RESTORING THE AURA OF RALPH LAUREN

A DECADE AGO, RALPH LAUREN THE COMPANY WAS JEOPARDIZING ITS LUXURY REPUTATION AND WATCHING PROFITS PLUMMET. THE SOLUTION: FINDING THE RIGHT PARTNER FOR RALPH LAUREN, THE MAN. HOW PATRICE LOUVET HELPED AMERICA'S MOST IMPORTANT FASHION COMPANY GET ITS GROOVE BACK.

- BY PHIL WAHBA

THIS APRIL, designer Ralph Lauren commandeered Manhattan's sumptuous Clock Tower Building for his eponymous company's fall 2025 fashion show—and proceeded to pack the place with boldface names and influencers young and old, all curious to see what the brand had come up with.

On a pass through the room, maneuvering around the building's marble Corinthian columns and grandiose staircase, you could spot Anna Wintour of Vogue, not far from actor Anne Hathaway (in a beige trench coat) and country star Kacey Musgraves (in a white tank top and cowboy hat). Nearby, Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Seinfeld and Veep fame was hanging out with Lauren's wife, Ricky.

The show, "The Modern Romantics," unveiled a collection of women's wear—an area where the company is avidly boosting its presence. Models sported aviator jackets, cashmere wraps, and boots in styles that blended masculine and feminine, mixing hard materials like leather (lots of it) with soft ones like lace. The fashion press would later declare the event a home run. And once all 47 models had walked the runway, the 85-year-old Ralph Lauren himself appeared to rapturous applause on the mezzanine, taking it all in.

Watching the designer from below, beaming deferentially, was a dapper, bespectacled man sporting a natty pocket square: Patrice Louvet, Ralph Lauren's CEO. Though he's hardly tabloid-famous, the fashionistas in attendance knew him well; he was deep in conversation with Wintour for part of the evening. And if Ralph Lauren the company is firing on all cylinders financially and culturally these days, it's in large part thanks to Louvet, whose business acumen has complemented Ralph Lauren the man's nearly infallible instincts.