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.”
