The Tamesis
Ralph Lauren is the first American designer to appear in the popular Thames & Hudson brand catwalk series. In the new book, senior fashion reporter Bridget Foley leads readers to review every women’s wear show held by Lauren from the fall of 1972 to the fall of 2025, many of which she has personally experienced.
Foley writes in her introduction, “Lauren is arguably the most successful designer and founder in the history of American fashion and one of the most successful designers in the history of the global fashion industry. He also has the longest-lasting creative work in fashion among the founders of major brands who still control their companies. After Giorgio Armani’s death in 2025, only Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto have To be close, they established their brand in 1969, respectively in 1977. “Lauren, Rei Kawakubo, Yamamoto – they were a powerful trinity, all with an unshakable vision that would continue to shape culture. Lauren’s world-building was so effective and alluring that Foley felt he sometimes “didn’t get credit for being a great fashion designer.” catwalk A testament to Ralph Lauren’s sincerity as a creator.
Ahead of the book’s release, Foley spoke about the authenticity and timelessness of Lauren’s work and shared some of her favorite series.
It seems to me that we are in the midst of a “Ralphaissance”. Do you think so? What could be behind this?
I think this is the case for several reasons. From a messaging perspective, we’re all inundated with the word “authenticity,” but what does it really mean? I think consumers generally believe that Ralph Lauren is authentic. I think there’s an inherent, even subconscious, element that we want to believe in what we’re connected to, and we want to believe that the person or entity that’s the company that put it out there believes it. I think Ralph Lauren is exactly that. If you knew anything about this person, even just a superficial understanding, you would connect the dots and see that there seemed to be continuity and a genuine belief system. So I think there’s authenticity.
Most of us do care about our environment, we care about the world, and we want to buy quality products wisely, which means buying things that are durable. I think Ralph Lauren came up with this concept very early. This is one of the things that surprised me. I mean, I always knew that Ralph cared about longevity and was never one to follow trends, but he talked about sustainability almost from day one – without using the word because it’s not in the dictionary. “I hope next year’s clothes will look better than this year,” he said. He’s not just talking about this year to next, he wants things to continue from generation to generation. So I think people really believe that there’s real value in what this company and this guy is putting out.
Compared to other brands in the luxury space – and this sounds like I’m saying other brands don’t have integrity, I’m not saying that – but what is long-term aesthetic integrity? We live in a world of revolving door creative directors, so what is a brand’s aesthetic integrity? It ebbs and flows or wavers dramatically from one designer to another, so integrity is more about branding and strength and of course quality as that is understood at this level. But with Ralph Lauren, you know there’s a consistent vision that’s both cultural and inherent to the product, and it comes from a very authentic place.
