Ralph Lauren

[Bargepole]

Sideline on Ralph Lauren suits: Doug Hayward is my tailor in London (although he is partially retired now, for reasons of health, the business and the style continue) and once I was in the back of the shop and there were all these little wee suits hanging up, in various stages of construction. "How sweet," I thought, "some chap is getting a collection of suits for his kid."

Not at all. "They're Ralph's," said Hayward. Ralph, it seems, is a very small man; Hayward is his tailor. Eventually I figured out the story. Hayward is a tailoring genius. Lauren is a marketing genius. He gets his suits from Hayward, works out how Hayward does it -- particularly with ultralight cloth; DH is the only man who can make a paperweight wool hang like a full-weight -- and turns out pretty good likenesses. "Don't you take a cut?" I asked; "Don't you charge a fee?"

"No," said Hayward. "Can't be bothered."

The same reason he turned down the James Bond contract. "Can't be bothered. They'd all want one free: crew, and everyone. B*gger that. Let Brioni do it."

What a man. What an artist. Shame he's winding down; but the legacy lives on.

 

[Senator Jack]

Bargepole, I haven't come acroos one of your posts before. Was that name taken from Lucky Jim?

Never mind. now I recollect the name was actually Catchpole.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Hemingway Jones]

.



I saw these in the window of RL's shop in The Pru here in Boston today. Inside were some awesome things: newsboys caps, tweed jackets with belted backs and side vents (for $1,300! -I might add.), high-waisted pants with suspenders, and Faire Isle sweater vests for $190. I was also amazed at how hight the armholes were on the tweed jackets. Perhaps he is learning.

 

[Tomasso]

Hemingway, your signature.

Press

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Press

Very clever, Tomasso, very clever! And thanks!

I just made my signature "clickable" with that wav.

 

[Bargepole]

Bargepole, I haven't come acroos one of your posts before. Was that name taken from Lucky Jim?

Never mind. now I recollect the name was actually Catchpole.

Actually, it was the nom de guerre of a column I used to write in the long-dead Punch magazine. As in "You wouldn't touch it with a..."

Kind regards

His Excellency the Very Rev. Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Sgn.-Lt Sir Florizel Bargepole Md PhD DD KCMG FRCO FRCOG LMIBG (Honoris Causa)

 

[Matt Deckard]

Ralph Currently has some really nice eight piece caps and one piece caps which in the Polo stores.

Nice large crowns. Cashmere and very fluffy wool though the cut is straight out of the 30's

 

[Mr. Rover]

Great- that means that we should see some more proper lids other than those tiny flat caps squished on the trendy kids' heads.

 

[The Wingnut]

What's the going rate on those? And is this in the regular retail stores, or can they be found in the outlets, as well?

 

[cookie]

Ralph Currently has some really nice eight piece caps and one piece caps which in the Polo stores.

Nice large crowns. Cashmere and very fluffy wool though the cut is straight out of the 30's

Mastt do you have a link for that observation?

 

[Matt Deckard]

they are not online though they are in the higher end Polo shops like the one in Beverly Hills Chicago and New York.

I wish they would show up at department stores.

In other news, I have been seeing more hats on people wandering around the malls. More newsboiy caps and fedoras.

Saw the belt back patch pocket Hemingway mentions above and compared to the fit of vintage it's still got much lower armholes. I tried it on when Jack was in town. The material is nice and I wish they would make it into a suit. I never saw any high waisted trousers at the Beverly hills shop.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

.

I was back there today in Boston and the jackets are down to $500. They are tailored to be very tight. Since my recent weight loss, I am a reliable 42L. I tried on a 44L and it was tight, tight, tight. Also, it was short.

Still, great fabrics, great linings, and nice details.

 

[Barry]

I saw a nice looking blue DB blazer on the website. I went into a Ralph Lauren store at Tysons II (the more "upscale" end of the giant 2-complex mall in Virginia) and tried it on. I was not all that impressed. The jacket was loose under the arms and in the body. It sure looked nice on the website though. It's always possible the sales clerk brought me the wrong jacket.

Also, $1300 is a lot of cash for an off the rack blazer. Isn't decent MTM available for that kind of money?

Barry

 

[Mr. Rover]

The armhole probably is especially true for their blue label's various sweaters. They have the baggiest armholes and look so sloppy on my skinny frame.. However, I've tried on a few purple label sweaters and their cut was closer to the body with much higher armholes.

 

[Solid Citizen]

RL Marketing

With RL image is EVERYTHING! So getting the consumer to buy into the image & his products is GOAL #1.

Barry, found out that the DB blazer looked good @ the Polo site, but in person the fit etc. vs $$$ was something else.

RL's design staff seems to like the 40's look updated with a 60's kind of fit super tight pants & jackets. Wish the master would return some thing he was doing in the 1980's. [huh]

SC

 

[cookie]

With RL image is EVERYTHING! So getting the consumer to buy into the image & his products is GOAL #1.

Barry, found out that the DB blazer looked good @ the Polo site, but in person the fit etc. vs $$$ was something else.

RL's design staff seems to like the 40's look updated with a 60's kind of fit super tight pants & jackets. Wish the master would return some thing he was doing in the 1980's. [huh]

SC

I must say I had a look at the RL shop today at the sale items and I really liked the aged tweed short width ties. You would like to make a jacket out of the patterns

 

[Mr. Rover]

With RL image is EVERYTHING! So getting the consumer to buy into the image & his products is GOAL #1.

Barry, found out that the DB blazer looked good @ the Polo site, but in person the fit etc. vs $$$ was something else.

RL's design staff seems to like the 40's look updated with a 60's kind of fit super tight pants & jackets. Wish the master would return some thing he was doing in the 1980's. [huh]

SC

Isn't that sort of like Jack Taylor's look? With the skinny pants but with the older school jackets? I haven't picked up the premiere Classic Style, so I haven't seen pictures of MK's suit.
And isn't there a quote with Ralph Lauren saying "I don't design clothes. I design dreams."

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

Vintage-esque at Polo

FYI, Ralph Lauren seems to have a line of vintage-esque clothes available at the Polo stores, including Polo areas inside Dillard's. Some of the stuff is well, odd, but other things are really quite nice.

The best part are the caps, including a really good reproduction of a 1920s-style tweed flat cap which I purchased. It actually has a full crown, unlike modern "ivy" style flat caps you see. I did a double-take when I first saw it, in fact.

There are also several good shirts, a couple band-collared ones which have provision in the back for a collar stud to wear detachable collars. There are also a couple 1920s-30s style shirts with soft collars with the sort of unique long sloping points you seldom see in modern shirts. The stripe patterns are also very vintage-looking. Also surprising are the number of club-collared shirts, although the one which has holes in the collar for a collar-bar is useless as they didn't design it properly to account for wearing a collar bar with a tie.

There are also wool vests and wide-legged trousers with waist-adjusters (although I think the rise on the trousers is too low.)

All of the stuff is marked down half-price or more right now, at least at Dillard's. I got the cap for half-price, I think it cost about $30. The shirts start at about $20 although most are in the $40-60 range.

 

[Mr. Rover]

Has anyone seen these caps in the NYC shops, like at Bergdorf Goodman or the RL store?

 

[scotrace]

I'm going to Dullard's this afternoon. Thanks for the tip!