FireBrand Masterclass: Ralph Lauren
“Ralph Lauren sells much more than fashion. He sells the life you’d like to lead. To own a creation of Ralph Lauren’s is to savour a taste of the American dream. He has elevated what Americans see as possible for ourselves by offering a snapshot of a storybook lifestyle that somehow feels attainable.” - Oprah Winfrey
Ralph Lauren’s brand, and everything associated with it – the advertising, the stores – emerged in the 1970s and 80s, but it feels as classic as a leather club chair.
This is the story of how a second-generation immigrant tie salesman from the Bronx became a multibillionaire fashion designer is the embodiment of the American Dream.
What has been the secret sauce behind Ralph Lauren’s brand’s success? What qualities has Lauren exhibited that have made him last this long and deliver such a strong brand influence for decades?
Artistry : His marketing genius is that his brand conjures romantic, nostalgic visions of prairie women and rugged wranglers, and clean, Ivy League privilege. It’s giving people an idealised version of their perfect world - Lauren’s Americana sweeps from the wild west to the English-influenced country club, from cowboy boots to preppy shirts.
Evocation: He is able to see beyond mere products and design a lifestyle - one that has permeated not just clothes, but entire idealised ways of living. He weaves memories, myths and
Panache - Ralph Lauren is the quintessential virtuoso with his own personal style and an eye for quality. He always had a fascination with clothes and their ability to transform people. He emulated the preppy look of New York’s rich kids and would later riffle through thrift shops for authentically distressed denim, cowboy boots and leather jackets. He was obsessed with the glamour of Hollywood stars such as Cary Grant, Steve McQueen, Fred Astaire and Katharine Hepburn.
4. Recreating Magic - More than anyone, Lauren is a wizard whose managed to sell fantasy. His is a world of antique hunting rifles, glossy-flanked horses, wood-panelled rooms and ludicrously good-looking people. “The world of Ralph Lauren (is) a version of pastoral,” writes Jonathan Raban in his travelogue of America. In Lauren’s world there are no peasants, faulty plumbing, bad teeth or damp mansions. Raban’s theory was that Lauren had fallen for a world of Englishness from film and television – Brideshead Revisited particularly – which seems true,, he said watching Downton Abbey was “one of my great pleasures”. “With besotted unrealism,” writes Raban, “Lauren idolised the countryside, the past and a class system that America had never experienced at first hand.”
5. Weaving Dreams - He could be described as a highly successful fantasist who turns his dreams into reality. If he pictures himself as a cowboy, all he has to do is learn to ride on a Colorado ranch. He wants the perfect family life? Advertising campaigns have immortalised his photogenic family, and his marriage to wife, Ricky, has lasted more than 50 years surviving reports of an affair with a longterm Ralph Lauren model in the 90s. Lord of the manor? He was once thinking about buying a stately home in England, but instead moved to a 250-acre estate an hour north of Manhattan and is said to have blasted part of the landscape away with dynamite until it resembled the gentle hills of the English countryside.
Lauren’s son, David, a vice-president of the company, has said the company is “not about fabric, it’s about dreams” – and his father’s unique design process seems to reflect his idea that your clothes should tell a story. Lauren, who never formally trained and does not sit down to sketch a collection.
6. Resolution - Michael Gross, the New York-based writer who has interviewed Lauren several times and wrote a biography of him, says the thing he found most interesting about the diminutive, softly spoken designer is his willpower. “He is like a Steve Jobs character,” says Gross. “He can literally shape reality to his own will. Ralph has the ability to create worlds and make people believe in them.”
7. Trailblazing - Lauren gave men permission to wear jeans with dinner jackets. He was one of the first big designers to expand his brand into homewares and the immersive experience of his shops – notably Rhinelander, his store in a Madison Avenue mansion – is something that revolutionised retail.
8. Grace - the fashion writer, historian and Lauren biographer Colin McDowell spent a lot of time with Lauren when writing his book and says: “He was lovely, always charming. There are some nasty people in the fashion world, particularly designers who think they’re gods. He never, ever, thinks he’s a god – he’s a working man.’ His wisdom and insight, and his ability to look beyond the now, and anticipate the tastes, trends and longings of consumers is legendary.
The fashion world has not always “got” Lauren, sometimes dismissing him as derivative and a product-seller.
“His importance is immense in America and around the world as well,” says McDowell. Although his prices have always been high (his Polo shirts, for instance, cost £70) and beyond the reach of most, his brand is aspirational but not intimidating. With his approach to retail, says McDowell, “he made people who were poor and not necessarily socially secure feel they could walk in there and have a look at things and be part of the miracle, because it was a miracle. He changed American attitudes – there are those who say he made Americans almost as snobby as the British or Europeans.” McDowell says he does not know if he agrees, “but certainly he has been an immense force”.
9. Killer Business Instinct - The Ralph Lauren brand has always enjoyed success due to a wider held consumer perception of its luxury status - found in its classic designs, high quality and premium image. Using this foundation and luxury credentials, the brand spread wings into other fashion segments - from children to casual apparel, women’s clothes, custom-made tailoring for men’s tuxedos, suits, and sportswear.
The Ralph Lauren brand architecture is constantly refreshed and refined to maximise its brand equity. Each sub brand is differentiated by a different line of apparel with specific targeting towards different marketing and consumer segments. The brand also does not hesitate to kill sub-brands that do not perform well such as Ralph Lauren Black Label, Ralph Lauren Blue Label and Ralph Lauren Rugby.
Leveraging its strong brand equity in the fashion apparel market, Ralph Lauren has also extended the brand to watches and fine jewellery, categories that are natural extensions of fashion and luxury.
The result is a solid performing business and lifestyle brand that has endured the test of time and entrenched itself into hearts, minds and psyches across the globe.
A master firebrand, if we ever saw one!
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/oct/02/its-not-about-fabric-its-about-dreams-how-ralph-lauren-created-an-empire
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