels brought me to the Ralph Lauren Store in pursuit of the jacket on the model above. The photo was taken from the Spring 2009 Fashion Show, but unfortunately the fabric is not in stock yet. I really love this formal and yet casual look, and I intend to sport it often at the many formal outdoor events I will be attending this spring and summer. In addition, I plan to have a tuxedo made in midnight navy which appears blacker than black in the evening light. The navy tuxedo trousers will pair nicely with my new cream dinner jacket cut exactly like the one in the photo. The shawl collar with the double breasted cut is beautiful, and I also plan to purchase the opera pumps with a matte finish worn by the model (not the exact pair he is wearing of course). I personally think the matte finish looks classier than the glossy patent leather, and I actually do not own any patent leather shoes. I have always worn velvet slippers to past formal engagements. However, I did not leave empty handed as I placed an order for two made-to-measure suits, and I purchased three shirts and two pair of wool trousers. One pair was a dark brown, and the other was a mixture of browns in glen plaid. The made-to-measure suits were selected in winter fabrics, with the first in a large black and white herringbone pattern with donegal flecks. I am having it cut in a 6 and 1 double breasted jacket and forward pleat pants with a two inch cuff. The other suit is a single-breasted olive corduroy suit with flat front trousers and two inch cuffs.
And finally, I will close with a synopsis about Ralp Lauren. Before the moderation began, many seem to post hate comments about Ralph Lauren's clothing. These comments can also be found on many other "trad" sites, and I don't understand. Sure, some of Ralph's items are made in China, but just as many are made in Italy and Europe. These Ralph haters seem to grasp Brooks Brothers and J Press as the only brands that are suitable for "trads", but I hate to tell you that their items are not made in America either. Heck, J Press is owned by the Japanese, and yes, I know they celebrate the Ivy League Style, but hey! Regardless, I am thankful for Polo, and without him we would have lost many of the Ivy League classics from a time long before my birth. Even my beloved Brooks Brothers doesn't carry some items that can only be found at Ralph Lauren. His suits are very high quality, and I will continue to make many purchases from Mr. Lauren's empire without hesitation. Will I ever graduate to Savile Row standards.....maybe....but for now I am content with Ralph and Brooks.
10 comments:
My aversion to Ralph Lauren does not have to do with some items being made in China. (Yes, many Brooks items are made in Malaysia. Yes, J. Press is Japanese-owned. But a blazer I bought there recently was made in Canada. And I believe most of their suits are either made in Canada or the US.) My objection to RL has to do with the branding, and his take on American style. Too many horses for my taste. And the style sometimes seems like a caricature of classic style. Excessive logos, crests, and grosgrain decorative ribbons can ruin perfectly acceptable items. He does make some nice ties though. They are the one RL item I do buy, as they are a great value.
The Ralph Lauren attitude is more an
underlying attitude of people being
turned off by the mass marketing.
No one denies his outstanding quality
If one has a choice would you rather wear the
REAL idea that he is re-interpreting, the
original?
Some prefer not a re-production no matter
how well done of the miltary chino,but to
buy it from the same manufacturer who has
been around as long.
Some would prefer wearing REAL
hand me downs from actual IVY
LEAGUE ALUMNI with all the patches
and as such.
The way to wear Polo ,"under the radar"
is ......just plain wear it. DON'T ADVERTISE.
Mix and Match the hell out of it.
NOW as far as his "overbearing" crests and
other logo insignia,people are REALLY
ASSUMING THE ATTITUDE AND
MOTIVATION of the wearer in their
critique of such things.
Wear the crest and/or other motifs for one standard-do you truly look SO HANDSOME in
it ,that it's obvious you don't need attention
drawn to your looks,you simply wear it
because IT DOES add a little "something more"
to the oufit.
People I can honestly tell you ,the well
established of society-DON'T CARE
as long as you look good wearing it.
No one thinks you're hoping to have your crest
MIS-INTERPRETED as a private club badge or
or something similar.
YOU DON'T WEAR ANYTHING TO-PROVE-
ANYTHING -TO -ANYBODY.
If worst comes to worse let them dine on your
knuckle sandwich.How stupid can you be
to know I am THE "REAL THING",
and still think I'd wear with the motivation
of the "wannabe".
Sure,you have your own club crested clothing,
but notice this..........SO SOMEHOW ITS OK
IF I WEAR AN ATTENTION GETTING CREST
AS LONG AS THAT CREST IS A REAL BADGE,
OF SOME KIND..............................
IS NOT THAT ATTITUDE -JUST AS IMMATURE?
Yeah I'm proud of my club.Not going to brag
about it.And I know many a Country Club
Member that HATES their logo and/or
REFUSES to wear any club logo and or crest.
If you're wearing your clothing with
THE WRONG ATTITUDE,
I'M GONNA SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOU.
Doesn't matter if you never wear a crest.
Now ON THE OTHER HAND,
Soooooooooooooo many have flooded,
FLOOD-ED the Ralph Lauren market
wearing everything with the wrong motivation.
Thanks to them any "style" the crest,badge
or insignia could bring to the overall
presentation of the outfit is now stained,
with a siren BLARING,"WANNABE.....
WANNABE......WANNABE!!!!"
Two people-same outfit.
One will get laughed at,
the other,complete respect.
Then Again- be honest with yourself.
Regardless of your level of confidence
No confidence will hide you trying to portray
through your wardrobe you are at a greater
level of income and/or class status than
you really are.
Now Richard take mental note of the interior
of the Ralph Lauren Store......
Any brainstorming ideas coming to mind?
As far as decorating?
And unless you really LOVE the RL white
dinner jacket,there are so many other
makes just as nice if you don't want to wait.
As someone coming out of the 80’s and the Midwest, RL was classified as the American way of living. Now I can not speak for the rest of the country on this issue, but in my neck of the woods, there were not only the clothing retailers who carried his clothing, but furniture stores and designers sprung up everywhere to model what he has done with this style.
However, Richard, I have to agree with the two posts so far to a point. Not because of some club mind you, but because I am just plain tired of wearing RL. The caliber of his clothing isn’t what it use to be for one. I remember having a few ruby’s, polo’s, and sweat shirts in high school that I had all through college. Now, if I were to purchase any of these items, I would have to refresh with new items with in two or three years.
My wife, someone, who had no interest in the brand until she met me, complains about the brand as well. Telling me just the other day, “I thought you said that RL was a good brand, these pants I bought last year are already coming apart.” It’s not as though we do not have clothes in our closet and are wearing the same items over and over. We like you, and I am assuming your wife Richard have more then ample in our closets, to the point I am giving away items weekly.
Since the start of my reading your blog, I have come to find other outlets for this style of attire. When I found your blog I was looking for something more or different then RL. In fact, I was at a point of giving up on this style completely, and thinking of what I was to do next. Early midlife crisis, maybe. But I did know that I was tired of RL. I have been wearing his items since grade school, and it is time for something new.
I too am guilty of complaining about RL slightly in one of my blog post. I think it is because the brand is becoming generic, hence all the complaints. It’s over done, over kill, and becoming down right over stated.
Things were fine when he stuck to just the small pony on the polo shirts, however; and we should have seen this coming, with the induction of the “big pony”, all the different rather large and loud crest, it draws attention to ones self. I guess this is why I never got into the whole crest or badges idea. I have now come to a point of only purchasing his shoes, and some ties, as even some of those have gone off the deep end. I am still looking for that other out let in my new fashion sense, as RL has left me cold with his new ideas.
My wife, though I love her dearly, is not like us when it comes to clothing or the American lifestyle. She is now reverting back to Ed Hardy little by little, talk about gauche, and loud. However, that is who she is and I can not ask her to be anything but that. As a matter of fact, I think I will write a post about Ed Hardy in my blog.
Yes well...
1 I'm dressed head to toe in Ralphy today and nary a horse in site. There's nothing on my shirt, sweater, pants or shoes to identify them as RL products...just high quality products in lovely fabrics, cut to flatter a man of my shape, height and proclivities.
2. Ralph doesn't make American clothes. He makes clothes for Americans who are imagining the way the French dress when they are trying to look English. And very often RL gets the Italians to interpret this look.
3. This Brooks Bros snobbery has got to stop. there is now a BB store in Edinburgh and I have been in it. Quite apart from the appalling standard of service (which was like unto an joke) the clothes are hugely expensive and incredibly Italian/English (I believe their Chairman is an Italian) in cut and styling....not very Yankee at all. V disapponting in fact. Oh, and they'd no idea what a sack suit was...wow.
4. Some of correspondents evidently feel that the crests etc are bogus and of course in one respect they're right because the crest ARE bogus. That said, the one on my boiled wool blazer (a thing of real beauty I assure you) looks very like my clan crest (the Gunn, "Either Peace or War") so when anyone asks thats what I tell them it is. It's just a decoration FFS. Do your readers shy away from all rep stripes in the belief that they might be offending the memory of some dusty regiment long disbanded? The chances are the bolder stripes are all asigned to Brigades and clubs but no-one seems to worry about that. Hypocrisy, innit?
5. I like Ralph and envy his life, wife and collection of cars. I suspect there's an element of this envy in some of your readers comments.
Richard:
Your ardent defense of Mr. Lifshitz is equally as impassioned and ill informed as the majority of this blogs output.
The disgust of the entire Polo family of products is a reaction to its sales and marketing of a lifestyle caricatured into a brand. If you will recall, Mr. Lishitz described the aspirational qualities of his wares in the Charlie Rose interview linked on this blog.
Whether the clothing comes from Asia, Oceania, or Europe is immaterial, especially with the near uniform use of third world labor by most clothiers. Mr. Lifshitz has made a fortune in democratizing the clothing styles of former elites through marketing and advertising. This allowed him to access the middle class, a group largely informed by magazines and images as opposed to family tradition. The ubiquity of images you have taken from advertising campaigns and posted on the blog are testament to Mr. Lifshitz's success.
Brooks Brothers and J. Press have not made such a concerted effort to create a narrative images for the mass of persons highly attuned to the media.
It is not at all surprising you enjoy Mr. Lifshitz's aesthetic, very much that of an outsider or aspirational customer. Similarly, you share his lack of originality, appropriating from others, the navy dinner jacket as borrowed from the Duke of Windsor though you obviously did not understand that it only appears darker than black cloth in SYNTHETIC light.
You will always be the victim of marketing and the crass commercialization of a style that you did not learn but purchase. If your determination toward the wasp identity is still undaunted, I suggest you postpone any new additions to your wardrobe and practice composition. It is evident your style will never show any polish though you might improve your diction and tone and redeem the middle class posings of a Lifshitz acolyte.
Writer,
Being someone who appreciates the same general style as you, I've read a good number of your posts and I have some comments to make. Your "outfits" lack individuality and direction. It seems like you either wear exact ensembles advetised by either RL or BB, or just throw things together in a contrived attempt to look "preppy". You have some good items, but alas, they don't all look good together. There really is such a thing as dressing for your age, and seeing as how you are 31, your photos could be that of a 65 year old, since the head is not shown. Also, notice how RL models are fit and athletic? I really understand what you are trying to do, but please, subscribe to GQ. You can achieve the "look" in a more age-appropriate way. As for your bedroom, if you can honestly tell me that you find it inviting and comfortable, all the more power to you. But you can attain the image you want to portray in a much more liveable manner. Gold curtains? Broaden your influences. Look through an L.L. Bean catalog. Sure, you may not like everything, or buy anything, but it is a better way of grounding yourself.
Well...... I guess my statements are still correct. There are a lot of Ralph haters out there, and just as many Richard haters to boot :) Believe it or not, the negative comments are still rolling in, but I am not publishing them of course.
Do I use influences from ads to create outfits.....some. I would argue more points, but to be honest.....I have thrown my back out, and I am going to bed.
Ta Ta
-R
Ralph Lauren has many labels
Polo stuff is good for what it is, kind of, you got to know what you're buying. Black label is fantastic, I assume since purple label is better than black, then it can only be better. I would wait for one of those sale days when purple MTM is nearly the price of black's RTW to find out the quality myself.
If you ask me, Ralph Lauren's suit has more of a Italian cut than anything else... (lapel is I suppose English-ish, but waist, shoulder, coat lengh are all more Italian). It's American and it's not. BB is more American in that sense than Ralph Lauren.
P.S. I have never done MTM program at Ralph Lauren, Richard, do you notice any siginificant difference in terms of quality between black label suit and purple label suit? I am quite happy with black lable's cut and style, can't really see why I would go for purple label unless they offer some good discount (are purple label always fully canvassed?).
Purple Label & Black Label are of similar quality in my opinion, but I do not own any Black Label items. Particularly, I do not like the cut of the Black label trousers which are too slim for my liking.
Well I can say that I frequent the RL here a lot. Sometimes, I find what I want sometimes not. A lot of times I go in just to catch up with my sales consultants, who more than not, have the same interests as I do. It's all about dressing for the day. If it's raining, then its Wellys and a wax jacket. If the sun is shining, then 986's and linen is in order. Anyone can wardrobe completely from RL, but honestly they do not carry everything a man needs to outfit himself properly throughout the year. In order to achieve a true all purpose wardrobe, one must gather from many different sources. This is especially true if you are committed to acquiring the highest quality goods.
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