Ralph Lauren’s Fall/Holiday 2024 strikes nostalgia on many levels

Once upon a time, April was the month that New York designers showed their upcoming fall collections. Like many things in fashion, that was then when shows were held for professionals, whose jobs depended on seeing it, and Bryant Park was home to the first truly organized New York Fashion Weeks.

Ralph Lauren, who has mainly eschewed the official NYFW calendar lately, unveiled his Fall Holiday 2024 collection to a tightly edited group of said professionals for a show in the brand’s 650 Madison Avenue headquarters that cemented the designers’ classic yet trailblazing aesthetic by revisiting nostalgia on many fronts but with a fresh spin.
 
According to a release from the brand, the designer was looking back to “his first women’s show in 1972 when he presented his collection to a small group of editors and friends in his parlor-style office.”

The intent was to allow a rare peek into Lauren’s creative world with the runway staged to resemble his own office with sleek chrome accents, modern cantilever chairs, personal artwork, mahogany detailing, and warm lighting scheme atypical in today’s large format show created by suspended pendants and giving it a romantic atmosphere. As guests departed, they eyed a signature large bowl of plain M&M’s on display.
 
“The woman I design for has a beauty that comes from an inner confidence. She dresses for herself. Her style is personal and bold. She’ll throw a hand-tailored jacket over a glamorous evening dress. She believes in quiet sophistication not defined by time or trends. My Fall/Holiday 2024 collection is inspired by that woman, her sense of timelessness, her individuality — a style that is forever,” said Ralph Lauren, chief creative officer of Ralph Lauren Corporation.

As guests such as Jessica Chastain, Glenn Close, Jodie Turner-Smith and Kerry Washington settled into their seats, the show started with Billy Joel’s ‘Just the Way You Are’ with gorgeous nineties supermodel Christy Turlington in a tonal taupe overcoat look with pants, a shirt, and the infamous Ralph Lauren tie, the item that launched his business in 1967. The neutral tonal vibe was present throughout, and no one, not even a Benjamin Moore with its paint swatch cards, can gradate a color pallet like Ralph.
 
Lauren couldn’t have picked a better moment to reiterate his design reputation for making Western wear chic and sophisticated. Gen Z began to discover cowboy boots around 2021, and last year, ‘Barbie’ made a case for Western-inspired looks, albeit in hot pink; this year, Beyoncè caused the right kind of ruckus by debuting her first country album, complete with the style tropes that go along with it.
 
In this show, Ralph joined his beloved rancher lifestyle with the sophisticated city elegance and tossed in a dose of uniform chic (perhaps he had taken in the recent ‘Masters of the Air’ WWII series starring Austin Butler, who did as much for the aviator jacket as Tom Cruise did in ‘Top Gun’).
 
To wit, a shiny fringed sequin dress with an oversized Mojave sweater, a slinky spaghetti strap gown worn with a cowboy hat, black suede fringed pants and a Navajo silver belt worn with a white, black tie and slim Paletot overcoat. A tan shearling flight jacket worn over grey suiting was both an ode to flight and a great way to wear the outerwear style in a business context.

A strong emphasis was put on craft this season; several pieces, such as fur and suede vests, featured woven sections and fringe interspersing the fur; an intricately beaded evening top and a chevron laser-cut fringed jacket, for example. The designer offered plenty of sass for his younger customers: crop sweaters with snug leather skirts or satin bias-cut skirts; another was a grey wool flannel overcoat fashioned as an above-the-knee dress with a cinched waist. His case for head-to-toe suede dressing was also strong and appealing.
 
Joel’s most successful 1977 ditty setting made the mood feel like bravado for the designer who has stuck to his vision and aesthetic for 57-plus years; he ‘won’t go changing to try and please you.’ It also played into the industry’s own sense of longing for an insular fashion world where shows were just another day at the office, in this case, Ralph Lauren’s office, with insanely luxurious and stylish clothing.