Ralph Lauren is the first American designer to be represented in Thames & Hudson’s popular Catwalk series. In the new book, veteran fashion journalist Bridget Foley takes the reader through every one of Lauren’s womenswear shows from fall 1972 to fall 2025, many of which she experienced in person.
In her introduction Foley writes that “Lauren is quantifiably the most successful designer-founder in the history of American fashion and one of the most successful in the history of the global industry. His is also the longest-running creative gig in fashion among major-house founders who still control their companies. After the death of Giorgio Armani in 2025, only Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto come close, having established their houses in 1969 and 1977, respectively.” Lauren, Kawakubo, Yamamoto—they’re a powerful trinity, all possessing unshakable visions that continue to shape culture. Lauren’s world building is so effective and alluring that Foley feels he sometimes “hasn’t gotten credit for being the great fashion designer that he is.” Catwalk is proof of Ralph Lauren’s bona fides as a creator.
Ahead of the book’s release, Foley talked about the authenticity and timelessness of Lauren’s work, and shared some of her favorite collections.
It seems to me that we’re in the midst of a “Ralphaissance.” Do you feel that to be the case? And what might be behind that?
I think that is absolutely the case for a couple of reasons. We are all sort of inundated with the word authenticity from sort of a messaging standpoint, but really what does that mean? I think that among consumers there’s a perception that Ralph Lauren is the real thing. I think there is an inherent, even subconscious, element that we want to believe in what we’re connecting with, and we want to believe the person or entity of the company that’s putting it out there believes in it. I think that that is so very, very true of Ralph Lauren. If you know anything about the man, even on a surface level, you connect dots and you see that there seems to be a continuity and a genuine belief system in place. So I think there is authenticity.
Most people do care about our environment, we care about the world and we want to buy intelligently and well, and that means buying things that last. And I think that Ralph Lauren was early on that concept. That was one of the surprises to me. I mean, I’ve always known that Ralph cares about longevity and has never been a one to jump on trends, but he talked about sustainability—not using that word, because that word wasn’t in the lexicon—from day one almost. He said, “I want my clothes to look better next year than this year.” And he didn’t only speak about this year to next year, he wanted things to be passed down through generations. And so I think that there is a real belief that there is genuine value in what this company and this man puts out.
In comparison with other brands in the luxury sphere—this is going to sound like I’m saying that other brands don’t have integrity, I’m not saying that—but what is long running aesthetic integrity? We live in the world of the revolving door creative director, so then therefore, what is the aesthetic integrity of the brand? It ebbs and flows or shakes wildly from designer to designer, so the integrity is more about the brand and the power, and of course the quality, because that’s understood at this level. But with Ralph Lauren, you know there is a consistency of vision that is both cultural and also inherent in the product and that it comes from a very genuine place.
