This approach is, of course, less likely to seize the media’s
attention than what Flusser describes as “making clothes that shock
or call attention to themselves for a moment in time”. That tack,
Flusser notes, is “naturally provocative and exciting. However,
making timeless clothes that are inherently stylish is much more
difficult, and in my opinion, more valuable. Especially today, from
an environmental standpoint, as we’re more and more conscious of
conserving the world's resources, making and buying things that can
be used over a long period of time.” Counter-intuitively for a
designer who’s made a career shaping and celebrating the American
Dream, the philosophy of creating enduring classics is more of an
Old World mindset. “The European media, I think, understands Ralph
better, because they’re looking at clothes, they have more of an
appreciation for things that last over a period of time,” Flusser
believes.
In America, meanwhile, commentators are looking for novelty, not
consistency — constant renewal, rather than a common thread. That
has led to some Stateside fashion journalists dismissing Lauren’s
collections year-to-year, season-to-season as simply more of the
same. “I think it’s been a little bit of a thorn in his side — not
getting the same amount of adulation from the (US) press as certain
other designers,” Flusser says. The author feels this is deeply
unfair, given the vast stylistic influence Lauren has had during
his half-century career. “The basic thesis of the book is, Ralph’s
had more impact on the taste level of the culture than any other
single person,” Flusser states. Lauren engineered his own world,
built a world around his brand, and changed the world at large
while doing so.
Acknowledging that an individual might be a businessman during
the week, a theatre-going sophisticate at night, a sportsman on the
weekend and a cowboy, sailor or surfer on vacation, “Ralph was the
first to really recognise that clothes should be a reflection of
the lifestyle of the person who’s wearing them. That was a gigantic
change in thinking. No one had approached fashion from that
viewpoint,” Flusser says. Nor had anyone attempted to create retail
environments that catered to every aspect of this split
personality. Not until Lauren came along. As the creator of
full-service lifestyle marketing, Ralph Lauren has shaped not only
the way we adorn ourselves, but our environments — the
all-encompassing sartorial and decorative aesthetic based on his
own physical, professional and personal surroundings. Flusser says
while working on the book, “I came to appreciate just how personal
Ralph’s connection to his own work really is.”
Ralph Lauren inspires enormous
loyalty in his employees. He is seen here in 1986 with Buffy
Birrittella, who'd become one of his longest-serving
executives.
Lauren both inhabits and defines the Polosphere. “Here’s a guy
who not only wore his own men’s clothes, but who had a wife to try
on and model his womenswear, along with three kids who grew up in
his children’s wear, living within environments that were populated
by many of his brand’s home décor products,” says Flusser. “And for
the last 50 years he’s been surrounded at work by people who not
only wore his clothes, but would put them together in vastly
different and highly personal ways.” Flusser declares, “I dare say
there is no designer in history who’s experienced that kind of
day-to-day interaction with his own designs. Not Calvin Klein, not
Giorgio Armani, not Yves Saint Laurent — not even Coco Chanel.” No
designer but Lauren, says Flusser, “has such a deep emotional
investment in what he creates along with the kind of feedback that
gives him an immediate sense of how well he’s doing at satisfying
consumers’ needs.”
An example of Lauren’s belief in the perennial rather than the
ephemeral, Flusser says when Lauren received an advance copy of the
book, the subject called the author to compliment him: “Ralph said
he liked that it looked like an old book — a ‘forever book’, he
called it.” So out-of-the-moment that it could never become passé.
So timeless that it’s ahead of the game, immune from trend. That’s
the secret to Lauren’s success, says Flusser. “If Ralph’s talent is
to design things that anticipate our own longings before we even
experience them — which he has done, and for longer than any other
designer — then you can say he has been at the very forefront of
fashion all along.”
