Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren, born in 1939, American fashion designer, founder of the clothing company called Polo. He received a lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1991. Born Ralph Lifshitz in the Bronx, New York, he and his siblings legally changed their surname to Lauren in the mid-1950s. He worked as a salesman in a department store and, after serving in the army, as a buyer for Allied Department Stores. In 1967 Lauren got his first designing job, with Beau Brummell Ties, and was so successful that he left to form his own company. Because it implied wealth and elegance, he named the company Polo.

Lauren was soon designing shirts and then jackets to pair with his ties. In 1970 he produced a major menswear collection. That year Bloomingdale’s opened a special shop to showcase his clothes. The following year Lauren launched a line of women’s clothes; he presented his first full collection in 1972. Like his men’s clothes, the women’s line has an easy elegance that suggests both wealth and a patrician sensibility.

In 1978 Lauren introduced a “frontier” look in a line he called Western Wear, followed by additional fashion lines such as leather goods (1979), perfumes (1979), and luggage (1982). In 1993 the RRL line appeared. It featured casual sportswear including flannel shirts, weathered jeans, T-shirts, and leather jackets. In 1983 he extended the Polo look to the home with a line of sheets, towels, wall coverings, and other home furnishings. By the early 2000s the Polo home line offered resources to create several different fantasy lifestyles. He also sought to expand his empire in Europe, showing his luxurious menswear collection in Milan, Italy, rather than in New York City, in 2002.