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.

- PHIL WAHBA

CEO AND CURATOR - Patrice Louvet at the Manhattan flagship women's store. The CEO has sharpened the company's focus on its higher-end brands.

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.

CREATOR-IN-CHIEF Ralph Lauren (top right) greets fans after his fall 2025 fashion show at Manhattan's Clock Tower Building.

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.