NYTimes.com
Ralph Lauren: Back to Work!
By SUZY MENKES
September 17, 2009
NEW YORK — Ralph Lauren sent out a powerful message on Thursday to his fellow Americans. Recession? Depression? Credit crunch? Get back to work!
“I believe in the resilient spirit of America — and I have always loved real working clothes,” said the designer backstage, wearing a pinstriped jacket over a denim shirt and torn jeans, a look that was emblematic of his show on the last day of New York Fashion Week.
The spring/summer 2010 collection at Ralph Lauren was based on denim, the real workwear stuff or its visual equivalent in silk charmeuse. Tough overalls and down-home jeans alternated with meadow-sweet cotton dresses, both outfits worn with denim caps. The effect was distinctly 1940s — not least with sharp-shouldered tailoring. And this ode to the pioneers of the prairies, played out to Woody Guthrie’s folk music, gave a real sense of the nobility of work.
Sure, wear your smart banker’s jacket but don’t forget the sweat of genuine labor — that was the piquant story that came through. And Mr. Lauren is not wrong. While so many designers have seemed to ignore the bell tolling for hyper-capitalism, the designer seemed sensitive to changing times.
This was no backward look at American idealism. And the clothes were not costumes. Worn with dainty, sparkling shoes or with a silvered netting over a slender evening gown, there was plenty of uptown glamour. But Mr Lauren, who can be corny in his references, has an unerring instinct for the right stuff. And this collection hit a nerve.