Style
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 48 OCTOBER 30, 2019
FashionVERY, CLUB: COURTESY OF RALPH LAUREN CORPORATION (4). A. LAUREN:
COURTESY OF HBO. JENNER, WINTOUR: ANGELA WEISS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES.red carpet and even the politi-
cal stage. For Priyanka Chopra’s
January wedding to Nick Jonas,
the international star donned a
custom Ralph Lauren look embel-
lished with 32,000 pearlescent
sequins, along with a 75-foot tulle
veil. Hillary Clinton stepped out at
several 2016 presidential debates
in Ralph Lauren pantsuits. And
who can forget Gwyneth Paltrow,
channeling Grace Kelly in a
bubblegum pink taffeta Ralph
Lauren gown at the 1999 Oscars,
when she won for her leading role
in Shakespeare in Love?I
nspired by Fred Astaire and a look that he observed in old
Hollywood films but could not find in stores, Ralph Lauren cre-
ated a handful of wide ties in 1967; nearly 52 years later, his name
has become globally synonymous with American style. The 80-year-
old designer’s $6.3 billion empire — with more than nine brands, as
well as restaurants in New York, Chicago, Paris and London — has
shaped a vision of the American dream. “What I do is about living,”
the designer tells THR. “Living the best life you can and enjoying every
moment, from what you wear, to the way you live, to the way you love.”
Now the creative lens has flipped to zoom in on Lauren himself, as a
documentary of his work and life, Susan Lacy’s Very Ralph, premieres
on HBO on Nov. 12 — complete with cameos from Woody Allen, Jessica
Chastain and Ken Burns.
Born in the Bronx as Ralph Lifshitz, the son of immigrants from
Belarus, Lauren became both arbiter and embodiment of fashion and
lifestyle — with an apartment in Manhattan, a ranch in Telluride, a
mansion in Bedford, New York, multiple properties in Montauk and
a beach retreat in Jamaica, where he co-owns Round Hill Hotel and
Villas in Montego Bay. Among his personal treasures is a covetable
collection of more than 50 rare automobiles, including a $40 million
1938 Bugatti 57SC Atlantic, said to be the
world’s most expensive car.
His elite aesthetic infused cinematic
ad campaigns featuring upper-crust New
Yorkers and even cowboys, in sync with
Lauren famously dressing Diane Keaton
in Allen’s Annie Hall and Robert Redford
in Jack Clayton’s The Great Gatsby.
Lauren also made his mark on the‘I Write Through
My Clothes’
Ralph Lauren shares insights about his life and work on the eve of
the HBO documentary Very Ralph: ‘When I started designing, it was
never about just the tie, it was about the hero’ By Ingrid Schmidt21
5While Lauren has stepped
away from his role as CEO of
his eponymous company since
2015, he continues to direct the
design team, serving as chief
creative officer and executive
chairman. On the eve of the docu-
mentary release, the designer
looks both back on his career and
toward the future and shares
his one unfulfilled ambition:
filmmaking.In your own words, when some-
thing is “very Ralph,” what does
that mean?